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I  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  |    | 
Z  Princeton,  N.  J.  J 

f  # 


N^  PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


1"  r«Ta¥lwT/->i::<'T><-VKT      KT        I  ^Mi 


PRESENTED   BY 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN   BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION 


■R  L 


/(Ds/y 


n 


AN 


EXPOSITION 


^t  f  pi0th  lïf  êaiut  |aul 


COLOSSIANS. 

/ 

BY  THE  REV.  JEAN  DAILLÊ, 

MINISTER   OF    THE    FRENCH    REFORMED    CHURCH    AT    CHARENTON,  A.  D. 


TRANSLATED   FROM   THE   FRENCH,    BY   F.    S. 

REVISED  AND  CORRECTED 

BY   THE   REV.   JAMES    SHEKMAN, 

MINISTER   OF    SURREY   CHAPEL,    LONDON. 


F  1  !  L  â  B  I  L  F  E  Î  1 S 
PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

821  Chestnut  Street. 


THE  AUTHOR'S  DEDICATION. 

[PBEFIXED  IN  THE  OKIGINAL  TO  THE  PART  CONTAINING  CHAP.  I.] 

TO  MONSIEUE, 

MONSIEUR  DU  CANDAL, 

LOR»  OF  FONTINAILLE, 

COUNSELLOR  AND  SECRETARY  OF  THE  KING,  HOUSE,  AND  CROWN  OF  FRANCE. 

Sir  : — I  present  you  these  sermons,  conscious  that  I  owe  this 
acknowledgment  to  the  friendship  with  which  you  honour 
me,  and  still  more  to  the  edification  and  good  offices  which  the 
church  where  I  preached  them  has  for  a  long  time  received  from 
your  piety.  For  besides  the  noble  example  which  your  life 
gives  us,  a  life  full  of  virtue  and  honour,  always  steady  and  equal 
in  the  profession  and  holy  exercises  of  the  truth  of  the  gos- 
pel ;  there  has  been  presented  no  occasion  of  doing  service 
to  the  people  of  God,  either  in  past  or  present  times,  but  you 
have  embraced  with  zeal,  and  managed  with  prudence. 

So  likewise  we  see  that  the  good  and  merciful  Lord  you 
serve  has  crowned  your  obedience  with  the  benedictions  of  his 
grace.  For  in  the  vicissitudes  of  the  times,  and  the  variety 
of  affairs,  he  has  still  rendered  you  acceptable,  both  to  those 
within,  and  even  to  them  without.  And,  which  is  the  prin- 
cipal thing,  he  has  preserved  his  covenant  in  your  house,  that 
neither  the  vanity  of  the  world,  nor  the  scandal  of  the  time, 
has  been  able  to  make  any  of  the  breaches  there  which  we  see 
with  grief  in  other  families.  To  establish  this  precious  heri- 
tage of  piety  in  your  race,  his  providence  has  added  to  it,  by 
alliance,  persons  excellent  in  knowledge  and  in  merit,  in  whose 
lineage  you  daily  see  your  own  life  renew  and  flourish.  It 
is  true,  sir,  you  have  also  had  your  trials,  as  no  true  be- 

(3) 


4  EPISTLES   DEDICATORY. 

lievers  are  exempted  from  them  ;  but  those  which  God  has 
dispensed  to  you  have  been  so  tempered  with  his  goodness,  as 
I  believe  you  may  truly  say,  that  in  this,  more  than  in  any 
other  event  of  your  life,  he  has  exhibited  the  wonders  of  his 
grace  towards  you.  Such  was,  some  years  ago,  the  bitter,  un- 
timely, but  blessed  and  happy,  death  of  your  eldest  sou,  who 
was  removed  in  the  flower  and  vigour  of  his  age.  This  was, 
doubtless,  a  very  grievous  stroke,  which  cut  down  in  a  mo- 
ment the  sweetest  of  your  hopes,  plucking  from  your  embraces 
a  son  as  worthy  of  love  as  he  was  beloved,  and  whose  merit 
had  already  advanced  him  to  the  dignity  of  a  senator  in  the 
chief  of  the  parliaments  of  this  kingdom.  But  however  pain- 
ful his  death  was  to  you,  it  was,  notwithstanding,  accompanied 
with  grace  of  God,  so  visible  and  ravishing,  that  I  fear  not  to 
refresh  your  memory  with  it,  well  knowing  that  it  is  no  less 
dear  and  precious  to  you  for  the  piety  and  the  noble  and  truly 
christian  constancy  which  he  showed  in  those  last  and  happy 
moments  of  his  life,  than  troublesome  and  bitter  for  the 
mourning  and  sadness  which  it  left  on  your  whole  house.  As 
soon  as  his  disease  appeared  to  be  what  indeed  it  was,  he 
looked  on  death  without  perturbation  ;  he  prepared  himself 
for  it  with  great  courage  ;  and  his  deportment,  his  visage,  and  his 
discourses  were  full  of  resolution  and  contentment.  He  com- 
forted us  all  ;  and,  amid  the  tenderness  and  pangs  of  such  a 
separation,  maintained  his  mental  vigour  to  the  last.  And 
though  he  left  on  earth  some  of  the  dearest  and  sweetest  he 
could  here  possess  or  desire,  yet  he  quitted  it,  not  only  without 
regret,  but  even  with  joy  ;  so  firm  was  the  hope,  or  to  speak 
more  correctly,  so  clear  and  assured  the  sight,  which  the  Lord 
Jesus  gave  him  of  the  bliss  and  delights  to  which  he  called 
him.  He  remained  in  this  gracious  and  holy  frame  even  to 
his  last  breath,  with  an  unclouded  spirit  and  a  calm  soul, 
speaking  to  us  of  his  approaching  happiness,  and  of  the  pres- 
ent grace  of  his  Lord,  with  such  efficacy,  that  it  checked  your 
tears,  and  repressed  the  expressions  of  your  grief,  that  how 
just  soever  they  were,  you  had,  nevertheless,  a  secret  shame 
to  allow  them  to  appear  in  the  presence  and  on  the  account 
of  so  virtuous  a  person,  as  if  lamentations  would  have  offended 
his  piety,  and  dishonoured  the  victory  of  his  faith.     The  same 


EPISTLES   DEDICATOEY.  5 

God  tbat  loosed  him  so  supernaturallj  from  earth,  to  raise 
him  up  to  heaven,  granted  you  to  bear  the  affliction  of  hi3 
departure  with  a  patience  worthy  your  vocation.  After 
so  severe  a  stroke,  he  has  yet  sustained  you,  and  con- 
ducted you  to  an  honourable  old  age,  which  few  persons  attain. 
And  now,  I  doubt  not,  amidst  the  agitations  of  the  present 
world,  and  the  infirmities  of  age,  your  chief  consolation  is  the 
assured  hope  you  possess  of  arriving  also  one  day  at  the  gate 
of  that  blessed  immortality,  into  which,  contrary  to  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  nature,  you  have  seen  this  dear  son  enter  be- 
fore you. 

If  in  the  holy  exercises  of  piety,  by  which  you  daily  pre- 
pare yourself  for  that  state,  the  reading  of  these  sermons  may 
find  a  place,  and  afford  you  consolation,  I  shall  therein  have 
extreme  satisfaction  ;  at  least  I  can  well  assure  you,  that  it  is 
one  of  my  most  ardent  desires,  who  pray  God  to  preserve  you 
with  all  your  family,  in  perfect  prosperity  ;  and  remain,  in- 
violably. 

Sir, 
Your  most  humble  and  most  obedient  servant, 

DAILLE 

Paris,  April  1,  1648. 


THE  AUTHOR'S  EPISTLE. 

[prefixed    in   the   original   to  the   part   CONTAININa   CHAP.    H.] 

TO  MONSIEUR, 

MONSIEUR  BIGOT, 

LORD  OF  LAHONVILLE, 

COUNSELLOR  OF  THE  KING  IN  HIS  COUNSELS.  INTENDANT,  AND  CONTROLLER-GEN- 
ERAL OF  THE  GABELS  OF  FRANCE. 

Sir  : — Among  the  advantages  which  the  reformation  of  the 
church,  embraced  by  our  fathers  in  these  latter  ages,  has  affor- 
ded us,  we  must,  doubtless,  ascribe  the  pre-eminence  to  the  free 
use  we  have  of  the  word  of  Christ,  which  he,  of  his  abundant 
grace,  has  recovered  for  us.  This  divine  taper,  lighted  up 
from  heaven  in  the  house  of  God  to  shine  unto  his  people,  to 
express  it  in  the  terms  of  the  gospel,  remained  hid  a  long  time 
Tinder  a  bushel.  Matt.  v.  15  ;  the  negligence  and  fraud  of  men 
keeping  it  in  this  shameful  condition.  It  is  now  set  anew  in 
its  candlestick,  where  it  diffuses  in  every  direction  among  us 
its  enlivening  and  saving  light;  and  that  too  in  such  abun- 
dance,  as  that  we  may  truly  say  in  this  respect,  the  word  of 
Christ  dwelleth  in  us  richW,  Col.  iii,  16.  It  reigns  alone  in 
our  assemblies,  where  its  voice,  and  no  other,  is  continually 
heard  to  resound  ;  the  fables  and  legends  of  men  being  alto- 
gether banished  from  them.  It  is  read  there  in  a  familiar 
language,  which  every  one  understands  ;  whereas  if  it  be  read 
any  where  else,  it  is  in  a  tongue  dead,  and  barbarous,  and 
unknown  to  the  people.  It  is  explained  among  us  with  all 
fidelity,  sincerity,  and  diligence;  whereas  amidst  the  darkness 
of  former  ages,  it  was  so  unworthily  treated  by  preachers,  that, 
to  read  their  sermons,  one  would  think  they  had  designed  to 
make  them  openly  ridiculous.  I  confess  that  those  persons 
(6) 


EPISTLES   DEDICATORY.  7 

wlio  abide  in  the  erroneous  opinions  of  their  ancestors  are 
somewhat  ashamed  of  their  gross  and  profanely  licentious 
practice  ;  and  they  have  in  some  measure  reformed  it.  Yet 
there  remain  but  too  many  defects  among  them  still,  and  this 
one  in  particular,  that  they  explain  in  public  only  some  pieces, 
and,  if  it  may  be  so  said,  shreds  of  Scripture,  sometimes  taken 
from  one  book,  sometimes  from  another,  never  showing  their 
hearers  any  complete  body.  For  it  cannot  be  denied  that  this 
manner  of  handling  the  word  of  God  deprives  the  faithful  of 
much'edification  ;  it  being  evident  that  the  view  and  considera- 
tion of  an  entire  book  gives  us  a  more  complete  knowledge 
and  greater  admiration  of  it  than  the  view  of  any  isolated  part. 
This  fault  is  so  much  the  less  pardonable  in  our  adversaries, 
as,  besides  being  less  profitable,  it  is  also  contrary  to  the  cus- 
tom and  authority  of  those  ancient  doctors  of  the  first  ages  of 
Christianity,  whose  true  sons  and  legitimate  successors  these 
gentlemen  boast  that  they  are.  For  it  was  usual  at  that  time 
for  pastors  to  expound  in  the  church  whole  books  of  Scripture 
throughout,  by  sermons  continued  upon  the  chain  of  the  holy 
text,  from  the  beginning  of  a  volume  to  the  very  end,  which 
is  clearly  proved  by  the  remains  of  their  writings.  There 
are  extant  still  the  Sermons  of  St.  John  Chrysostom  upon  Gene- 
sis, upon  the  gospels  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  John,  upon  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  upon  all  the  fourteen  Epistles  of  St. 
Paul,  which  were  delivered  by  this  great  man,  part  of  them 
in  the  church  of  Antioch,  and  part  in  the  church  of  Constanti- 
nople, the  greatest  and  most  populous  churches  of  all  the  East. 
And  among  the  Latins,  we  have  the  Tractates  of  St.  Augustine 
upon  the  whole  Book  of  Psalms,  and  upon  the  gospel  of  St. 
John,  and  upon  his  First  Epistle,  which  were  in  a  similar 
manner  made  and  delivered  in  the  assemblies  of  his  people. 
An  evident  sign  that,  about  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century, 
when  these  two  excellent  and  famous  personages  flourished, 
this  custom  was  in  repute  among  Christians.  Whether  then 
the  thing  be  considered  in  itself,  or  the  suffrages  of  the  ancients 
be  taken,  it  is  manifest  that  our  fathers  and  ourselves  had  the 
best  reasons  in  the  world  to  re-establish  this  sacred  and  just 
usage  in  the  church. 

Now,  sir,  this  book  which  I  address  to  you  is  a  fruit  of  it. 


8  EPISTLES   DEDICATORY. 

For  having  undertaken,  in  conformity  to  this  order,  to  ex- 
pound in  our  holy  assemblies  the  divine  Epistle  of  the  apostle 
Paul  to  the  Colossians,  and  being  come  to  the  end  of  it,  by 
the  grace  of  our  Lord,  because  the  whole  work  could  not  be 
commodiously  contracted  into  one  volume,  I  have  divided  it 
into  three  parts,  of  which  this  is  the  second.  The  piety  which 
has  long  flourished  in  your  house,  sir,  and  the  exquisite 
knowledge  that  God  has  given  you  of  his  truth,  induce  me  to 
believe  that  this  book,  which  wholly  treats  of  his  divine 
mysteries,  and  nothing  else,  will  not  be  displeasing  to  you.  It 
is  this  that  has  given  me  the  liberty  to  put  your  name  upon  it  j 
a  name  which  numerous  excellent  graces,  with  which  God  has 
adorned  both  your  family  and  your  person,  render  very  dear 
and  very  honourable  in  our  church.  I  am  sorry  that  this' 
present  is  not  more  worthy  of  it.  But  such  as  it  is,  I  do  not 
despair  of  its  obtaining  from  the  dignity  of  its  subject,  and 
from  the  favour  of  your  kindness,  that  acceptance  to  which  it 
cannot  pretend  upon  any  merit  of  its  own.  Please  you  then 
to  receive  it  as  a  sincere  testimony  of  the  respect  I  bear  your 
virtue,  and  of  the  grateful  sense  I  have  of  the  friendship  with 
which  you  honour  me  ;  as  well  as  an  inviolable  pledge  of  the 
prayers  which  I  present  unto  God  for  your  prosperity,  and  of 
the  fervent  affection  I  have  to  be,  as  long  as  I  live, 
Sir, 
Your  most  humble  and  most  obedient  servant, 

DAILLÉ. 
Paris,  April  1,  1643. 


THE  AUTHOR'S  EPISTLE  DEDICATORY. 

[prefixed    in   the   original   to   the   part   containing   chap.   III.   IV.] 

TO  MONSIEUR, 

MONSIEUR  DE  RAMBOUILLET, 

LORD  OF  LANCET,  AND  OF  PLE3SIS-FRANC. 

Sir  : — These  sermons  will  not  be  new  to  you  ;  so  little  time 
having  elapsed  since  you  heard  them  at  Charenton,  no  doubt 
you  will  recognize  them  at  first  sight.  The  support  they  then 
received  "in  our  holy  assembly  emboldens  them  now  to  present 
themselves  in  public.  Perhaps  it  had  been  better  to  rest  con- 
tented with  that  favour  which  our  people  showed  them,  and 
not  publish  them  again  in'this  form.  For  beside  that  the  eye 
is  much  more  delicate  than  the  ear,  and  the  defects  of  a  discourse 
are  far  more  easily  observed  on  paper,  where  they  remain, 
than  in  the  air,  where  they  do  but  pass  ;  there  is  also  a  great 
difference  between  an  auditor,  whom  devotion  obliges  to  hear 
you,  and  a  reader,  who  owes  you  nothing.  The  one  thinks  he 
should  sin  against  piety  if  he  denied  you  his  attention  ;  the 
other,  that  he  does  you  a  favour  in  heeding  you,  and  may 
examine  you  without  a  crime.  The  judgment  of  the  one  is 
half  made  for  you,  whereas  that  of  the  other  is  at  its  full 
liberty.  These  reasons  would  have  withheld  me  from  hazard- 
ing the  edition  of  these  small  books,  if  the  matter  had  wholly 
depended  upon  my  opinion.  But  the  desires  of  my  friends 
and  the  entreaties  of  the  bookseller  interposing,  their  violence 
has  overcome  my  modesty.  Yet  I  should  have  had  vigour 
and  firmness  enough  to  defend  myself  against  it,  if  the  question 
had  been  simply  of  myself  and  my  reputation.  For  as  the 
present  age  is  so  polite  and  well  informed,  that  the  most 
2  (9) 


10  EPISTLES   DEDICATOKY. 

eloquent  speakers,  and  the  most  accomplished  writers,  can 
scarcely  satisfy  it  ;  I  well  know  that,  to  please  it,  graces  and 
perfections  are  needed  which  I  do  not  possess.  But  that  also 
is  not  the  object  I  seek;  my  weakness,  and  the  calling  where- 
with God  has  honoured  me,  have  abundantly  secured  me  from 
such  a  passion.  The  motives  which  caused  me  to  yield  to 
the  too  favourable  opinion  of  my  friends,  were  the  welfare  of 
Christian  souls,  which  they  laid  before  me,  and  the  service 
they  believed  this  book  might  render  them.  The  success  will 
inform  us  whether  they  had  reason  to  promise  themselves  so 
much  from  it.  For  my  part,  the  thing  being  uncertain,  I  held 
myself  obliged  to  give  place  to  their  judgment,  and  to  prefer 
the  profit  which  they  imagine  the  faithful  may  receive  from 
my  poor  labours  to  any  other  consideration.  And  if  it  be 
temerity  to  hope  for  this  result,  at  least  it  is  not  a  crime,  but 
a  laudable  affection,  to  desire  it.  Of  one  thing,  sir,  I  am  well 
assured,  that  you  will  not  dislike  the  gift  I  make  you  of  this 
third  and  last  part  of  my  work.  For,  independently  of  that 
sweetness  of  spirit  and  obliging  disposition  which  every  one 
observes  in  you,  and  to  say  nothing  of  numerous  evidences 
which  I  have  received  of  your  kindness  towards  me  in  par- 
ticular, I  am  confirmed  in  this  opinion,  by  your  piety,  well 
known  in  our  church,  both  by  the  excellent  fruits  of  your 
charity  in  the  ordinary  course  of  your  life,  and  by  the  services 
you  rendered  to  our  flock  in  the  office  of  an  elder,  which  you 
executed  among  us  with  much  edification  and  honour.  Per- 
suading myself,  therefore,  sir,  may  it  please  you,  that  you  will 
receive  this  small  present  with  your  usual  benevolence  and 
readiness,  there  remains  nothing  but  that  I  pray  God  to  pre- 
serve you,  with  your  worthy  and  noble  family,  in  health  and 
prosperity,  and  daily  to  augment  his  most  precious  blessings, 
both  spiritual  and  temporal,  to  you  and  them.  I  beseech  you 
to  continue  me  the  honour  of  your  friendship,  and  to  do  me 
the  favour  to  believe  that  I  am  devotedly, 
Sir, 
Your  most  humble  and  most  obedient  servant, 

DAILLÉ. 
Paris,  April  1,  1648. 


EXPOSITION 

OF    THB 

EPISTLE  OP  PAUL  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS. 


SERMON  I. 
CH  APT  ER  I. 

VEKSES   1 — 5. 

Paul^  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Clirist  by  the  will  of  God,  and  Timo- 
theus  our  brother,  to  the  saints  and  faithful  brethren  in  Christ 
which  are  at  Colosse:  Grace  be  unto  you,  and  peace,  from  God 
our  Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  give  thanks  to 
God  and  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  praying  always 
for  you,  since  we  heard  of  your  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  of 
the  love  tuhich  ye  have  to  all  the  saints,  for  the  hope  which  is 
laid  up  for  you  in  heaven,  whereof  ye  heard  before  in  the  word 
of  the  truth  of  the 


The  assertion  of  the  apostle  Paul  respecting  the  afflictions 
of  the  faithful,  that  they  "  work  together  for  good  to  them 
that  love  God,"  Rom.  viii.  28,  is  verified  by  constant  experi- 
ence. Besides  the  excellent  fruit  which  the  afflicted  them- 
selves receive  from  them,  sooner  or  later  acknowledging  with 
the  psalmist,  that  it  was  good  for  them  to  have  been  afflicted, 
Psal.  cxix.  71,  they  are  also  serviceable  to  the  edification  of 
others.  For  as  roses,  the  fairest  and  sweetest  of  flowers, 
grow  on  a  rough  and  thorny  stock  ;  so  from  the  afflictions 
of  the  believer,  rugged  and  piercing  to  the  flesh,  spring 
examples  of  their  virtue  and  instances  of  their  piety,  the 
sweetest  and  most  salutary  of  all  productions.  See  what 
a  rich  store  of  benefits  the  trials  of  Job  and  of  David 
have  yielded  us  !  To  them  we  owe  that  admirable  book  of  the 

(11) 


12  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  I. 

patience  of  the  former,  and  a  great  part  of  the  divine  hymns 
of  the  latter.  Had  it  not  been  for  their  afflictions,  we  should 
not  now  enjoy,  after  so  many  ages,  those  inestimable  treasures 
of  instruction  and  consolation.  What  shall  I  say  of  the  suf- 
ferings of  Paul,  which  spread  the  gospel  all  abroad,  and  con- 
verted the  world  to  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  !  His  im- 
prisonment at  Kome  alone,  under  the  government  of  JSTero, 
has  done  the  church  more  good  than  the  peace  and  prosperity 
of  all  the  rest  of  the  faithful  of  that  age.  It  gave  reputation 
to  the  gospel,  and  made  it  gloriously  enter  into  the  stateliest 
court  in  the  world.  It  inspired  j)reachers  of  the  truth  with 
heroic  courage.  It  awakened  the  curiosity  of  some,  and  in- 
flamed the  love  of  others,  and  filled  all  that  great  city 
with  the  name  and  odour  of  Jesus  Christ.  Nor  was  it  of  use 
to  the  Komans  only.  It  imparted  its  celestial  fruit  to  the 
remotest  regions  and  generations.  For  it  was  in  this  very 
confinement  that  this  holy  man  wrote  several  of  his  divine 
Epistles,  which  we  read  with  so  much  edification  to  this  day:' 
as  those  to  Philemon,  to  Timothy,  to  the  Ephesians  ;  and  that 
directed  to  the  Philippians,  the  exposition  of  which  we  last 
finished  ;  and  the  following  Epistle  to  the  Colossiaus,  which 
we  have  now  chosen  to  explain  to  you,  if  God  permit.  Paul's 
prison  was  a  common  reservoir,  whence  have  issued  those 
living  springs  which  water  and  gladden  the  city  of  God,  and 
will  furnish  it  even  to  the  end  of  the  world  with  the  streams 
it  needs  for  its  refreshment. 

Having  then  already  drawn  from  one  of  these  sweet  springs 
that  divine  water  with  which  we  have  endeavoured,  according 
to  the  ministry  committed  to  us  of  God,  to  irrigate  the  hea- 
venly plants  of  your  faith  and  love,  we  now  turn,  my  breth- 
ren, to  another,  a  no  less  vital  and  plentiful  one  than  the 
former.  Bring  ye  to  it,  as  the  Lord  requires,  souls  thirsting 
for  his  grace  ;  and  he  will  give  you,  as  he  has  promised, 
living  water,  which  shall  quench  your  drought  for  ever,  and 
become  in  each  of  you  a  well  springing  up  to  eternal  life. 

The  church  of  the  Colossians,  to  whom  this  Epistle  is  ad- 
dressed, having  been  happily  planted  by  Epaphras,  a  faithful 
minister  of  Christ,  the  enemy  failed  not,  by  the  hands  of  some 
seducers,  immediately  to  sow  his  tares  within  it.  These  men 
would  mingle  Moses  with  our  Saviour,  and  together  with  the 
gospel  of  the  one  retain  and  observe  the  ceremonies  of  the  other. 
To  make  their  error  the  more  pleasing,  they  painted  it  over 
with  the  colours  of  philosophy,  terms  of  science,  curious  spec- 
ulations, and  other  similar  artifices.  Epaphras,  seeing  the 
danger  to  which  this  profane  medley  exposed  the  faith  and 
salvation  of  his  dear  Colossians,  informs  Paul  of  it,  then  a 
prisoner  at  Rome.  The  apostle,  to  draw  them  from  so  per- 
nicious an  error,  takes  his  pen  and  writes  them  this  letter  ;   in 


CHAP.  I.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  13 

whicli  he  shows  them  that  in  Jesus  Christ  alone  is  all  the  ful- 
ness of  our  salvation,  in  such  a  manner  that  we  should  deeply 
injure  him  to  seek  any  part  of  it  out  of  him,  since  we  possess 
abundant  stores  in  his  gospel  wherewith  to  teach  our  faith  and 
form  our  manners,  without  the  addition  of  either  the  shadows 
of  Moses  or  the  vanities  of  philosophy.  In  the  beginning  he 
salutes  and  congratulates  them  for  the  communion  which  they 
had  with  God  in  his  Son.  Next  he  draws  them  a  lively  por- 
trait of  the  Lord  Jesus,  in  which  shine  forth  the  dignity  of  his 
person,  and  the  inexhaustible  abundance  of  his  benefits. 
Upon  that  he  encounters  the  seducers,  and  refutes  the  unprofit- 
able additions  with  which  they  sophisticated  the  simplicity  of 
the  gospel.  Afterwards,  from  dispute  he  passes  to  exhortation, 
conjuring  these  faithful  people  to  live  well  and  holily,  conform- 
ing their  deportment  to  a  piety,  honesty,  and  virtue  worthy 
their  vocation.  He  concludes  with  some  particular  afiairs,  of 
which  he  speaks  to  them,  and  with  recommendations  which  he  of- 
fers to  them,  both  on  his  own  part  and  on  the  part  of  other  faith- 
ful persons  who  were  with  him.  But  you  will  better  understand 
the  whole  by  the  exposition  of  each  part  of  the  Epistle,  if  the 
Lord  grant  us  to  complete  it.  For  the  present,  we  propose  to 
consider  only  the  five  verses  which  we  have  read  ;  the  first 
two  of  which  contain  the  inscription  of  the  Epistle,  and  the 
other  three  the  joy  and  thanksgivings  of  Paul  to  God  for  the 
faith  and  love  of  these  Colossians.  These  shall  be,  God  will- 
ing, the  two  points  on  which  we  will  treat  in  this  discourse. 

I.  The  inscription  of  the  Epistle  is  contained  in  these  words  : 
"Paul,  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  will  of  God,  and 
Timotheus  our  brother,  to  the  saints  and  faithful  brethren  in 
Christ  which  are  at  Colosse  :  Grace  be  unto  you,  and  peace, 
from  God  our  Father  and  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  At 
this  day  it  is  customary  to  inscribe  letters  with  the  name  of 
those  to  whom  they  are  written,  and  within  them,  after  the 
body  of  the  letter,  the  name  of  those  who  write  them  ;  for- 
merly this  was  not  the  custom  ;  for  the  writer  wrote  both  the 
names  within,  at  the  head  of  the  letter,  with  a  brief  salutation 
in  these  words.  Such  a  one  to  such  a  one  health  ;  as  we  learn 
by  numerous  Greek  and  Latin  epistles,  which  are  left  us  in  the 
ancient  books  of  the  most  renowned  personages  of  those  two 
nations.  The  apostle,  who  lived  in  those  ages,  uses  the  same 
form  in  all  his  Epistles,  as  you  know,  except  that  instead  of 
wishing  health  and  prosperity  to  those  whom  he  addresses,  he 
ordinarily  wishes  them  peace,  and  the  grace  of  God,  and  of  his 
Son  Jesus  Christ. 

According  to  this  form,  the  inscription  of  this  Epistle 
contains,  first,  the  names  and  qualities  of  those  who  write 
it,  and  of  those  to  whom  it  is  addressed  ;  and,  secondly,  the 
good  and  happy  wish  with  which  they  salate  them. 


14  AN"  EXPOSITION"  OP  [SERM.  I 

The  names  of  those  who  write  it  are  Paul  and  Timothy, 
sufficiently  known  to  all  who  are  in  the  least  degree  versed  in 
the  New  Testament.  They  are  here  described  by  certain  qua- 
lities severally  attributed  to  them.  To  Paul,  that  of  "  an  apos- 
tle of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  will  of  God."  To  Timothy  simply 
that  of  "  brother."  The  word,  "  apostle"  signifies,  in  the  Greek 
language,  one  deputed,  a  person  sent  by  some  one.  But  in 
the  Scripture  of  the  new  covenant  it  is  taken  particularly  for 
those  first  and  highest  ministers  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  whom  he 
sent  with  a  sovereign  and  independent  authority  to  preach  the 
gospel  and  establish  his  church  in  the  world  : — the  highest 
and  noblest  charge  God  ever  gave  to  men  :  and  to  exercise  it, 
it  was  necessary,  1.  To  have  seen  Jesus  Christ  alive  after  his 
death,  that  a  good  and  lawful  testimony  might  be  given  of  his 
resurrection.  2.  They  must  have  received  their  commission 
immediately  from  the  Lord  himself.  And,  3.  They  must  have 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  an  extraordinary  measure,  with  the  gifts  of 
tongues  and  miracles.  Whence  it  appears  how  illogical  they 
are  that  attribute  the  glory  of  an  apostleship  to  the  bishop  of 
Eome,  who  possesses  none  of  these  qualifications.  It  is  also 
clear  that  this  dignity  is  extraordinary,  and  was  not  insti- 
tuted but  for  the  first  establishment  of  the  church  ;  the  gov- 
ernment of  which,  after  its  plantation,  the  apostles  put  in  the 
hands  of  an  inferior  order  of  ministers,  who  are  indifferently 
called  in  Scripture  either  bishops,  that  is,  overseers  and  super- 
intendents ;  or  presbyters,  that  is,  elders. 

The  history  of  the  Acts  informs  us  that  to  the  twelve  apos- 
tles before  ordained  our  Lord  added  Paul  ;  having  miracu- 
lously appeared  to  him,  and  sent  him  with  the  same  power 
that  they  had  to  convert  the  Gentiles.  He  assumes  therefore 
this  glorious  title  at  the  entrance  of  this  Epistle,  and  declares 
moreover  that  he  is  an  apostle  "  by  the  will  of  God  ;"  signify- 
ing that  it  was  the  express  order  and  mandate  of  the  Lord 
which  honoured  him  with  this  ministry,  and  not  the  suffrage 
and  authority  of  men  ;  distinguishing  himself  by  this  means 
from  those  false  teachers  and  troublers  who  had  not  been  sent, 
but  by  the  will  of  flesh  and  blood.  The  declaration  of  this 
his  quality  was  here  necessary  for  him,  1.  To  maintain  his 
honour  against  the  calumnies  of  seducers,  who  disparaged  and 
slandered  him  as  much  as  they  could,  under  pretence  that  he 
had  not  lived,  like  the  other  apostles,  in  the  company  of  Jesus 
Christ  during  the  days  of  his  flesh  ;  and,  2.  To  establish  the 
liberty  which  he  took  of  writing  to  the  Colossians,  and  of 
proving  to  them  their  duty,  as  well  in  faith  as  in  practice,  it 
being  evident  that  the  apostles  had  a  right  to  use  this  author- 
ity over  all  and  each  of  the  christian  churches.  To  his  own 
name  he  adds  that  of  Timothy,  whom  he  calls  "  brother,"  as 
having  one  and  the  same  faith,  and  labouring  in  one  and  the 


CHAP.  I.]  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  15 

same  work  ;  whether  it  were  to  «authorize  his  doctrine  the 
more,  by  the  consent  of  this  holy  man,  every  word  being 
more  firm  in  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses  than  in 
that  of  one;  or  to  recommend  him  to  these  believers,  that 
if  he  wrote  to  them,  or  ever  visited  them,  they  might  re- 
ceive him  as  a  person  worthy  of  the  fellowship  of  the 
apostles,  and  whose  name  deserved  to  accompany  that  of 
Paul. 

As  for  those  to  whom  he  directs  this  Epistle,  he  describes 
them  next  in  these  words  :  "  To  the  saints  and  faithful  breth- 
ren in  Christ  which  are  at  Colosse^  I  pass  by,  as  childish 
and  impertinent,  the  opinion  of  those  who  say  that  he  means  the 
isle  and  city  of  Ehodes,  and  that  he  calls  it  Colosse  because 
of  that  prodigious  statue  of  the  sun  which  the  Rhodians  had 
erected  at  the  mouth  of  their  haven,  and  which  the  Greeks 
called  the  Colossus.  What  need  is  there  of  these  frigid  and 
ridiculous  notions,  since  the  ancients  show  that  there  was  for- 
merly in  Phrygia,  a  province  of  Asia  Minor,  a  city  called 
Colosse,  not  far  from  two  others,  Laodicea  and  Hierapolis, 
which  the  apostle  also  mentions  in  this  Epistle,  and  recom- 
mends expressly  to  the  Colossians  the  communicating  this 
letter  to  the  Laodiceans,  after  they  themselves  had  read  it  'i 
Afterwards  this  city  of  Colosse  changed  its  name,  and  was 
called  Chone.  Here  one  of  the  most  eminent  writers  of  the 
latter  times  of  Greece,  Nicetas  Choniates,  received  his  birth, 
taking  his  surname  from  that  place  :  he  boasts  in  one  of  his 
works  that  the  apostle  honoured  the  inhabitants  of  Chone,  his 
native  city,  by  addressing  to  them  this  very  Epistle.* 

Paul  designates  the  christians  at  Colosse  "  saints  and  faithful 
brethren."  He  calls  them  "  saints,"  a  name  he  usually  gives  to 
all  true  christians,  and  which  really  belongs  to  them,  since 
God,  separating  them  from  the  rest  of  men  by  the  effectuai 
working  of  his  word,  and  by  the  sacrament  of  his  baptism, 
cleanses  and  purifies  them  from  the  filth  of  sin,  delivers  them 
from  the  servitude  of  the  flesh,  and  consecrates  them  to  his  own 
name  and  service,  to  be  to  him  a  peculiar  people,  devoted  to 
good  works.  Hence  the  whole  body  of  the  faithful  is  called  in 
the  Creed,  "  The  holy  church."  Mark  this  well,  my  brethren, 
and  be  assured  that  you  cannot  be  christians  except  you  be 
truly  saints.  Suffer  not  yourselves  to  be  abused  by  the  deceit- 
fulness  of  those  who  promise  you  this  glorious  name,  provided 
only  you  make  profession  of  faith  in  Christ,  and  that  you  live 
in  the  communion  of  their  church,  however  evil  and  impious 
you  are  in  other  things.  The  body  of  the  Lord  is  too  vital 
and  precious  to  have  dead  and  putrid  members.  I  confess  that 
if  you  have  the  industry  to  hide  your  vices  under  the  false  ap- 

*  In  Thesaur.  1.  4.  ch.  '22. 


16  AN  EXPOSITION  OP  [SERM.  I. 

pearances  of  an  outward  profession,  you  will  induce  men  to 
give  you  tbe  name  of  christians,  and  to  reckon  you  among  the 
members  of  the  church  ;  as  it  might  possibly  be,  that,  among 
those  whom  the  apostle  honours  here  with  the  name  of  saints 
and  faithful,  there  were  some  hypocrites.  But  God,  who  sees 
the  secrets  of  our  hearts,  and  upon  whose  judgment  our  whole 
condition  depends,  will  never  account  you  christians,  or  mem- 
bers of  his  Son,  if  you  are  not  truly  saints.  Paul  likewise, 
and  the  church,  who  by  a  charitable  judgment  now  call  you 
disciples  of  the  Lord,  will  change  their  opinion,  and  rank  you 
with  profane  men  and  worldlings,  when  they  discover  your 
hypocrisy. 

The  title  "  faithful,"  which  the  apostle  gives,  in  the  second 
place,  to  the  Colossians,  is  also  common  to  all  true  christians, 
and  is  taken  from  that  faith  which  they  give  to  the  gospel  of 
the  Lord.  The  word  "brethren,"  that  follows,  signifies  the 
holy  communion  which  they  had  with  the  apostle,  and  with  all 
other  believers  of  whatever  rank  ;  as  persons  all  begotten  of 
the  same  Father,  that  is,  God  ;  all  born  of  the  same  mother, 
Jerusalem  from  on  high  ;  all  partaking  of  the  same  divine 
nature  ;  all  nursed  in  the  same  spiritual  family  ;  all  nurtured 
in  the  same  hopes  ;  all  destined  to  the  same  inheritance  ;  all 
■consecrated  by  one  and  the  same  discipline.  In  fine,  he  adds, 
"  in  Christ,"  because  it  is  of  him,  and  by  him,  and  in  him,  that 
we  have  all  this  sanctity,  faith,  and  fraternal  union,  the  titles 
of  which  he  has  given  to  the  Colossians. 

After  having  thus  described  and  designated  the  persons  to 
whom  he  writes,  he  wishes  them,  according  to  his  custom, 
*'  grace  and  peace  from  God  our  Father,  and  from  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  By  "grace,"  he  means  the  favour  and  good- will 
of  God,  with  the  saving  gifts  and  divine  assistance  with  which 
he  blesses  those  whom  he  loves  in  his  Son.  By  "  peace,"  he 
signifies  that  peace  of  God  which  is  nothing  else  but  the  calm 
tranquillity  of  a  soul  that  looks  to  the  Lord  with  confidence, 
having  remission  of  its  sins  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  is  delivered 
by  the  effectual  operation  of  his  Spirit  from  the  importunate 
tyranny  of  the  lusts  of  the  flesh.  It  is  probable  that,  beside 
this  first  and  chief  peace,  the  apostle  intends  also  peace  with 
men  ;  a  sweet  and  calm  state,  exempt  from  their  hatred  and 
persecutions  ;  that  without  offending  them,  or  being  troubled 
by  them,  they  might  lead  a  peaceable  life  in  all  godliness  and 
honesty.  You  also  know  that  in  the  style  of  scripture  the 
word  peace  signifies  generally  all  kinds  of  welfare  and  pros- 
perity ;  in  which  sense  it  may,  without  disadvantage,  be  inter- 
preted in  this  place.  But  he  wishes  them  these  benefits  "from 
God  our  Father,  and  from  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  "  From 
God,"  because  he  is  the  first  and  highest  spring  of  all  good  ; 
"  the  Father  of  lights,  from  whom  cometh  down  every  good 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  17 

and  every  perfect  gift."  "  From  Jesus  Christ,"  for  he  is  the 
channel  by  which  the  benefits  of  Grod  stream  down  to  us  ;  it 
being  evident  that  without  the  death  and  resurrection,  and,  iu 
a  word,  without  the  mediation  of  Jesus,  we  could  have  no  part 
of  the  graces  of  God.  He  calls  God  "  our  Father,"  because  he 
has  adopted  us  freely  in  his  Son,  and  on  account  of  this  rela- 
tion he  communicates  his  grace  and  peace  to  us  ;  whence  it  is 
that  Jesus  Christ  has  given  us  authority  to  call  him  "  Our 
Father"  in  the  prayer  which  he  has  taught  us.  He  calls  Jesus 
Christ  "  the  Lord,"  because  he  is  our  Master,  who  has  all  power 
and  authority  over  us,  as  well  by  the  right  of  creation  as  by 
that  of  redemption.     Such  is  the  inscription  of  this  Epistle. 

II.  Let  us  now  come  to  the  second  point  of  our  text,  in 
which  the  apostle  congratulates  the  Colossians  for  the  part  they 
had  in  Jesus  Christ  :  "  We  give  thanks,"  he  says,  "  to  God,  the 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  praying  always  for  you,  since 
we  heard  of  your  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  of  the  love  which 
ye  have  to  all  the  saints,  for  the  hope  which  is  reserved  for 
you  in  heaven,  whereof  ye  heard  before  in  the  word  of  the 
truth  of  the  gospel."  Here  is  the  preface  or  exordium  of  the 
Epistle,  which  extends  as  far  as  the  13th  verse  ;  in  which  the 
apostle,  by  the  true  commendations  which  he  gives  the  piety 
of  the  Colossians,  wins  their  affectionate  regard,  and  declares 
his  cordial  affection  to  them,  to  prepare  them  for  a  right  and 
faithful  reception  of  the  instructions  which  he  would  hereafter 
propose  to  them,  as  proceeding  from  a  soul  desirous  of  their 
salvation.     He  protests  therefore  to  them, 

1.  In  general,  that  as  often  as  he  and  Timothy  prayed  to 
God  for  them,  they  did  so  with  most  humble  thanksgivings  for 
the  happy  spiritual  state  in  which  they  saw  him. 

2.  He  mentions  more  particularly  the  grounds  of  this  thanks- 
giving, and  proposes  three  of  them.  First,  the  faith  of  the 
Colossians.  Secondly,  their  love.  And  in  the  last  place,  the 
inheritance  reserved  in  heaven  for  them.  Three  particulars 
which  comprise  all  the  felicity  of  man.  The  part  he  takes  in 
the  happiness  of  the  Colossians  teaches  us  one  of  the  most  ne- 
cessary offices  of  our  love,  which  is  to  interest  ourselves  in  the 
affairs  of  our  brethren  ;  "  to  mourn  with  them  that  mourn,  to 
rejoice  with  them  that  rejoice  ;"  and  to  be  as  nearly  touched 
with  their  good  and  evil  as  with  our  own.  Far  from  our  prac- 
tice be  the  envy  and  malignity  of  the  men  of  this  world,  to 
whom  the  prosperity  of  others  gives  trouble,  and  their  ad- 
versity gladness  ;  who  feed  themselves  with  their  miseries,  and 
are  sad  at  their  mercies.  But  the  apostle  also  shows  us,  by 
this  his  example,  that  the  joy  which  we  have  for  the  good  of 
our  neighbours  should  be  elevated  to  God,  who  is  its  only 
source,  to  render  him  thanks  for  it.  This  is  the  just  and  rea- 
sonable tribute  this  liberal  Lord  demands  of  us  for  so  many 

3 


18  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  I. 

benefits  as  he  communicates  daily  to  our  brethren  and  our- 
selves. If  our  meanness  and  poverty  render  us  incapable  of 
any  other  acknowledgment,  let  us  at  least  faithfully  acquit 
ourselves  of  this  one,  which  is  so  easy  and  so  just,  and  say 
with  the  prophet,  "  What  shall  I  render  to  the  Lord  for  all  his 
benefits  toward  me  ?  I  will  take  the  cup  of  salvation,  and 
call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  Psal,  cxvi.  12,  13.  Let  us 
study  with  so  much  the  more  care  to  render  this  sacred  duty 
to  the  Lord,  by  how  much  more  vile  and  detestable  in  this  in- 
stance is  the  ingratitude  of  men.  Far  from  blessing  him  for 
the  benefits  which  he  gives  their  neighbours,  they  scarcely 
thank  him  for  those  which  they  receive  of  him  themselves. 
They  impute  them  to  their  own  industry  or  fortune,  and,  as 
says  the  prophet,  "  sacrifice  to  their  net,"  Hab.  i.  16,  for  the 
good  successes  that  attend  them  ;  yea,  there  are  some  so  insen- 
sible, that  they  do  not  give  the  glory  to  godliness  itself,  but  to 
their  own  will,  and  the  strength  of  their  free  determination.  But 
it  is  not  enough  to  render  thanks  to  God  for  our  brethren, 
there  must  be  also  prayer  for  them.  For  as  it  is  he  who  gives 
them  all  the  good  things  they  possess,  so  there  is  none  but 
himself  that  can  preserve  or  augment  them  :  and  thus  our 
thanksgivings  should  be  ever  followed  or  accompanied  with 
petitions  ;  as  the  apostle  shows,  in  saying  that  he  gives  thanks 
to  God  for  the  Colossians,  praying  always  for  them.  The  title 
he  gives  to  God,  calling  him  "the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,"  is  not  put  here  in  vain,  but  to  distinguish  and  specify 
the  object  of  our  prayers  and  thanksgivings.  The  appellation 
of  God  under  the  Old  Testament  was,  "  the  God  of  Abraham, 
of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob,"  the  patriarchs  with  whom  he  con- 
tracted the  old  covenant,  and  to  whom  he  promised  the  new. 
Now  his  name  is  "the  Father  of  Jesus  Christ,"  by  whom  he 
has  abolished  the  old  testament,  and  accomplished  the  new. 
Besides,  by  this  Paul  reminds  us  of  that  on  which  we  can 
never  sufficiently  meditate,  that  it  is  by  the  means  of  this 
sweet  and  loving  Saviour  God  has  communicated  himself  to 
us  ;  and  if  we  have  the  honour  to  be  his  children,  it  is  by 
Jesus  Christ,  of  whom  he  is  properly  the  Father,  having,  not 
adopted  him,  as  he  has  us,  but  begotten  him,  from  all  eternity, 
of  his  own  substance  ;  by  reason  of  which  that  also  which  he 
assumed  to  himself,  in  the  womb  of  the  virgin,  has  the  same 
glory  ;  according  to  what  the  angel  said  to  the  holy  virgin, 
"  The  Holy  Spirit  shall  come  upon  thee  and  the  power  of  the 
Highest  shall  overshadow  thee  ;  therefore  also  that  holy  thing 
that  shall  be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God," 
Luke  i.  35. 

But  the  apostle  proceeds  to  add  what  were  those  blessings 
of  the  Colossians  for  which  he  and  Timothy  so  assiduously 
rendered  their  thanks  to  God,  the  Father  of  our  Saviour: 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  19 

"  Having  heard  of  your  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,"  he  says,  "  and 
of  the  love  which  ye  have  towards  all  the  saints."  He  had 
never  been  among  them,  as  he  says  hereafter,  placing  them, 
according  to  the  opinion  of  most  interpreters,  in  the  number 
of  those  "  who  had  not  seen  his  face  in  the  flesh,"  Col.  ii.  1. 
Therefore  he  says  it  was  by  hearing  that  he  had  knowledge 
of  their  faith  and  love.  Here  is,  faithful  brethren,  the  true 
matter  of  our  rejoicings  and  thanksgivings  for  our  neigh- 
bours ;  not  that  God  has  given  them  vigorous  health,  abun- 
dance of  riches,  the  favour  of  the  great,  the  glory  of  fame, 
the  knowledge  of  sciences,  and  other  good  things  of  this 
world  ;  which  in  truth  are  but  figures,  dreams,  and  shadows, 
that  secure  no  person  either  from  diseases  of  the  body,  or 
death,  or  from  trouble  and  disquiet  of  conscience,  or  true 
misery  ;  but  because  Heaven  has  revealed  Jesus  Christ  to 
them,  and  shed  into  their  souls  that  "  holiness,  without  which 
no  man  shall  see  the  Lord."  For  these  two  graces,  faith  and 
love,  comprise  the  whole  kingdom  of  God.  Faith  is  the  be- 
ginning of  it,  and  love  the  accomplishment.  The  one  clears 
our  understandings,  the  other  sanctifies  our  afiections.  The 
one  is  the  light  of  the  soul,  the  other  is  the  heat  thereof.  The 
one  believes,  and  the  other  loves.  The  one  begins,  and  the 
other  finishes,  the  happiness  of  our  life. 

Now  faith  respects  generally  the  whole  doctrine  of  God 
revealed  in  his  word,  believing  it  to  be  undoubtedly  true  ;  but 
yet  it  fixes  particularly  on  the  promise  he  has  made  us,  to 
give  us  eternal  life  in  Jesus  Christ  his  Son.  It  is  this  properly 
that  renders  faith  saving  and  vivifying.  Without  this  it  would 
not  differ  at  all  from  the  faith  of  devils,  who  believe  there  is  a 
God,  and  tremble.  But  this  love  of  God,  which  it  apprehends 
and  embraces,  gives  it  salvation,  and  enables  it  to  produce  in 
us  all  that  is  necessary  for  entering  into  the  celestial  kingdom; 
according  to  the  assertions  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles  in 
numerous  places  of  Scripture,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  the 
Lord  is  already  passed  from  death  to  life  ;  that  there  is  no  con- 
demnation to  him  ;  and  that  "being  justified  by  faith  we  have 
peace  with  God."  Hence  Paul,  to  describe  true  faith,  adds 
expressly  these  words,  "  faith  in  Jesus  Christ." 

He  shows  us  in  the  like  manner  the  object  of  love,  by 
saying,  "  the  love  which  ye  have  towards  all  the  saints  ;"  that 
is,  as  we  have  intimated  before,  towards  all  Christians,  all  the 
faithful.  I  confess  that  love  extends  itself  to  all  men  in 
general,  there  being  none  to  whom  we  owe  not  love,  and,  when 
required,  the  services  which  a  true  and  sincere  affection  is 
ever  ready  to  yield  ;  since  all  men  are  the  work  and  image 
of  God  ;  since  in  Adam  they  all  have  one  common  nature  with 
us,  and  are  all  called  to  the  participation  of  faith  and  of  eternity 
in  Jesus  Christ  by  the  gospel,  which,  without  distinction  or 


20  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  I. 

exception,  invites  all  nations  and  persons  to  repentance  and 
grace.  But  still  love  embraces  not  all  men  equally.  It  has 
various  degrees  in  its  affections,  and  loves  its  neighbours  more 
or  less,  as  it  perceives  more  or  less  in  them  the  marks  of  the 
hand  of  God,  and  the  tokens  of  his  Christ,  and  of  his  Spirit. 
Seeing  then  that  they  appear  no  where  more  clearly  than  in 
the  saints,  that  is,  in  true  believers,  it  is  evident  that  these 
make  the  first  and  principal  part  of  the  object  of  love  ;  ac- 
cording to  what  the  apostle  says  elsewhere,  "  Let  us  do  good 
to  all  men,  especially  to  them  who  are  of  the  household  of 
faith,"  Gal.  vi.  10.  Besides  that  union  which  we  have  with 
them,  a  much  more  strict  and  intimate  one  than  with  any 
others,  their  necessity  also  particularly  obliges  us  to  do  so  ; 
the  hatred  and  persecution  of  the  world  putting  them  generally 
into  such  a  condition  that  no  creatures  more  need  the  offices 
of  our  love  ;  neither  is  there  any  object  more  worthy  of  the 
affection  and  succour  of  a  good  and  generous  soul,  than  inno- 
cence unjustly  hated  and  oppressed  :  therefore  it  is  that  the 
apostle  observes  here  by  name  the  love  of  the  Colossians 
towards  all  the  saints. 

He  joins  these  two  virtues  together,  faith  and  love,  because 
in  fact  they  are  inseparable  ;  it  being  neither  possible  nor 
imaginable,  whatsoever  error  may  please  to  say,  that  man 
should  believe  and  truly  embrace  God,  as  his  Saviour  in 
Jesus  Christ,  without  loving  him,  and  his  neighbours  for  his 
sake  ;  or  that  he  should  love  him  sincerely  without  believing 
in  him.  He  puts  faith  before  love,  not  because  it  is  more  ex- 
cellent, (on  the  contrary,  he  elsewhere  openly  gives  the  advan- 
tage to  love,  1  Cor.  xiii.,)  but  because  it  goes  first  in  the  order 
of  things  requisite  to  salvation.  It  is  the  blessed  root  from 
which  love  and  all  other  christian  virtues  spring  forth.  It  is 
the  foundation  of  the  spiritual  building,  the  gate  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  the  first-fruit  of  the  workmanship  of  God,  and 
the  beginning  of  the  second  creation.  As  in  the  old  creation 
light  was  the  first  thing  he  created,  so  in  the  new,  faith  is  the 
first  thing  he  produces  ;  which  the  apostle  elsewhere  thus 
divinely  expresses  :  "  God,  who  commanded  the  light  to  shine 
out  of  darkness,  hath  shined  in  our  hearts,  to  give  the  light 
of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  2  Cor.  iv.  6. 

After  the  faith  and  love  of  the  Colossians,  the  apostle  adds, 
in  the  third  place,  the  happiness  that  was  kept  for  them  in 
heaven:  "For  the  hope  which  is  laid  up  for  you  in  heaven." 
Some  join  these  words  with  what  he  had  now  said  of  the 
faith  and  love  of  the  Colossians,  and  understand  that  these 
faithful  people  laboured  with  alacrity  in  the  exercise  of  these 
virtues,  for  the  hope  they  had  of  the  celestial  crown  and  re- 
ward ;  according  to  what  the  apostle  says  elsewhere  of  Moses, 


CHAP.   I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  21 

that  "  he  chose  rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of 
God,  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season  ;  and 
esteemed  the  reproach  of  Christ  greater  riches  than  the  trea- 
sures of  Egypt;  because,"  he  says,  "he  had  respect  unto  the 
recompense  of  reward,"  Heb.  xi.  25,  26,  And  he  teaches  us  in 
general,  respecting  all  those  that  come  to  God,  that  they 
"  must  believe  that  God  is,  and  that  he  is  a  rewarder  of  them 
that  diligently  seek  him,"  Heb.  xi.  6.  And  hence  it  does  not 
follow  either  that  our  works  merit  the  glory  of  heaven,  or 
that  our  affection  is  mercenary.  If  we  might  not  hope  for 
anything  but  what  we  merit,  our  hopes  would  be  very  misera- 
ble. But  knowing  that  God  is  faithful  and  unchangeable,  we 
hope  with  assurance  for  the  bliss  which  he,  of  his  mere  grace, 
promises  to  us  ;  and  the  less  we  merit  it,  the  more  love  we 
conceive  towards  God,  who  gives  it  to  us  ;  and  the  greater 
acknowledgment  and  service  ought  we  to  render  him  for  it. 
And  for  this  gratuitous  salary  which  he  promises  us,  we  look 
not  on  it  as  a  prey  after  which  we  hunt,  and  without  which 
we  should  have  no  love  for  the  Lord  :  but  as  an  excellent 
evidence  of  his  infinite  goodness,  as  a  testimony  of  his  admir- 
able liberality.  That  love  of  God,  which  is  so  resplendent  in 
it,  is  the  thing  which  most  pleases  and  ravishes,  and  which 
inflames  our  faith,  our  zeal,  and  our  affection  for  the  service  of 
so  good  and  amiable  a  Lord. 

If  we  were  to  combine  what  the  apostle  says  of  the  love  of 
the  Colossians  with  the  hope  which  they  had  of  the  heavenly 
glory,  we  should  speak  in  strict  conformity  to  evangelical 
truth.  But  it  seems  to  me  more  simple  and  more  consistent 
with  the  context,  to  refer  it  to  the  3rd  verse,  where  he  says 
that  he  gives  thanks  to  God  for  the  Colossians,  having  under- 
stood their  faith  and  love,  "  for  the  hope,"  he  adds  now,  "  which 
is  laid  up  in  heaven  for  you."  For  considering  the  condition 
of  these  believers  on  the  earth,  there  seemed  no  great  cause  to 
congratulate  them  for  their  faith  and  love  ;  the  afflictions  which 
they  drew  on  them  rendering  them  in  appearance  the  most  mis- 
erable of  men.  But  though  the  flesh  forms  this  judgment  of 
them,  the  spirit,  that  sees,  above  all  visible  things,  the  crown 
of  glory  prepared  for  the  faith  and  love  of  believers,  es- 
teems them  as  the  happiest  of  all  creatures  ;  congratulates  them, 
and  renders  thanks  to  God  for  the  inestimable  treasure  that 
he  has  communicated  to  them.  "  I  know  (saith  the  apostle) 
that  your  piety  has  its  trials  and  exercises  in  this  world.  But 
I  cease  not  gratefully  to  bless  the  Lord  that  he  has  conferred 
on  you  that  great  favour.  I  know  the  bliss  that  is  prepared 
for  you  on  high,  in  the  sanctuary  of  God."  He  takes  the 
word  "hope"  here,  as  often  elsewhere,  for  the  thing  hoped 
for  ;  that  is,  the  blessed  immortality  and  glory  of  the  world  to 
come.    I  confess  we  do  not  yet  possess  it,  for  hope  is  the  ex- 


22  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  L 

pectation  of  a  future  good.  "  We  are  saved,"  says  the  apostle, 
"  by  hope  :  but  hope  that  is  seen  is  not  hope  :  for  what  a  man 
seeth,  why  doth  he  yet  hope  for  ?"  Eom.  viii.  24.  But  this 
good,  though  absent  and  future,  is  as  certified  to  us  as  if  we 
had  it  already  in  our  hands.  This  the  apostle  shows  when  he 
adds  that  this  hope  is  reserved  in  heaven  for  you.  It  is  a  trea- 
sure which  God  has  set  apart,  having  fully  prepared  it,  and 
keeping  it  faithfully  for  us  in  his  own  bosom.  Hence  we  are 
assured  of  this  felicity,  for  he  has  deposited  it  in  the  hands 
of  Jesus  Christ,  in  whom  is  hid  our  life  and  immortality  ;  so 
that  if  we  are  assured  of  the  safety  of  those  things  which  a 
man  of  probity  and  honour  keeps  in  trust  for  us,  how  much 
more  certain  should  we  be  of  the  life  and  glory  to  come,  see- 
ing God  has  put  them  for  us  into  the  keeping  of  so  faithful  and 
powerful  a  depositary  !  The  place  where  this  rich  treasure  is 
kept  for  us  confirms  us  yet  more  in  the  hope  and  the  excel- 
lence of  it  ;  for,  saith  the  apostle,  it  is  reserved  for  us  in  hea- 
ven. Fear  not,  ye  faithful.  Your  bliss  is  not  on  earth, 
where  the  thief  steals,  or  infidelity  and  violence  spoliate  ; 
where  time  itself  ruins  all  things  ;  where  crowns  the  best 
secured  are  subject  to  thousands  of  accidents.  Yours  is  on 
high,  in  the  heavens,  in  the  sanctuary  of  eternity,  elevated 
above  all  the  capricious  and  uncertain  changes  of  human  af- 
fairs ;  where  neither  vicissitudes,  nor  the  causes  that  produce 
them,  have  any  access.  This  same  place  shows  you  also  the 
excellence  and  perfection  of  the  bliss  you  hope  for,  since  all 
celestial  things  are  great  and  magnificent.  Weakness,  pov- 
erty and  imperfection  reside  here  ;  heaven  is  the  habitation  of 
glory  and  felicity. 

In  fine,  the  apostle  mentions  briefly,  in  the  last  words  of  this 
text,  whence  the  Colossians  had  derived  this  sublime  hope  : 
"  Of  which,"  he  says,  "  ye  heard  before  in  the  word  of  the 
truth  of  the  gospel."  This  sovereign  bliss,  which  is  reserved 
for  us  in  heaven,  is  so  highly  raised  above  nature,  that  neither 
acuteness  of  sense,  nor  vivacity  of  reason,  nor  even  the  light 
of  the  law,  could  discover  it  to  us,  much  less  give  us  the  hope 
of  it.  That  same  Jesus  Christ  who  has  destroyed  death,  hath 
"  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  through  the  gospel,"  2 
Tim.  i.  10.  Before  this  they  were  either  entirely  unperceived 
or  imperfectly  known  and  hoped  for.  It  is  therefore  precisely 
from  the  gospel  that  we  draw  both  the  faith  and  the  hope  of 
them.  He  calls  the  gospel  "the  word  of  truth,"  not,  as  some 
have  said,  because  it  is  the  word  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the 
truth  and  the  life,  an  exposition  more  refined  than  solid,  but 
because  it  is  the  most  excellent  of  all  truths;  for  those  which 
are  learned  in  the  school  of  nature  and  of  the  law,  are  mean 
and  unprofitable  in  comparison  of  those  which  the  gospel  dis- 
covers to  us.     We  may  justly  conceive  that  the  apostle  de- 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  23 

signs  also  secretly  to  oppose  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel  to  those 
of  the  seducers,  who  still  recommended  shadows  and  figures, 
as  we  shall  hear  in  the  following  chapter  ;  whereas  the  gospel 
presents  to  us  the  substance  and  the  truth  of  things.  And  it 
seems  to  be  in  this  sense  that  John,  after  he  had  said,  "  The  law 
was  given  by  Moses,"  adds,  in  a  form  of  contrast,  "  but  grace 
and  truth  came  by  Jesas  Christ,"  John  i.  17,  because  the  law 
had  only  dark  lineaments  and  shadows  ;  but,  on  the  contrary 
the  Lord  Jesus  brought  us  the  lively  image,  the  body,  and  the 
truth  of  celestial  things.  The  apostle  reminds  the  Colossians 
that  they  had  "heard  before  this  word  of  truth,"  as  it  were  to 
protest  to  them  that  he  would  advance  no  novelty  among 
them,  having  no  design  but  to  confirm  them  more  and  more 
in  the  holy  doctrine  which  they  had  already  received  by  faith, 
from  Epaphras,  and  other  ministers  of  the  Lord.  See,  be- 
loved brethren,  what  we  had  to  offer  you  for  the  exposition  of 
this  text. 

It  remains  that  we  briefly  direct  you  to  the  principal  sub- 
jects of  reflection  which  we  should  gather  from  it,  for  the  in- 
struction of  our  faith,  the  edification  of  our  love,  and  the  con- 
solation of  our  souls.  As  for  faith,  it  is  for  its  security  that 
Paul  tells  us,  at  the  commencement,  that  he  is  "  an  apostle  of 
Jesus  Christ  by  the  will  of  God,"  apprizing  us  by  the  title 
which  he  assumes,  that  we  required  not  to  receive  any  doctrine 
into  our  belief  which  has  not  been  announced  by  these  great 
and  highest  ministers  of  the  Lord.  Let  us  try  the  spirits,  and 
admit  only  the  word  of  the  apostles.  If  any  one  preaches  a 
gospel  beyond  that  which  they  have  preached,  let  us  hold  him 
an  Anathema.  We  have  their  Scriptures.  Let  us  assuredly 
believe  all  that  we  read  in  them.  Let  the  doctrine  which  ap- 
pears not  there  be  suspected  by  us  ;  and  praised  be  God  that, 
according  to  this  rule,  we  have  banished  from  our  religion 
that  which  error  and  superstition  had  thrust  into  Christianity. 
You  know  that  the  God,  the  Christ,  the  heaven,  the  worship 
and  sacraments,  which  we  preach,  have  been  given  to  us  by 
the  apostles  of  the  Lord,  established  by  the  will  of  God,  and  ap- 
pear in  all  their  Gospels  and  Epistles  ;  whereas  the  mediators 
whom  our  adversaries  invocate,  the  high  priest  which  they 
acknowledge,  the  traditions  which  they  maintain,  the  purga- 
tory which  they  fear,  the  greatest  part  of  the  sacraments  which 
they  celebrate,  the  adoration  of  the  host,  the  veneration  of  im- 
ages, and  the  voluntary  worship  which  they  practise,  are  not 
found  either  in  the  Old  or  the  New  Testament.  Let  us  therefore 
firmly  retain  our  religion,  as  instituted  by  the  will  of  God, 
and  constantly  reject  what  is  beyond  it,  as  coming  from  man, 
and  not  from  the  Lord  ;  from  earth,  and  not  from  heaven. 
But  it  is  not  enough  to  make  profession  of  it  ;  we  must  plant 
this  doctrine  in  our  hearts  by  a  lively  belief,  in  such  a  manner 


2é  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  I. 

that  we  may  be  able  to  say  with  truth,  that  we  have  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ,  and  love  towards  all  the  saints. 

With  the  apostle,  we  render  thanks  to  God  that  of  his  great 
mercies  he  has  vouchsafed  to  communicate  to  us  this  treasure 
of  his  gospel  ;  and  not  in  vain,  since  there  are  among  us  those 
who  have  truly  profited  by  these  spiritual  riches.  But  the 
life  of  the  greater  part  renders  them  unworthy  of  the  praise 
which  Paul  here  gives  the  Colossians.  Is  this  to  have  faith 
in  Jesus  Christ,  to  serve  him  so  remissly  as  we  do?  to 
evince  so  little  zeal  for  his  glory  ?  so  little  respect  to  his 
commandments  ?  so  little  belief  of  his  doctrines  ?  and  so 
little  affection  for  the  interests  of  his  kingdom?  As  for 
love,  I  am  ashamed  to  speak  of  it,  so  chilled  is  ours.  For 
if  we  loved  all  the  faithful,  should  we  leave  the  lives  of  some 
of  them,  and  the  reputation  of  others,  without  succour? 
Should  we  injure  them  instead  of  defending  them  ?  Should  we 
take  away  their  substance  instead  of  communicating  to  them 
our  own  ?  Should  we  vilify  their  honour  instead  of  pre- 
serving it  ?  Would  their  prosperity  offend  us  ?  Would 
their  miseries  satiate  us  ?  Faithful  brethren,  remember  that 
they  are  the  saints  of  God,  his  children,  and  the  brethrea 
of  his  Christ.  Respect  those  sacred  names,  and  spare  those 
persons  who  have  the  honour  to  be  related  so  nearly  to 
your  Lord.  He  will  judge  you  by  the  treatment  which 
you  give  them,  and  charge  to  his  own  account  the  good  and 
the  evil  which  they  shall  receive  from  your  hands,  recom- 
pensing it  or  punishing  it  in  the  very  same  manner  as  if  you  had 
honoured  or  violated  him  in  his  own  person.  He  will  sever 
you  from  his  communion  if  you  do  not  carefully  improve 
theirs,  and  will  never  avow  you  for  his  children  if  you  ac- 
knowledge them  not  for  your  brethren.  And  allege  not,  I  be- 
seech you,  that  you  have  faith.  I  know  well  that  this  divine 
light  cannot  dwell  in  souls  which  are  cold  and  destitute  of 
love.  But  suppose  that  this  were  possible,  I  solemnly  tell 
you  that  all  your  pretended  faith,  though  you  possessed  it  in 
the  highest  degree,  without  love,  would  be  but  a  shadow,  an 
idol,  and  an  illusion  ;  and,  as  James  saith,  a  corrupt  carcass, 
James  ii.  26.  Do  all  you  will,  have  as  much  faith  and  know- 
ledge as  you  please,  if  you  have  not  love,  you  are  not  a  chris- 
tian ;  you  are  but  a  false  and  deceitful  image  of  one.  Love  is 
absolutely  necessary  to  the  perfection  of  a  christian.  It  is  the 
distinctive  mark  of  this  holy  discipleship  ;  it  is  the  honour 
and  the  glory  of  it  ;  and  the  apostle,  as  you  see,  sets  it  down 
here  among  its  essential  parts.  Faith  will  cease  in  heaven, 
where  vision  will  supersede  believing.  But  love  will  remain 
for  ever.  Possess  then  a  blessing  so  great  and  so  necessary 
for  you.  If  you  have  not  hitherto  realized  it,  ask  it  of  God  in- 
cessantly with  prayers  and  tears,  and  leave  him  not  before  you 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  25 

have  obtained  it.  If  you  have  it,  thank  him  for  it,  more  than 
for  all  the  goods  of  the  universe  ;  and  forget  not  that  in  giv- 
ing you  love,  he  has  given  you  the  life,  the  kingdom,  and  the 
crown  of  heaven.  Exercise  this  precious  gift  continually  ; 
let  there  be  none  of  your  neighbours  without  feeling  it.  Do 
good  to  all.  Communicate  what  you  have  received  :  the  light 
of  your  knowledge,  to  the  ignorant  ;  the  succour  of  your  good 
offices,  to  the  afflicted  ;  the  sweetness  of  your  patience,  to  en- 
emies ;  the  consolation  of  your  visits,  to  the  sick  ;  the  assist- 
ance of  your  alms,  to  the  needy  ;  the  example  of  your  inno- 
cence, to  all  with  whom  you  converse.  But  have  a  particular 
care  of  saints,  the  members  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  who  serve  him 
here  with  you,  and  however  poor  they  are,  yet  have  been  re- 
deemed with  his  blood,  and  predestinated  to  his  glory,  as  well 
as  you.  Dear  brethren,  your  labour  shall  not  be  in  vain  ; 
your  love  will  bring  forth  its  fruits  in  their  season  with  a  most 
abundant  interest.  For  terrestrial  and  perishing  good  things, 
which  you  sow  here  below,  you  will  one  day  reap  on  high 
those  that  are  celestial  and  immortal  ;  for  a  little  bread  and  a 
little  money  that  you  now  give  to  Jesus  Christ,  you  will  re- 
ceive from  his  liberal  hand  the  delights  of  paradise,  and  the 
treasures  of  eternity.  This  is  the  hope  which  is  reserved  for 
you  in  heaven.  It  is  not  the  word  of  weak  and  vain  men 
which  has  promised  you  this.  You  have  heard,  by  the  gospel, 
the  word  of  truth,  which  cannot  lie. 

And  as  so  magnificent  a  hope  should  inflame  our  love  ;  so 
should  it  comfort  us  in  our  tribulations,  and  render  us  in- 
vincible under  the  cross  to  which  the  name  of  Christ  subjects 
us.  Consider  a  little  what  the  men  of  the  world  do  and  suffer 
for  uncertain  hopes,  that  whirl  in  the  air,  float  on  the  sea,  and 
depend  on  the  wind  and  on  fortune.  To  how  many  dangers 
they  expose  themselves  !  to  what  toil  and  disquietude  they 
condemn  tjiemselves  !  voluntarily  passing  nights  and  days  in 
a  most  laborious  servitude  for  an  imaginary  good,  that  has  no 
existence,  and  perhaps  never  will  have,  and  which,  however 
successful  in  their  designs,  they  will  not  enjoy  at  most  but  for 
a  few  years  !  Christian,  shall  it  be  said  that  you  have  less  zeal 
for  heaven  than  they  have  for  the  world  ?  Their  hope  is  doubt- 
ful ;  yours  is  certain.  Theirs  depends  on  the  will  of  men  and 
the  inconstancy  of  the  elements  ;  yours  is  in  heaven.  Pursue 
then  nobly  so  high  and  glorious  a  design.  And  since  your 
hope  is  in  heaven,  have  incessantly  your  heart,  your  affections, 
your  thoughts  there.  Eegard  no  more  either  flesh  or  earth  ; 
your  bliss  is  not  here.  Jesus  Christ  has  placed  it  on  high  at 
the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  iu  the  palace  of  his  holiness. 
Let  this  excellent  hope  sweeten  all  the  evil  which  you  suffer 
here  below.  If  you  are  not  at  ease  here,  if  you  are  despised, 
if  you  have  no  part  in  the  wealth  or  honours  of  the  world, 
4 


26  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  II. 

think  that  neither  is  it  here  that  Jesus  Christ  has  promised 
you  the  rewards  of  your  piety.  That  heaven  which  you  see 
so  fixed  and  immutable  keeps  them  faithfully  for  you.  You 
will  there  receive,  on  a  future  day,  the  honour,  the  glory,  and 
the  dignities  which  you  now  breathe  after  ;  not  to  possess 
them  during  a  few  miserable  months,  as  worldlings  enjoy  their 
boasted  riches,  but  eternally,  with  perfect  and  unspeakable 
satisfaction,  in  the  blessed  communion  of  saints,  of  angels, 
and  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Lord  of  both.  To  whom,  with  the 
Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  only  true  God,  blessed  for 
ever,  be  honour  and  glory  to  ages  of  ages.    Amen. 


SEKMON  II. 

VERSES   6 — 8. 


Which  is  come  unto  you,  as  it  is  in  all  the  world  ;  and  Iringeih 
'  forth  fruit,  as  it  doth  also  in  you,  since  the  day  ye  heard  of  it, 
and  knew  the  grace  of  God  in  truth  :  as  ye  also  learned  of 
Epaphras  our  dear  fellow  servant,  ivho  is  for  you  a  faithful 
minister  of  Christ  ;  who  also  declared  unto  us  your  love  in  the 
Spirit. 

Dear  brethren,  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
most  excellent  and  most  admirable  doctrine  that  was  ever  pub- 
lished in  the  universe.  It  is  the  grand  mystery  of  God,  the 
wisdom  of  angels  and  of  men,  the  glory  of  heaven,  and  the 
happiness  of  earth.  It  is  the  only  seed  of  immortality,  the 
perfection  of  our  nature,  the  light  of  our  understandings,  and 
the  sanctity  of  our  affections.  There  is  no  philosophy,  or 
other  doctrine,  but  this,  which  is  able  to  deliver  us  from  the 
slavery  of  devils,  and  make  us  children  of  the  Most  High.  It 
is  this  only  that  truly  purifies  us  from  the  filth  of  sin,  and 
clothes  us  with  a  complete  righteousness  ;  that  plucks  us  out 
of  the  hands  of  death  and  hell,  and  gives  us  access  to  the 
throne  of  God,  there  to  receive  of  his  bounty  life  and  supreme 
felicity.  All  other  religions,  invented  and  followed  by  flesh 
and  blood,  are  ways  of  perdition,  instructions  of  error  and 
vanity,  that  present  themselves  to  wretched  men  in  the  thick 
darkness  of  their  ignorance,  as  those  seducing  fires  that  some- 
times mislead  travellers  in  the  obscurity  of  night,  conducting 
them  into  the  deeps  of  death  and  eternal  malediction.  The 
law  itself,  though  it  descended  from  heaven,  is  as  much  beneath 
the  dignity  of  the  gospel  as  Sinai  is  beneath  heaven,  and  Moses 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  27 

beneatli  Jesus  Cbrist.  The  law  affrights  consciences,  the  gos- 
pel gives  them  confidence.  The  one  slays  the  sinner,  the  other 
raises  him  up  again.  The  one  makes  grace  desirable,  the  other 
gives  the  enjoyment  of  it.  The  one  presented  the  shadows 
and  figures  of  truth,  the  other  gives  us  the  lively  image,  the 
very  body  of  it.  Whence  you  may  judge,  my  brethren,  how 
much  it  concerns  us  to  know  so  saving  and  divine  a  doctrine, 
that  we  may  embrace  and  obey  it.  The  repose  and  happiness  of 
our  souls  are  based  on  it,  which  we  shall  unprofitably  seek 
everywhere  else.  It  is  to  inflame  us  with  an  ardent  desire  for 
this  holy  and  blessed  knowledge  that  the  apostle  Paul  so  often 
proposes  to  us  in  his  Epistles  the  praises  of  the  gospel  ;  scarcely 
ever  naming  it  without  immediately  adding  something  in  its 
commendation  ;  as  the  custom  is  of  those  that  are  ardently 
attached,  never  to  speak  of  what  they  love  without  giving  it 
some  eulogy  that  testifies  both  its  excellence  and  their  estima- 
tion of  it.  Such  is  the  manner  of  our  Paul  towards  the  gospel 
of  his  Master.  He  has  his  soul  so  full  of  the  love  and  admira- 
tion of  this  heavenly  doctrine,  that  he  can  neither  pronounce 
nor  write  the  name  of  it,  but  he  accompanies  it  with  praises, 
as  the  just  and  due  attentions  of  its  dignity.  Of  this  we  have 
an  example  in  the  text  which  you  have  now  heard.  For 
having  said  before  that  the  Colossians  had  heard  of  the  hope 
which  is  laid  up  for  us  in  heaven  by  the  word  of  truth,  that 
is,  the  gospel  ;  he  thence  takes  occasion  to  introduce  in  this 
verse  something  in  its  commendation,  describing  to  us  the  dif- 
fusion and  efficacy  of  this  divine  wsrd  of  life.  "  The  gospel," 
he  writes,  "  which  is  come  unto  you,  as  it  is  in  all  the  world  ; 
and  bringeth  forth  fruit,  as  it  doth  also  in  you,  since  the  day 
ye  heard  of  it,  and  knew  the  grace  of  God  in  truth."  In  the 
two  verses  which  follow,  he  commends  Epaphras,  who  had  by 
his  ministry  converted  the  Colossians  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
Lord,  bearing  a  strong  testimony  to  his  fidelity  and  goodness, 
and  mingling  with  it  his  praises  of  the  Colossians  themselves: 
"  As  also  ye  have  heard  of  Epaphras  our  dear  fellow  servant, 
who  is  for  you  a  faithful  minister  of  Christ  ;  who  also  hath 
declared  unto  us  your  love  in  the  Spirit."  This  shall  be,  if  it 
please  the  Lord,  the  subject  of  this  sermon  ;  and  to  proceed 
with  it  in  order,  we  shall  consider  the  two  particulars  that  pre- 
sent themselves  in  the  text  of  Paul,  that  is,  the  praise  of  the 
gospel  in  the  former  verse,  and  that  of  Epaphras  in  the  two 
next  ;  alluding  also  to  what  the  apostle  intermingles  with  them 
in  commendation  of  the  Colossians. 

I.  As  to  the  gospel,  he  touches  on  two  points.  First,  its  ad- 
mirable progress,  and  its  great  and  sudden  spread.  It  "  is 
come  unto  you,  as  it  is  in  all  the  world."  And,  secondly,  its 
divine  efficacy  to  convert  men  and  change  their  courses  of  life  : 
"  And  bringeth  forth  fruit,  as  it  doth  also  in  you,  since  the  day 
ye  heard  of  it,  and  knew  the  grace  of  God  in  truth." 


âS  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  II. 

He  says  therefore,  first,  that  the  gospel  had  come  to  the  Co- 
lossians.  Secondly,  that  it  had  also  come  into  all  the  world. 
About  the  first  there  is  no  difficulty  ;  for  as  there  was  a  church 
in  the  city  of  Colosse,  it  is  evident  that  the  gospel,  by  which 
christian  churches  are  founded  and  builded,  had  been  preached 
there.  Only  we  should  observe  in  this  event  the  marvellous 
goodness  of  God  towards  the  Colossians  ;  for  they  were  a  bar- 
barous and  an  idolatrous  people,  very  far  oif  from  the  country 
and  the  religion  of  Israel  ;  a  portion  of  Phrygia,  a  province 
infamous  for  its  abominations,  whence  had  issued  the  myste- 
ries and  infernal  devotions  of  Cybele,  called  by  the  Gen- 
tiles the  mother  of  the  gods,  the  most  detestable  of  all  pagan 
idols,  and  in  whose  service  were  committed  the  most  unclean 
and  shameful  horrors.  The  Colossians,  as  other  inhabitants 
of  Phrygia,  were  immersed  in  this  vile  gulf,  when  the  Lord 
vouchsafed  to  visit  them,  and  make  the  light  of  his  gospel  to 
arise  upon  them.  Whence  it  appears  that  the  knowledge  he 
gives  us  of  his  word  is  a  donation  from  his  mere  grace,  and 
not  the  payment  of  our  vaunted  merits.  For  what  had  the 
Colossians,  in  their  deplorable  condition,  that  could  invite 
him  to  communicate  to  them  this  rich  treasure  ?  what  had  they, 
on  the  contrary,  that  might  not  have  diverted  him  from  that 
design,  all  of  them  being  saturated  with  an  inveterate  love  of 
idols  ?  You  see  also  the  apostle  says,  not  that  they  had  come 
to  the  gospel,  but  that  the  gospel  had  come  to  them  ;  to  show 
us  that  it  is  God  who  comes  to  us,  who  prevents  us  by  his 
grace,  according  to  the  determinate  purpose  of  his  good  plea- 
sure. The  sick  go  or  send  to  the  physician,  and  solicit  the  aid 
of  his  skill.  Here,  perfectly  contrary,  the  supreme  Physician 
of  souls  seeks  the  sick.  He  comes  to  them  in  his  benignity. 
He  sends  them  his  ministers,  and  presents  to  them  his  reme- 
dies, when  they  dream  of  nothing  less  than  of  their  malady, 
and  the  cure  necessary  for  them.  "  The  Son  of  man  is  come 
to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost,"  Luke  xix.  10.  He 
despatches  his  servants  to  Colosse,  and  other  places,  to  bear 
thither  his  salvation  to  men  who  were  intent  on  nothing  but 
their  own  destruction.  He  causes  himself  to  be  "  found  of 
them  that  sought  him  not  ;"  and  says  "  unto  a  nation  that  was 
not  called  by  his  name.  Behold  me,  behold  me,"  Isa.  Ixv.  1. 
Let  a  man  search  as  much  as  he  pleases,  he  will  never  be  able 
to  find  any  reason  of  the  dispensation  of  God  in  communica- 
ting his  gospel  at  certain  times,  and  to  certain  places,  but  his 
mere  good  pleasure.  And  that  we  may  the  more  carefully 
note  this  truth,  he  often  directs  the  light  of  his  word  to  those 
who  conducted  themselves  the  worst  of  all  men  in  the  state  of 
nature,  and  hides  it  from  them  who  seemed  less  defiled  than 
others.  He  imparts  his  gospel  to  the  Colossians,  to  the  Ephe- 
sians,  to  the  Corinthians,  and  others,  who  were  of  all  people 


CHAP.  I.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  OOLOSSIANS.  29 

the  most  abandoned  to  superstition  and  vice.  He  says  nothing 
to  the  gymnosophists,  the  brahmins,  or  to  various  others,  as 
well  barbarians  as  Greeks,  who  at  the  time  were  esteemed  the 
most  innocent  of  all  mankind,  and  who,  in  fact,  appear  from 
history  to  have  possessed  much  more  justice  and  integrity 
than  any  other  people.  Why  has  God  taken  this  course  ? 
Because  if  he  had  acted  in  a  different  manner,  if  he  had  called 
only  those  in  whose  religious  systems  and  lives  was  seen  a 
glimmer  of  exterior  goodness,  passing  by  those  whose  manners 
had  nothing  but  what  was  detestable,  we  should  have  believed, 
without  doubt,  what  some  cannot  even  now  forbear  to  say, 
that  the  works  of  men  oblige  God  to  call  them,  and  impart  to 
them  his  gospel  ;  and  that,  as  they  speak  in  the  schools  of 
Rome,  if  in  rigour  they  are  not  worthy  of  this  favour,  yet 
they  merit  it  at  least  in  a  seemliness  of  equity  and  congruity. 
The  Lord  therefore  very  often  takes  a  perfectly  opposite 
course,  to  make  us  understand  that  the  persons  whom  he  calls 
are  as  devoid  of  all  merit  as  they  are  whom  he  leaves  ;  and 
that  if  he  vouchsafes  to  illuminate  any  with  the  light  of  his 
gospel,  he  does  so  of  the  sole  good  pleasure  of  his  grace,  and 
not  in  the  least  degree  for  any  of  their  merits.  Indeed  it  is 
most  certain  that  no  man  whatever,  in  his  native  depravity, 
can  do  any  good  work,  the  most  splendid  of  their  pretended 
virtues  being  only  a  deceitful  daub,  which  by  a  fair  appearance 
hides  deformity  and  corruption.  It  was  therefore  a  miracle  of 
the  divine  goodness  that  this  saving  doctrine  came  to  the  Col- 
ossians,  who,  by  their  nature,  were  so  far  from  it  ;  and  the 
apostle  remiods  them  of  it,  the  more  to  excite  their  sincere 
gratitude  to  the  Author  of  this  great  benefit. 

But  that  which  he  adds  is  much  more  strange  and  incredible, 
that  the  gospel  was  come  into  all  the  world.  He  makes  the 
same  assertion  in  a  succeeding  verse  of  this  chapter  ;  "  The 
gospel  is  preached  to  every  creature  that  is  under  heaven." 
And  in  the  10th  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  he 
applies  to  the  ministers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  what  the  psalmist 
had  sung  of  the  heavens  ;  "  Their  sound  is  gone  forth  through 
all  the  earth,  and  their  words  unto  the  ends  of  the  world," 
And  in  the  15th  chapter  of  the  same  Epistle,  speaking  of 
himself,  he  says,  "From  Jerusalem,  and  round  about  it,  even 
to  Illyricum,  I  have  fully  preached  the  gospel  of  Christ  ;"  and 
after  this  he  sowed  the  good  seed  in  the  isle  of  Malta,  and  at 
Rome.  Now  if  the  other  twelve  apostles,  and  the  seventy 
disciples,  and  the  evangelists,  laboured  each  according  to  his 
measure  in  proportion  with  Paul,  and  that  they  did  so  is  not 
to  be  doubted,  it  is  not  astonishing  that  by  that  time  they 
should  have  carried  the  gospel  through  the  whole  world. 
We  read  also  in  the  writings  of  the  first  Christians,  Justin, 
Clement,  Tertullian,  and  others,  that  in  their  time,  that  is, 


3^  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  II. 

about  one  hundred  and  thirty  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  years 
after  the  Lord's  death,  all  places  were  filled  with  Christian 
churches,  and  that  there  was  no  nation  among  either  the  Greeks 
or  the  barbarians,  nay,  the  very  Scythians  or  Tartars,  where 
Christ  Jesus  had  not  his  servants.  And  though  these  testimo- 
nies cannot  be  rejected  without  extreme  arrogance,  there  being 
no  probability  that  either  Paul,  or  the  other  writers  now 
mentioned,  would  have  asserted  such  a  fact  without  reason  ; 
yet,  entirely  to  disarm  incredulity,  I  will  add,  that  the  very 
same  statement  is  made  in  the  books  of  heathen  authors  of 
that  age.  For  Tacitus,  a  Roman  historian,  a  violent  enemy  to 
Christianity,  though  dispassionate  in  other  things,  and  of 
great  esteem  among  his  countrymen,  has  recorded  that  in  the 
eleventh  year  of  Nero,  that  is,  eight  years  after  the  date  of 
this  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Colossians,  a  severe  search  having 
been  made,  there  was  found  a  very  great  multitude  of  Chris- 
tians at  Rome.*  This  is  sufficient  to  justify  the  statement  of 
the  apostle.  For  as  the  gospel  in  the  west  was  able  to  pene- 
trate quite  through  the  provinces  that  constituted,  as  it  were, 
the  heart  of  the  Roman  empire  ;  it  would  more  easily  extend 
itself  to  Parthia  and  the  Indies,  where  Thomas  conveyed  it  ; 
and  other  eastern  parts,  where  its  vestiges  remain  to  this  day  ; 
and  in  Egypt  and  Ethiopia  in  the  south,  where,  according  to 
ecclesiastical  history,  Matthew  preached  it  ;  and  towards  the 
north,  which  occupied  the  attention  of  other  disciples.  This 
was  almost  the  whole  world  that  was  then  known  by  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  ;  and,  without  doubt,  in  this  sense  we  are 
to  understand  the  apostle's  statement.  For  as  to  those  ex- 
tensive countries  discovered  in  the  west,  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  ago,  which  are  commonly  called  the  West  Indies, 
or  the  New  World,  it  is  evident  that  the  ancients  had  no 
certain  knowledge  of  them,  and  it  is  very  probable  that  they 
were  not  peopled  at  the  apostle's  time  ;  the  memorials  which 
those  nations  have  preserved  of  their  own  history  reaching 
back  for  not  more  than  four  or  five  hundred  years  at  most. 
We  may  therefore  conclude,  that,  taking  the  world,  as  it  is 
commonly  understood,  for  countries  inhabited  and  known  at 
the  time,  the  gospel  had,  when  the  apostle  addressed  the  Colos- 
sians, come  into  all  the  world. 

The  apostle  mentions  this  to  the  Colossians,  first,  to  confirm 
them  the  more  in  the  faith  of  the  gospel.  I  confess  that  its 
truth  depends  not  on  the  success  attendant  on  its  promulga- 
tion, nor  on  the  number  that  believe  it.  Though  all  the  world 
were  to  reject  it,  though  heaven  and  earth  were  to  persecute 
it,  the  faith  of  a  Christian  should  continue  firm  and  unshaken, 
founded,  as  it  is,  on  the  word  of  God,  and  not  on  the  approba- 

*  Anual.  1.  15, 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  31 

tion  of  men  ;  as,  on  the  contrary,  though  the  universe  main- 
tained error,  it  would  be  our  duty  to  reject  it,  our  condemna- 
tion to  receive  it.  The  command  of  God  is  in  force  for  ever, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  follow  a  multitude  to  do  evil."  But  though 
this  is  true,  yet  it  is  a  great  consolation  to  a  believer  to  see 
the  extensive  diffusion  of  the  truth.  And  as  the  admirable 
power  of  the  Lord  is  the  more  impressively  manifest  in  pro- 
portion to  the  greater  number  of  converts  it  brings  to  his 
Christ,  so  it  is  evident  that  this  extension  of  the  gospel  con- 
firms our  faith  ;  furnishing  us  with  an  eminent  testimony  of  the 
power  of  God,  and  of  the  efficacy  of  his  word, 

I  add,  also,  that  the  success  here  mentioned  by  the  apostle 
contains  a  strong  argument  for  the  divinity  of  the  gospel,  and 
that  in  two  respects  :  First,  if  you  consider  the  thing  in  itself  ; 
it  is  so  great  and  marvellous  that  it  shows  sufficiently  that  this 
doctrine  is  not  only  true,  but  even  divine  and  celestial. 
"When  Paul  wrote  this  Epistle,  it  was  not  full  thirty  years 
after  Jesus  Christ  had  suffered  death  in  Judea,  and  yet  the 
gospel,  as  he  says,  had  already  come  into  all  the  world.  How 
could  it  have  made  so  much  way  in  so  little  time,  surmounted 
so  many  obstacles,  flown  into  so  many  places  infinitely  distant, 
if  it  had  not  been  of  celestial  origin,  and  was  not  carried  by  a 
divine  power?  Certainly,  as  the  extension  of  the  light  of  the 
sun,  that  in  a  short  time  illumines  the  whole  hemisphere,  and 
by  its  rapid  motion  visits  all  climes  of  the  globe  in  four  and 
twenty  hours,  evidently  shows  us  that  it  is  a  work  of  God,  and 
of  a  nature  altogether  different  from  that  of  earthly  and  elemen- 
tary things  ;  so  the  swift  and  sudden  course  of  the  evangelical 
doctrine,  that  filled  the  world  in  so  little  time,  penetrated  and 
dissipated  its  moral  darkness,  and  so  speedily  made  itself 
visible  from  one  end  of  the  heavens  to  the  other,  invincibly 
proves  that  it  is  a  divine  and  not  a  human  production.  Look 
at  all  the  systems  of  religion  that  have  ever  prevailed  in  the 
world,  and  you  will  not  find  one  of  them  that  was  established 
in  this  manner,  and  that  in  so  short  a  time  was  equally  pro- 
gressive. The  pagan  religions  existed  only  in  the  countries 
where  they  were  generated  ;  and  if  sometimes  they  extended 
farther,  their  growth  was  owing  rather  to  the  love  of  novelty 
in  travellers,  who  transported  them  from  the  place  of  their 
birth,  than  to  their  own  native  genius  and  energy.  All  the 
celebrated  systems  of  philosophy  among  the  Grecians  lived 
only  in  the  soil  that  produced  them.  And  the  doctrine  which 
the  popes  of  Rome  have  established  in  their  communion  ar- 
rived at  the  state  in  which  we  see  it,  only  by  a  long  succession 
of  ages  ;  gaining  something  in  every  period,  till  it  took  its 
present  consistence  and  form,  and  in  which  it  is  maintained, 
by  the  terror  of  inquisitions,  the  pomp  of  worldly  power, 
and  the  favour  of  the  mighty,  who  find  their  own  interests 


82  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  IT. 

combined  with  it.  It  is  only  the  gospel  of  the  Lord  that, 
from  its  birth,  had  the  courage  and  the  power  to  fly  every 
way,  penetrating  with  incredible  swiftness  all  the  regions  of 
the  habitable  world  in  less  than  five  and  twenty  years.  And 
here  let  none  allege  the  seduction  of  Mohammed,  which  in- 
fected the  east,  and  the  south,  and  a  part  of  the  west  itself,  in 
a  very  little  time.  For  there  is  no  similarity  between  the 
progress  of  these  doctrines.  I  pass  by  other  observable  dif- 
ferences. I  will  touch  upon  only  one  of  the  most  essential  ; 
namely,  that  Mohammed  and  his  successors  were  unable  to 
advance  their  impostures  but  by  the  force  of  arms,  and  propa- 
gated their  creed  no  where  except  in  the  countries  which  they 
conquered,  and  among  the  nations  which  they  subjugated.  It 
was  their  iron,  and  not  their  Koran,  that  passed  through  and 
devasted  the  world.  Was  there  any  thing  marvellous  or  super- 
natural in  their  success  ?  or  that  a  troop  of  robbers,  whom 
their  own  necessities,  or  the  cowardice  and  distractions  of 
others,  had  fitted  for  enterprises,  should,  by  force  or  stratagem, 
capture  certain  towns  ?  or  that,  elated  with  their  first  succes- 
ses, and  receiving  great  accessions  to  their  numbers,  they  still 
advanced,  and,  passing  out  of  Arabia,  they  attacked  the  extremi- 
ties of  the  Roman  empire,  which  at  that  time  were  almost 
defenceless  ?  and  that,  aided  by  the  disunion  and  imbecility  of 
their  enemies,  they  found  themselves,  at  the  end  of  three  or 
four  score  years,  in  possession  of  the  east  and  the  south  ? 
Surely  in  all  this  there  was  nothing  superhuman.  In  earlier 
times,  Alexander  the  Macedonian  was  equally  victorious  in 
less  than  fifteen  years,  as  was  Sesostris  also,  and  others  both 
before  and  after  him.  It  is  then  no  miracle  that  the  religion 
of  the  Saracens,  borne,  if  I  may  so  say,  on  the  wings  of  their 
victorious  ensigns,  saw  much  of  the  world  in  fifty  or  sixty 
years.  If  we  marvel  at  anything,  it  is  at  the  success  of  their 
arms,  not  at  the  exploits  of  their  Koran,  which  never  gained 
admittance  into  any  place  whose  gates  were  not  opened  for 
it  by  fire  and  sword.  On  the  contrary,  the  gospel  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  was  not  sustained  and  advanced  in  the  world  by  military 
force,  the  favour  of  arms,  the  successes  of  war,  or  the  achieve- 
ments of  any  conqueror.  It  was  not  promoted  either  by  the 
charms  of  eloquence  or  the  subtilties  of  philosophy  ;  in  one 
word,  it  had  no  conceivable  human  succour.  Those  who  car- 
ried it  were  twelve  or  thirteen  fishermen,  with  a  small  number 
of  others  of  no  higher  rank  in  life  ;  without  credit,  without 
arms,  without  courage,  without  experience;  the  offscouring 
and  refuse  of  the  world  ;  mere  weakness  and  imbecility  ;  who, 
far  from  invading  the  rights  of  other  men,  had  renounced  all 
their  own  ;  who,  instead  of  smiting  and  slaying,  were  scourged 
and  stoned  at  every  turn  ;  and,  instead  of  attacking  others, 
did  not  resist  those  who  maltreated  them  ;  living  in  very  great 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  33 

humility  and  innocence.  With  this  poor  equipage  the  gospel 
undertook  the  conquest  of  the  world,  and  though  it  met  every 
where  with  gates  shut  and  walls  garrisoned  with  all  that  was 
terrible  to  repel  it  ;  though  the  Jews  persecuted  it,  the  Gentiles 
derided  it,  the  great  and  the  little  held  it  in  abomination  ; 
though  magistrates  banished  it,  or  put  it  under  the  most  cruel 
punishments  ;  though  all  rent  it  by  outrage  and  reproaches  ; 
yet,  unprotected  as  it  was,  it  made  itself  room,  and,  in  spite  of 
so  many  dreadful  obstructions,  ran  from  east  to  west,  and  from 
south  to  north.  Constantly  despising  all  earthly  aid,  it  reigned 
in  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  in  every  place,  before  it  had 
one  magistrate  or  captain  on  its  side,  and  disarming  them 
when  it  received  any  ;  so  far  was  it  from  making  advantage  of 
their  arms  or  authority.  We  may  affirm  therefore  that  this 
progress  of  the  gospel  is  a  thing  altogether  peculiar  to  itself, 
never  occurring  at  any  time  in  the  world,  and  with  which 
neither  Mohammedanism,  nor  any  other  religion,  has  any  thing 
in  common.  It  follows  that  this  is  an  evidence  of  the  truth 
and  divinity  of  this  holy  doctrine,  those  that  are  human  neither 
having  nor  being  able  to  have  that  admirable  power  and  energy 
which  are  here  seen. 

This  will  be  further  evident,  if  we  contemplate  this  event 
in  another  light,  inasmuch  as  it  was  a  manifest  accomplishment 
of  the  ancient  oracles,  given  by  the  Lord  to  his  ancient  people, 
and  registered  in  his  Scriptures,  which  foretell,  in  numerous 
places,  that  the  Messiah  would  universally  diffuse  the  know- 
ledge of  the  true  God,  which  was  before  confined  within  the 
narrow  limits  of  Judea  ;  that  the  nations  should  walk  in  his 
light,  and  that  the  "  people  walking  in  darkness  should  see  a 
great  light,"  Isa.  ix.  2  ;  words  which  the  Lord  Jesus,  in  the 
days  of  his  flesh,  had  thus  interpreted,  "  This  gospel  of  the 
kingdom  shall  be  preached  in  all  the  world,"  Matt.  xxiv.  14. 
These  predictions,  therefore,  appearing  at  that  time  so  punc- 
tually, so  admirably,  and  in  so  short  a  time  fulfilled,  who  can 
doubt  any  more  whether  the  Lord  Jesus  is  the  true  Christ  ? 
and  especially  since  he  alone  revealed  the  God  of  Israel  and 
his  service  to  the  world,  and  declared  that  his  apostles  were 
the  servants  of  this  same  God,  who,  having  many  ages  before 
predicted  these  things,  so  mightily  in  the  fulness  of  time  execu- 
ted them  by  their  ministry  ? 

But  besides  the  confirmation  of  the  faith  of  the  Colossians 
in  general,  I  conceive  that  by  this  eulogy  of  the  gospel,  the 
apostle  designed  more  particularly  to  fortify  them  against  the 
new  doctrines  which  some  seducers  were  sowing  in  their 
church.  For  since  other  churches,  founded  in  divers  parts 
of  the  world,  had  heard  nothing  of  these  doctrines,  it  was  very 
evident  that  they  were  not  any  part  of  the  gospel,  that  is,  of 
what  the  apostles  preached.    Whence  we  may  deduce,  as  we  pass 


^  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  II. 

on,  an  invincible  proof,  both  of  the  truth  of  the  doctrine 
which  we  believe,  and  of  the  vanity  of  that  which  we  contest 
with  our  adversaries  of  Eome.  For  as  to  what  we  hold,  it  is 
evident  that  the  apostles  taught  it  in  all  the  world,  both  by 
word  of  mouth  and  by  writing,  as  all  the  necessary,  positive, 
and  atïirmative  articles  of  our  faith  fully  appear  in  the  monu- 
ments of  apostolic  preaching;  that  is,  both  in  the  books  which 
they  wrote,  and  in  the  churches  they  founded.  As  for  our  ad- 
versaries, it  is  no  less  evident  that  they  can  never  show  that 
the  monarchy  or  infallibility  of  their  pope,  or  the  adoration  of 
their  host,  or  the  service  of  their  images,  or  their  invocation 
of  saints,  or  purgatory,  or  the  traffic  of  their  indulgences,  or 
any  other  of  the  points  which  we  debate  with  them,  was 
preached  in  all  the  world  at  the  time  of  the  holy  apostle.  Not 
a  single  trace  of  them  can  be  found  in  any  of  the  books  or 
memorials  remaining  of  that  age,  or  of  a  long  time  beyond  it; 
only  a  man  may  perceive  them,  some  ages  after,  growing  up, 
one  in  one  place  and  another  in  another,  at  various  times  and 
in  different  regions  ;  an  evident  sign  that  they  are  not  parts  of 
the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  was  fully  preached  in  all  the 
world  in  Paul's  lifetime,  but  the  inventions  and  traditions  of 
men  that  have  arrived  since. 

II.  Having  mentioned  this  sudden  and  admirable  diffusion 
of  the  gospel,  the  apostle  directs  us,  in  the  second  place,  to  its 
eSicacy  in  the  places  where  it  had  been  preached.  It  is  not 
only  "  come  into  all  the  world,"  but,  which  is  more,  it  "  brings 
forth  fruit"  there,  "  as  it  doth  also  in  you."  It  bears  the  same 
fruits  there  which  it  has  produced  among  you.  You  discern 
that  these  fruits  of  the  gospel  are  nothing  but  that  faith,  love, 
integrity,  modesty,  temperance,  and  other  spiritual  graces, 
which  it  produces  in  the  souls  of  those  who  hear  it  and  receive 
it  as  they  ought,  and  in  which  the  sanctification  of  men  con- 
sists. It  is  this  energy  of  the  gospel  which  the  Lord  would 
represent  to  us  in  the  parable  of  the  seed,  to  which  he  com- 
pares it.  Matt.  xiii.  ;  and  which,  according  to  the  various  pro- 
perties of  the  places  where  it  fell,  brought  forth  more  or  less 
fruit  ;  in  some  a  hundred-fold,  in  other  sixty,  and  elsewhere 
but  thirty.  Never  was  seen  a  thing  more  marvellous.  In  a 
few  years  the  gospel  transformed  the  whole  earth.  It  crowned 
with  flowers  and  fruits  plants  that  were  barren  and  accursed. 
It  filled  the  deserts,  the  plains  and  the  most  desolate  heaths 
with  exquisite  and  delicious  trees.  That  which  the  laws  of 
nations,  that  which  the  most  excellent  philosophy  had  for 
many  ages  cultivated  in  vain,  no  sooner  felt  the  hand  of  these 
evangelical  vine-dressers  and  husbandmen,  than,  losing  the 
austerity  of  its  primitive  juices,  it  became  bland,  and  was 
laden  with  celestial  fruits.  Piety,  sweetness,  and  pliilanthropy 
were  seen  to  flourish  where  nothing  had  ever  appeared  but  the 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  SO. 

horrors  of  superstition,  of  atheism,  of  cruelty,  and  of  all 
other  vices.  This  is  the  change  which  the  Lord  had  foretold 
in  Isaiah,  in  those  figurative  words,  "  I  will  plant  in  the  wil- 
derness the  cedar,  the  shittah  tree,  and  the  myrtle,  and  the 
oil  tree  ;  I  will  set  in  the  desert  the  fir  tree,  the  pine  and  the 
box  tree  together,"  Isa.  xli.  19.  And  elsewhere,  comparing 
the  gospel  to  rain  that  waters  the  earth,  and  makes  it  bud  and 
bring  forth  fruit,  he  says,  "  So  shall  my  word  be  that  goeth 
forth  out  of  my  mouth  :  it  shall  not  return  unto  me  void,  but  it 
shall  do  all  my  pleasure,  and  prosper  in  the  things  for  which 
I  send  it,"  Isa.  Iv.  10,  11.  And  this  divine  fruitfulness  of  the 
evangelical  doctrine,  which  miraculously  changed  the  world, 
is  also  a  most  evident  argument  for  its  truth,  and  its  heavenly 
origin  ;  for  never  has  a  system  of  religion  or  morals  been 
known  in  our  world  possessing  so  animative  and  universal  an 
efficacy. 

But  the  apostle  particularly  commends  the  fruits  which  it 
had  brought  forth  among  the  Coiossians  :  "  It  bringeth  forth 
in  you,  since  the  day  that  you  heard  and  knew  the  grace  of 
God  in  truth."  He  praises  both  their  teachableness,  for  this 
word  had  produced  fruit  in  them  from  the  first  day  they  heard 
it  ;  and  their  constancy,  for  it  still  continued  to  yield  fruit. 
The  earth  produces  not  fruit  as  soon  as  it  receives  seed  ;  there 
must  be  time  to  mollify  the  grain,  to  make  it  germinate,  to  invig- 
orate it,  and  decorate  it  with  fruits.  It  is  not  so  in  this  spirit- 
ual husbandry.  The  gospel,  from  the  very  moment  that  it  is 
rightly  received  into  your  heart,  will  produce  fruit.  Eeceive 
it,  then,  faithful  brethren.  Defer  not  till  to-morrow.  This 
day,  while  you  hear  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  "  harden  not  your 
hearts,"  Psal.  xcv.  7,  8.  It  is  one  of  the  most  pernicious  arti- 
fices of  the  enemy,  to  suggest  to  men  that  they  defer  their 
conversion  to  the  future.  Give  me,  says  he,  this  day,  and 
give  God  the  next.  Give  me  the  present  and  him  the  future  ; 
to  me  the  flower  and  vigour  of  thy  life,  to  him  the  remnant 
and  thine  old  age.  So  men  find  at  last,  when  all  has  been 
given  to  Satan  and  the  world,  nothing  remains  for  them  to 
give  the  Lord,  to  whom  they  have  left  only  the  future,  that  is, 
what  was  not  theirs  ;  disposing  of  the  present,  which  alone 
was  in  their  power,  to  the  service  of  their  mortal  enemy. 
Christians,  take  ye  heed  of  his  wiles,  and  hasten  out  of  his 
snares.  Imitate  these  faithful  Coiossians.  Eeceive  the  word 
of  God  so  deeply  into  your  hearts,  that  it  may  bring  forth 
fruit  there  from  this  very  day.  You  cannot  be  the  Lord's  too 
soon.  Put  not  off  the  design  of  being  happy  to  another  time  ; 
consider  that  time  flies,  and  life  escapes,  and  death  comes, 
while  you  deliberate.  But  if  we  are  required  at  once  to  bear 
fruit  worthy  of  the  gospel,  it  follows  not  that  we  may  soon 
after  cease  to  do  so,  as  certain  trees,  which,  if  they  are  the  first 


^  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.   II. 

to  flourish,  are  also  the  first  to  fade.  The  plants  of  the  Lord 
soon  begin,  but  never  cease  to  yield  fruit.  They  bring  forth 
fruit  in  the  hoariness  of  old  age  ;  and  are  even  then  "  fat  and 
flourishing,"  as  the  psalmist  sings,  Psal.  xcii.  14.  If  you  have 
embraced  the  gospel  with  ardour,  retain  it  with  invincible 
constancy.  For  salvation  is  prepared  for  none  but  those  who  per- 
severe, who  retain  the  verdure  of  heavenly  principles,  in  defiance 
of  the  scorching  heats  of  summer  and  the  chills  of  winter  ;  so  that 
no  season,  however  severe  and  adverse,  ever  strips  them  of  their 
spiritual  flowers  and  fruits. 

As  to  what  remains,  the  apostle  calls  the  faith  of  the  gospel 
"  the  knowledge  of  the  grace  of  God,"  because  it  is  not  possible  to 
enjoy  this  heavenly  doctrine,  if  a  man  has  not  received  and  ex- 
perienced the  mercy  which  it  offers  us  in  Jesus  Christ.  This 
grace  is  the  heart  and  substance  of  the  gospel.  Whence  it  ap- 
pears, that  to  thrust  into  it  the  doctrine  of  the  satisfactions 
and  the  merits  of  men,  is  to  corrupt  it  and  to  change  its  na- 
ture, for  these  things  are  wholly  incompatible  with  grace,  or 
such  as  at  least  extremely  darken  and  enfeeble  it.  When  he 
says  that  they  "  heard  and  knew  the  grace  of  God  in  truth," 
he  means,  either  that  they  received  it  truly,  in  sincerity  of 
heart,  without  hypocrisy,  or  that  they  knew  that  this  grace 
was  delivered  to  them  pure  and  sincere,  without  any  mixture, 
either  of  Pharisaical  superstition  or  philosophical  vanity  ;  or, 
finally,  so  as  it  is  declared  in  the  gospel,  not  in  error,  and  in 
fictions,  and  lies,  as  in  false  religions,  nor  in  shadow  and  in 
figure,  as  in  the  law  of  Moses  ;  but  nakedly  and  simply,  as  it 
is  in  itself.  Of  these  three  expositions,  all  good  and  convenient, 
the  first  is  commendatory  of  the  Colossians,  the  second  of  Epa- 
phras  their  pastor,  and  the  third  is  to  the  praise  of  the  gospel 
itself. 

As  to  Epaphras,  he  speaks  of  him  by  name  in  the  second 
part  of  this  text,  consisting  of  the  last  two  verses.  And  to 
commend  him  to  the  Colossians,  and  secure  to  him  their  hearts 
and  regard,  he  bears  a  strong  testimony  to  his  fidelity,  his  sin- 
cerity, and  his  goodness  :  "As  ye  also  learned  of  Epaphras 
our  dear  fellow  servant,  who  is  for  you  a  faithful  minister  of 
Christ,  who  also  hath  declared  unto  us  your  love  in  the  Spirit." 
This  holy  apostle  knew  how  very  important  it  is  that  churches 
should,  for  their  edification,  have  a  good  opinion  of  their  pas- 
tors ;  and  with  what  artifices  the  enemy  usually  labours  to 
decry  the  faithful  servants  of  God,  and  ruin  their  reputation 
among  their  flocks  :  on  this  account  he  here  exalts  Epaphras 
as  his  piety  deserved  :  and,  to  remove  from  the  Colossians  all 
suspicion  against  the  purity  of  his  teachings,  expressly  as- 
sures them  that  the  doctrine  which  they  had  learned  of  him 
was  the  very  same  gospel  of  which  he  had  spoken.  And  from 
this  great  anxiety  of  the  apostle  for  the  reputation  of  Epa- 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIAKS.  Sf 

phras,  the  ministers  of  the  Lord  should  learn  the  necessity  of 
insuring  the  high  and  cordial  esteem  of  their  people;  ab- 
staining not  from  evil  only,  but  also  from  its  appearances,  and 
whatever  might  cause  them  to  be  suspected  of  it.  It  is  not 
enough  to  obtain  the  approval  of  our  own  conscience,  we 
should  also  be  prepared  to  satisfy  the  judgment  of  our  neigh- 
bours. Innocence  is  necessary  for  ourselves,  and  reputation 
for  others.  And  since  it  serves  to  edify  them,  we  are  evidently 
bound  to  preserve,  not  only  our  own,  but  also  the  reputation 
of  our  fellow  servants,  whom  God  has  appointed  to  the  same 
office.  And  who  does  not  see  that,  if  we  bite  and  rend  one 
another,  the  disgraceful  conduct  of  individuals  will  involve 
us  all  in  one  common  infamy  and  ruin  ?  And  you  see  also 
that  as  the  reputation  of  pastors  is  a  public  good,  tending  to 
the  edification  of  the  whole  church,  each  believer  owes  it  a 
peculiar  respect,  and  that  the  crime  of  those  who  unjustly  vio- 
late it  is  a  kind  of  sacrilege.  It  is  robbing  the  church,  stealing 
from  it  its  means  of  edification,  to  calumniate  the  life  and  doc- 
trine of  them  who  serve  it,  or  to  expose  them  to  ridicule  and 
contempt  by  your  defamations. 

But  to  return  to  Epaphras  ;  the  apostle  honours  him  with 
two  or  three  very  great  eulogies.  First,  he  calls  him  his 
"  dear  fellow  servant."  Admire,  I  beseech  you,  the  ingenu- 
ousness, the  kindness,  the  humility,  and  modesty  of  this  holy 
man.  His  ingenuousness  ;  for  whereas  there  is  commonly  a 
jealousy  between  persons  of  the  same  profession,  Paul,  con- 
trarily,  acknowledges  and  exalts  the  gifts  and  piety  of  this 
servant  of  God.  His  kindness  ;  for  he  tenderly  loves  him, 
and  everywhere  plainly  shows  that  of  all  men  there  were  none 
whom  he  more  tenderly  esteemed  than  the  faithful  ministers 
of  the  gospel.  Finally,  his  humility;  in  that  being  raised  to 
the  throne  of  apostolic  dignity,  the  highest  in  the  church,  he 
makes  Epaphras,  as  it  were,  to  sit  there  with  him,  owning  him 
for  his  fellow.  Next  he  styles  him  a  "  minister  of  Christ."  It 
was  much  to  be  fellow  servant  with  Paul,  but  it  is  much  more 
to  be  the  minister  of  Christ,  the  Lord  of  glory,  the  Head  of 
the  church,  the  sovereign  Monarch  of  men  and  angels.  Judge 
with  what  reason  some  of  our  adversaries  deride  the  title  that 
we  assume,  denominating  ourselves  ministers  of  Christ,  or  of 
his  gospel,  since  it  is  the  word  that  the  apostle  expressly  uses 
here,  to  denote  that  holy  service  to  which  God  has  called  us. 
But  he  calls  not  Epayihras  simply  a  "  minister  of  Christ,"  he 
says  moreover  that  he  is  a  "  faithful  minister  :"  the  appellation 
of  minister  was  his  in  common  with  many  others,  the  praise 
of  faithfulness  with  few.  It  is  all  that  the  apostle  required 
in  a  good  steward  of  the  house  of  God  :  "  Let  a  man  so  ac- 
count of  us,  as  of  the  ministers  of  Christ,  and  stewards  of  the 
mysteries  of  God.     Moreover  it  is  required  in  stewards,  that 


88  AN"  EXPOSITION"   OF  [SEEM.  IT. 

each  one  be  found  faithful,"  1  Cor.  iv.  1,  2.  To  have  this 
praise  the  minister  of  the  Lord  must,  first,  seek  the  glory  of 
his  Master,  and  not  his  own  :  and,  secondly,  he  must  keep 
close  to  his  orders  ;  not  parsimoniously  concealing  from  his 
sheep  any  of  the  things  committed  to  him  for  their  edification  ; 
and  without  setting  before  them  anything  of  his  own  inven- 
tion beyond,  or  contrary  to,  the  will  of  the  chief  Shepherd. 
But  though  all  these  good  qualities  greatly  recommended 
Epaphras  to  the  Colossians,  yet  the  apostle  adds  another, 
which,  no  less  than  the  former,  obliged  them  tenderly  to  love 
and  cherish  him,  namely,  that  he  employed  the  Master's  tal- 
ents to  their  edification  :  "  He  is  a  faithful  minister  of  Christ 
for  your  They  ought  therefore  to  love  him  both  for  the  dig- 
nity of  his  office,  and  for  the  profit  that  thereby  came  to  them. 
For  though  we  are  bound  to  love  and  respect  all  the  faithful 
servants  of  God  in  general,  yet,  doubtless,  we  owe  those  par- 
ticular affection  and  reverence  who  specially  consecrate  their 
ministry  to  our  edification.  In  fine,  the  apostle  tells  them 
that  this  holy  servant  of  God  had  informed  him  of  the  pure 
and  spiritual  love  they  bore  him.  He  "  hath  declared  to  us" 
(that  is,  both  to  him  and  to  Timothy)  "  your  love  in  the  Spirit." 
I  conceive  that  by  love  he  means  here,  not  the  christian  grace 
which  we  ordinarily  call  by  this  name,  (for  of  the  love  of  the 
Colossians,  in  that  acceptation  of  the  word,  he  had  already 
spoken  in  the  4th  verse,)  but  the  affection  which  these  be- 
lievers had  for  Paul.  And  he  calls  it  a  "  love  in  Spirit,"  that 
is,  spiritual  ;  because  it  was  founded  on  the  Spirit,  and  not  on 
the  flesh  ;  upon  the  interests  of  heaven,  and  not  on  those  of 
earth.  And  here  consider,  I  beseech  you,  how  prompt  and 
active  Epaphras  was  to  cement  spiritual  friendships.  The  Co- 
lossians had  never  seen  Paul  ;  doubtless  it  was  he  who  had  re- 
counted to  them  the  eminent  virtue  and  piety  of  this  great 
man,  and  by  this  means  had  enkindled  in  their  souls  that  holy 
and  spiritual  love  which  they  felt  for  him.  And  behold,  also, 
how,  by  his  narration  of  the  love  that  these  believers  bore  to 
him,  he  excites  in  his  soul  a  corresponding  affection  for  them. 
O  holy  and  blessed  tongue,  that  sowest  nothing  in  the  hearts 
of  the  faithful  but  charity  and  love,  how  far  from  thy  candour 
and  goodness,  are  those  mouths  of  hell  of  these  days,  that  in- 
spire nothing  but  hatred,  and  kindle  nothing  but  animosity, 
envy,  and  revenge,  in  the  souls  of  all  on  whom  they  breathe  ; 
who  busy  themselves  in  making  dissensions  among  brethren, 
in  dividing  and  arming  against  each  other  those  whom  nature 
or  grace  has  most  strictly  united  ! 

But  it  is  time  to  conclude  this  discourse.  That  which  you 
have  heard  may,  I  think,  suffice  for  your  understanding  this 
text.  Nothing  remains  for  me,  but  to  conjure  you  to  seek 
most  earnestly  to  profit  by  it,  and  to  draw  from  this  subject 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  39 

the  holy  uses  which  it  contains,  whether  for  correction  in  the 
duties  of  life,  or  the  consolation  of  your  souls.  The  gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  come  unto  you  ;  the  same  gospel  which 
aforetime  changed  the  world,  which  abolished  idolatry  and 
paganism,  and  made  the  knowledge  and  service  of  the  true 
God  everywhere  to  flourish.  The  Lord  has  raised  you  up 
Epaphrases,  faithful  ministers  of  his  word,  who  have  pub- 
lished it  to  your  fathers  and  to  you  with  exquisite  sincerity 
and  truth  entirely,  as  Paul  preached  it  to  the  nations,  without 
any  leaven  of  superstition  or  error,  acquitting  themselves  in 
their  stewardship  with  so  much  uprightness  of  conscience, 
with  so  much  zeal  and  ardour,  that  I  assure  myself,  were  the 
great  apostle  now  on  earth,  he  would  do  them  the  honour  to 
own  them  for  his  dear  fellow  labourers.  You  have  seen  this 
sacred  doctrine  repeat  the  evidences  of  its  divinity  by  the 
swiftness  of  its  course,  and  its  mighty  efficacy.  In  a  short 
time  it  flew  through  all  Christendom,  and,  in  spite  of  the  op- 
positions of  hell  and  earth,  raised  up  everywhere  noble  and 
flourishing  churches  to  the  Lord.  We  may  say  particularly 
of  your  church,  that  the  gospel  yielded  fruit  in  it  from  the 
day  that  it  was  heard  there.  The  blood  and  the  sufferings  of 
so  many  of  the  faithful,  who  therewith  nobly  sealed  its  truth, 
their  charity,  their  zeal,  their  good  and  holy  works,  still  fresh 
in  our  memories,  are  unexceptionable  testimonies  of  this  fact. 
But  I  know  not  whether  I  may  justly  add  what  the  apostle 
says  here  of  his  Colossians,  that  the  gospel  bringeth  forth 
fruit  still  in  you  ;  for  those  few  fruits  which  it  produces  here 
are  choked  up  with  so  many  thorns  and  briers,  so  many  sins 
and  vices,  that  they  scarcely  deserve  to  be  considered.  I  mean 
not  that  the  gospel  itself  is  changed.  It  has  still  that  immor- 
tal energy  which  God  gave  it,  to  germinate,  and  grow  up,  and 
produce  the  fruits  of  righteousness  and  life.  It  is  ever  the  in- 
corruptible seed  of  God,  his  word  living  and  abiding  for  ever, 
full  of  efhcacy  and  vigour.  Whence  then  comes  this  sterility  ? 
Dear  brethren,  it  comes  from  the  bad  quality  of  our  ground, 
and  not  from  the  weakness  of  the  heavenly  seed.  The  gos- 
pel is  not  yielding  fruit  among  us,  because  it  falls  in  stony 
places,  and  by  the  highways,  or  among  thorns;  on  souls  full 
of  worldly  lusts  or  carnal  cares  ;  or  it  is  exposed  to  the  feet 
of  evil  spirits,  who  are  ever  going  to  and  fro  in  the  land  ;  or 
it  is  frozen  and  hardened  with  the  fear  of  temporal  evils.  This 
is,  christians,  the  true  cause  of  our  barrenness. 

Let  us  then  cleanse  our  hearts,  and,  as  a  prophet  says, 
"  break  up  our  fallow  grounds,"  Hos.  x.  12  ;  Jer.  iv.  8.  Let 
us  pluck  up  the  thorns  which  the  world  has  planted  there, 
avarice,  the  desire  and  deceitfulness  of  riches,  ambition,  and 
the  love  of  our  flesh,  sensuality,  and  vanity.  When  you  re- 
ceive the  gospel  into  souls  so  prepared  for  it,  it  will  not  fail  to 


éO  AN-  EXPOSITION   OP  [SERM.  II. 

show  its  fecundity  ;  it  will  bring  forth  its  fruit  abundantly,  in 
some  an  hundred  for  one,  in  others  sixty,  in  others  thirty. 
Without  this  it  is  in  vain  that  we  boast  us  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
of  his  word  ;  his  word  is  given  to  us  that  it  may  bring  forth 
fruit.  If  we  continue  barren,  far  from  proving  beneficial  to 
us,  it  will  aggravate  our  condemnation,  and  draw  upon  us  a 
judgment  terrible  in  proportion  to  the  plenty  in  which  it  was 
communicated  to  us.  Remember  that  dreadful  threatening, 
verified  in  the  lamentable  experience  of  multitudes,  which  the 
apostle  denounced  to  the  Hebrews  :  The  earth  that  bringeth 
forth  thorns  and  thistles  "  is  rejected,  and  nigh  unto  cursing  ; 
whose  end  is  to  be  burned,"  Heb.  vi.  8.  "  It  is  a  fearful  thing 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God,"  who  is  the  most  se- 
vere to  punish  the  contempt  of  his  word,  when  he  has  been 
the  most  liberal  in  imparting  it  to  men.  For  not  continuing 
to  bear  fruits  worthy  of  their  vocation,  these  very  Colossians, 
whose  faith  and  love  the  apostle  here  commends,  and  their 
neighbours,  the  Laodiceans  and  the  people  of  Hierapolis,  saw, 
some  years  afterwards,  their  cities  demolished  and  buried  by  a 
tremendous  earthquake.  And  all  those  noble  churches  of 
Asia,  so  much  celebrated  in  the  Acts  and  the  Apocalypse,  are 
at  this  day  desolate,  for  not  having  profited  by  the  gospel  ;  and 
God  has  already  begun  to  avenge  this  contempt  of  his  word 
in  various  places  in  Christendom,  which  the  briers  and  thorns 
of  the  old  superstition  now  cover  again,  instead  of  the  gospel 
which  lately  flourished  there.  God  forbid,  dear  brethren,  that 
we  should  fall  into  the  like  condemnation.  To  prevent  it,  let 
us  recover  the  zeal  of  our  fathers  ;  let  us  do  our  first  works. 
Let  the  gospel  again  be  fruitful  in  the  midst  of  us,  abundantly 
prolific  in  love,  meekness,  honesty,  peace,  humility,  patience, 
alms,  prayer,  fasting,  sobriety,  chastity,  and  the  other  fruits  of 
the  Spirit  ;  and  above  all,  a  spiritual  love  of  Paul  and  the 
other  apostles  who  report  the  gospel  to  us,  that  we  may  re- 
spect them  and  walk  in  their  doctrine,  and  in  concord  and  love 
among  ourselves.  If  we  make  this  use  of  the  gospel,  God  will 
take  pleasure  in  the  midst  of  us.  He  will  daily  visit  us,  he 
will  cherish  us,  as  his  paradise,  his  heritage,  the  garden  of  his 
delights.  He  will  pour  out  upon  us  here  below  graces  of  all 
kinds,  blessings  in  abundance.  And  after  having  seen  us 
fruitful  on  earth,  he  will  one  day  transplant  us  into  heaven, 
that  we  may  for  ever  live  and  flourish  in  the  courts  of  his  own 
blessed  and  eternal  habitation.     Amen. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  41 

SEKMON    III. 

VERSE   9. 

For  this  cause  we  also,  since  the  day  we  heard  it,  do  not  cease 
to  pray  for  you,  and  to  desire  that  ye  might  he  filled  with  the 
hnoiuledge  of  his  will  in  all  wisdom  and  spiritual  under- 
standing. 

The  love  of  beauty  and  excellence  is  so  natural  to  us,  that 
we  cannot  discover  so  much  as  the  earliest  germs  of  them  any- 
where but  with  delight  ;  and  the  secret  pleasure  they  excite 
within  us  always  makes  us  wish  for  their  growth  and  their 
perfection,  unless  envy,  or  some  other  malignant  passion, 
check  the  natural  emotions  of  our  hearts.  Thus,  when  we  see 
lovely  and  docile  children,  there  is  no  soul  having  any  of  the 
sympathies  of  man  that  is  not  delighted,  and  utters  a  similar 
prayer  for  them  to  that  which  Joseph  offered  for  Benjamin, 
when  he  was  presented  to  him  by  his  brethren,  "  God  be  gra- 
cious unto  thee,  my  son,"  Gen.  xliii,  29.  From  such  sentiments 
flow  those  benedictions  which  we  cordially  pronounce  on  per- 
sons that  are  employed  in  beneficial  affairs,  whether  natural  or 
civil  ;  as  when,  with  the  psalmist,  we  see  the  busy  reapers  of 
a  luxuriant  field  in  harvest  time,  and  address  them,  "The 
blessing  of  the  Lord  be  upon  you;  we  bless  you  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord,"  Psal.  cxxix.  8. 

But  if  natural  beauty  and  perfection  engage  our  affections 
and  good  wishes  to  those  in  whom  we  perceive  them,  the  gifts 
of  divine  grace,  which  are  incomparably  more  excellent, 
should  much  more  affect  us,  and  kindle  in  our  hearts  more  ar- 
dent flames  of  love  and  of  desire  for  those  that  possess  them. 
For  as  high  as  heaven  is  above  the  earth,  and  as  much  as  eter- 
nity is  preferable  to  time,  so  much  advantage  have  the  beau- 
ties and  perfections  of  grace  above  those  of  nature.  If, 
therefore,  we  estimate  them  according  to  their  worth,  we 
cannot  see  them  shine  out  in  any  without  advancing  towards 
them,  and  attaching  ourselves  to  them  as  holy  and  as  happy 
persons.  An  eminent  example  of  this  motion  of  christian 
love,  we  have  in  our  text  ;  for  the  apostle  Paul  here  shows  us 
that  he  was  no  sooner  informed  by  Epaphras  of  the  faith  and 
love  of  the  Colossians,  than  his  soul  was  seized  with  ardent 
love  to  them  ;  and  being  hindered  by  his  absence  from  giving 
them  other  evidences  of  his  affection,  he  presented  incessant 
and  earnest  prayers  to  God  for  their  advancement  and  perfec- 
tion in  piety  ;  that  is,  for  the  continuation  and  the  perpetuity 
of  their  felicity. 


42  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  III. 

The  sum  of  his  desires  for  them  is  contained  in  three  verses, 
each  verse  evidently  relating  to  a  distinct  kind  of  benefits  :  for 
he  wishes  them,  first,  in  the  9th  verse,  the  benefits  that  respect 
a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  truth  ;  then,  in  the  10th,  those  that 
respect  the  exercise  of  sanctity  ;  and,  finally,  in  the  11th,  such 
as  concern  perseverance  in  faith,  and  patience  in  afflictions. 
For  the  present,  we  will  meditate  only  on  the  first  of  these 
three  articles,  deferring  the  two  next  to  another  discourse  : 
"  And  for  this  cause,"  saith  the  apostle,  "  we  also,  since  the  day 
we  heard  it,  cease  not  to  pray  for  you,  and  to  desire  that  ye 
might  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  his  will  in  all  wisdom 
and  spiritual  understanding."  For  the  right  understanding  of 
this  text,  we  will  consider  in  it  three  particulars,  by  the  help 
of  the  grace  of  God,  which  we  implore  to  produce  this  effect. 
First,  the  motive  of  the  apostle's  prayers.  Secondly,  their 
form,  manner,  and  quality.  And,  finally,  which  is  the  most 
important,  the  subject  of  them,  that  is,  the  blessings  which  he 
requested  of  God  for  them. 

I.  The  motive  that  induced  the  apostle  to  pray  for  the  Co- 
lossians,  he  expresses  in  these  first  words  :  "And  for  this  cause, 
since  the  day  we  heard  it,  we  cease  not  to  pray  for  you."  For 
these  words  sending  us  back  to  the  former  verses,  with  which 
they  are  connected,  teach  us  that  the  information  which  the 
apostle  had  received  from  Epaphras,  of  the  faith  of  the  Colos- 
sians  towards  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  their  love  towards  the 
saints,  of  their  heavenly  hope,  and  their  other  spiritual  graces, 
of  which  he  spake  before,  that  this  knowledge,  I  say,  having 
filled  him  with  love  towards  them,  made  him  continually  pour  out 
prayers  before  God  to  complete  their  salvation.  I  confess  the 
affection  they  bore  him  in  particular,  and  which  he  mentions 
in  the  verse  immediately  preceding,  contributed  something  to 
his  anxiety  to  pray  for  them.  But  its  principal  cause  was 
their  piety  and  sanctification,  because  they  had  the  first-fruits 
of  the  Spirit,  and  the  beginnings  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Seeing  the  foundations  of  the  gospel,  and  of  the  building  of 
God,  so  happily  laid  and  established  among  them,  he  beseeches 
the  supreme  Master  and  Architect  of  this  spiritual  work  by 
his  power  to  finish  it.  The  same  reason  made  him  also  present 
his  prayers  to  God  for  the  Ephesians,  as  he  testifies  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Epistle  which  he  wrote  them,  using  almost  all 
the  same  words  that  he  does  here.  Having  "  heard  of  your 
faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  love  unto  all  the  saints,  I  cease 
not  to  give  thanks  for  you,  making  mention  of  you  in  my 
prayers  ;  that  the  God  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father 
of  i^lory,  may  give  unto  you  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  of  reve- 
lation," Eph.  i.  15 — 17.  Faithful  brethren,  learn  by  this  ex- 
ample of  the  apostle  to  pray  to  the  Lord  principally  for  those 
in  whom  you  see  the  work  of  his  Spirit  manifest.    Eejoice  ye 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  43 

for  their  faith  and  zeal,  and  love  them  for  the  integrity  and 
purity  of  their  life  ;  but  remember  that  the  first  and  principal 
office  which  your  love  owes  them  is  the  continual  succour  of 
your  prayers.  Object  not  that  they  are  too  far  advanced  to 
need  them.  During  the  course  of  this  life,  the  progress  of 
a  christian  is  never  so  great  that  the  prayers  of  his  brethren 
for  him  are  unnecessary.  When  he  is  most  advanced,  the  ene- 
my makes  most  attempts,  and  lies  most  in  ambush  for  him. 
The  nearer  he  is  to  the  crown,  the  more  need  he  has  of  divine 
assistance.  As  there  are  none  in  the  lists  whom  we  favour 
more  with  our  wishes,  acclamations,  and  applause,  than  those 
who  come  nearest  to  victory  ;  so  in  this  career  of  the  gospel, 
we  should  love  those  most  who  run  best,  and  accompany  with 
our  vows,  prayers,  and  benedictions  those  who  are  nearest  to 
the  mark  of  the  heavenly  calling.  "We  never  utter  more 
wishes  for  a  vessel  than  when,  after  a  long  and  dangerous  voy- 
age, it  arrives  near  our  coast,  or  we  see  it  ready  to  come  into 
the  haven.  When  the  believer  having  escaped  the  shoals  and 
tempests  of  the  world,  steers  the  direct  course  for  heaven,  and 
makes,  (if  we  may  so  say,)  with  oars  and  sails,  for  the  port  of 
salvation,  it  is  then  we  should  redouble  our  wishes  and  bene- 
dictions for  his  safety  ;  it  is  then  we  should  fear  more  than 
ever  lest  some  accident  mar  his  progress,  and  bereave  him  of 
the  reward  of  all  his  pains. 

II.  But  let  us  now  consider,  in  the  second  place,  the  man- 
ner and  quality  of  the  apostle's  prayers:  "  Since  the  day  that 
we  heard  this  good  news,  we  cease  not  to  pray  for  you." 
First,  he  did  not  pray  alone.  "  We  cease  not  to  pray  ;"  where 
you  see  he  speaks  of  more  praying  with  him,  comprising  in 
this  number  Timothy,  whom  he  had  expressly  named  at  the 
beginning  of  this  Epistle,  and  the  other  believers  who  were  at 
Rome  with  him.  Urged  by  one  and  the  same  love,  animated 
with  one  and  the  same  desire,  they  all  lifted  up  their  hearts 
and  voices  to  God  with  the  apostle  for  the  spiritual  prosperity 
of  the  Colossians.  As  there  is  nothing  on  earth  more  grateful 
to  the  Lord  than  this  divine  concert  of  many  souls  thus  min- 
gling their  voices  and  supplications,  so  there  is  nothing  more 
effectual  to  draw  down  his  blessing  and  obtain  his  graces  in 
the  behalf  of  our  neighbours.  "  If  two  of  you  agree  on  earth 
concerning  anything  that  they  shall  ask,"  saith  our  Lord,  "  it 
shall  be  done  for  them  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven,"  Matt, 
xviii.  19.  In  addition  to  the  conjunction  of  believers  who 
prayed  unanimously  with  the  apostle  for  the  Colossians,  they 
had  also  two  other  qualities  which  gave  them  much  power  ; 
assiduity,  and  the  devotion  of  heart  from  which  they  issued. 

He  expresses  their  assiduity  in  prayer,  when  he  says  that 
he  "ceased  not  to  pray  for  them,  since  the  day  he  heard  of" 
their  piety,  of  their  zeal  in  the  gospel.     As  soon  as  he  was  in- 


44:  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  III. 

formed  of  it,  he  deferred  not  this  duty  to  another  time.  He 
commenced  praying  for  them  immediately,  and  pleading  with 
God  for  the  completion  of  their  faith  ;  so  ardently  did  this 
holy  soul  love  all  who  bore  the  badges  of  his  Lord.  But  he 
was  not  satisfied  with  praying  once  or  twice  for  the  salvation 
of  these  dear  disciples  of  his  Master.  He  went  on  constantly, 
and  ceased  not  to  solicit  the  goodness  of  God  for  them.  For 
it  is  not  enough  that  Moses  lifted  up  his  hands  once  or  twice  for 
Joshua's  victory  :  for  the  entire  defeat  of  Amalek,  this  holy 
man  must  continue  to  hold  his  hands  stretched  out  towards 
heaven.  Hence  Isaiah  commands  the  watchmen  of  Jerusalem, 
that  is,  its  pastors,  not  to  hold  their  peace,  nor  give  the  Lord 
any  rest,  "  till  he  establish  and  make  Jerusalem  a  praise  in  the 
earth,"  Isa.  Ixii.  6,  7.  And  our  sovereign  Master  expressly 
teaches  us  in  one  of  his  evangelical  parables  that  we  "  ought 
always  to  pray,  and  not  to  faint,"  Luke  xviii.  1.  And  his 
apostle  enjoins  us  to  "  continue  in  prayer,"  Col.  iv.  2  ;  and 
elsewhere,  to  "  continue  instant  in  prayer,"  Rom.  xii.  12  ;  and 
again  in  another  place,  to  "  pray  without  ceasing."  1  Thess.  v. 
17.  So  you  see  he  very  carefully  practised  himself  what  he 
commanded  others.  Think  not  that  this  holy  man  was  on  his 
knees  from  morning  to  evening,  employing  himself  in  nothing 
but  the  recital  of  prayers,  as  the  Messalians  or  Euchites  did,  a 
sect  of  heretics  condemned  by  the  ancient  church,  who  pro- 
fessed to  be  always  in  prayer,  and  under  this  fair  mask  con- 
cealed a  most  profound  and  infamous  laziness.  The  greater 
part  of  the  monks  of  the  communion  of  Rome  at  this  day, 
who  retire  to  cloisters,  as  to  so  many  refuges  of  idleness,  pass 
their  time  in  saying  litanies  and  orisons,  usually  without  any 
attention  or  devotion,  and  under  pretext  of  this  pretended  ser- 
vice to  the  public  unjustly  draw  the  tribute  of  immense  alms, 
righteously  due  to  the  true  poor,  and  not  to  them,  who  are 
willingly  so  by  a  vow  directly  contrary  to  the  command  of 
God.  The  prayer  of  a  believer  interferes  not  with  his  other 
duties.  The  same  Lord  who  commands  him  to  pray  orders  him 
also  to  labour.  He  who  obliges  him  to  the  one  does  not  ex- 
empt him  from  the  other.  He  intends  that  he  acquit  himself 
of  them  both.  Let  prayer  begin,  guide,  and  end  his  labour  ; 
let  his  labour  seal,  follow,  and  accompany  his  prayer.  Let  him 
pray  with  his  hand  upon  his  work  ;  let  him  work  with  heart 
and  eyes  lifted  up  in  prayer.  Let  these  two  exercises  fill  up 
his  whole  life  ;  parting  its  days  and  hours  between  them,  and 
keeping  faithful  and  indissoluble  company  to  its  end.  Paul 
prayed  ;  but  his  devotion  did  not  hinder  him  from  preaching 
to  them  who  were  present,  from  writing  to  the  absent,  from  in- 
structing the  teachable,  or  reprehending  transgressors  ;  from 
confirming  them  who  were  within,  or  drawing  those  without  ; 
from  fortifying  the  faithful,  or  convincing  the  adversaries  ; 


CHAP.  I,]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  45 

and  from  employing  his  time  in  a  multitude  of  good  and  holy 
actions.  What  means  he  then  by  saying  that  he  ceased  not  to 
pray  for  the  Colossians?  He  intends  to  say  that  he  assid- 
uously pursued  it,  that  he  offered  it  as  often  as  time  and  place 
permitted,  that  neither  day  nor  night  passed  but  he  did  them 
this  charitable  office.  Not  to  allege  here  what  Augustine  ele- 
gantly says,  that  our  desires  being  prayers,  these  are  continual 
when  our  desires  are  continual.*  This  example  of  the  apos- 
tle teaches  pastors  in  particular,  that  beside  preaching  the 
word,  they  owe  to  their  flocks  the  succour  of  their  prayers, 
offered  not  only  in  public,  but  also  in  private.  For  how  can 
they,  without  crime,  forget  persons  who  are  so  strictly  united 
to  them — their  crown  and  their  glory,  the  ground  of  their  joy 
and  the  subject  of  their  most  precious  labour  ? 

But  the  apostle,  besides  the  assiduity  of  his  prayers  for  the 
Colossians,  shows  us  their  ardour  and  devotion,  when  he  says 
that  he  prays  and  desires  for  them.  For  the  first  of  those 
words  signifies  the  elevation  of  the  soul  to  Grod  ;  when  fixing 
its  eyes  on  the  greatness  of  this  supreme  Majesty,  it  adores 
him,  and  gives  him  the  glory  of  perfect  goodness,  power,  and 
wisdom.  This  is  as  the  exordium  and  preface  of  prayer,  to 
move  the  Lord,  that  he  give  us  favourable  audience.  Then 
follows  that  which  the  apostle  calls  here  the  desire  ;  that  is, 
the  very  request  we  make  to  the  Lord,  beseeching  him  to  give 
liberally  to  us,  or  to  our  brethren,  the  benefits  we  need.  From 
which  we  observe,  by  the  way,  the  order  we  should  keep  in 
our  prayers,  that  they  may  be  legitimate  and  grateful  unto 
God  ;  namely,  that  at  the  entrance  we  present  him  a  heart  full 
of  humble  and  affectionate  respect  to  him,  that  reveres  him  as 
almighty  and  all-wise,  that  loves  him  as  infinitely  good,  and 
praises  and  glorifies  him  as  perfectly  blessed.  The  requests 
which  are  heedlessly  presented  to  him,  without  this  prepara- 
tion, are  more  apt  to  provoke  his  wrath  than  attract  his  benefi- 
cence. After  this,  we  should  next  make  our  requests  with  an 
ardent  desire  and  filial  confidence.  Thus  the  apostle  prayed 
for  the  Colossians. 

in.  Let  us  now  come  to  the  third  point,  and  see  what  was 
the  matter  or  subject  of  his  prayer  :  "  We  cease  not,"  saith  he, 
"  to  desire  of  God  that  ye  may  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of 
his  will  in  all  wisdom  and  spiritual  understanding."  It  suffi- 
ciently appears,  by  the  commendations  he  gave  the  Colossians 
before,  that  they  were  already  much  advanced  to  the  knowledge 
of  God,  and  of  his  gospel  ;  therefore  he  does  not  simply  de- 
sire of  the  Lord  that  they  may  be  made  partakers  of  this 
knowledge,  but  that  they  may  be  filled  with  it.  For  there  are 
great  differences  in  knowledge  ;  first  in  regard  of  its  extent, 

*  Aufmstine  in  Psal.  xxxvii. 


M  AN  EXPOSITION"  OF  [SERM.  III. 

and  next  in  regard  of  its  degrees.  For  its  extent,  it  compre- 
hends those  things  which  can  be  known,  which  being  almost 
infinite,  it  is  evident  a  man  may  know  some  who  does  not  know 
others.  And  as  for  its  degrees,  the  same  thing  is  known  more 
clearly  and  more  distinctly  by  one,  more  obscurely  and  con- 
fusedly by  another.  It  is  the  same  in  this  as  in  seeing;  one 
sees  and  discovers  more  objects  than  another  ;  and  of  those 
who  see  one  and  the  same  object,  one  beholds  it  more  clearly 
than  another  ;  and  whatever  is  the  cause  of  this  diversity, 
whether  the  inequality  of  their  eyes,  or  the  difference  of  their 
attention,  or  that  of  the  light  which  irradiates  them,  so  it  is 
that  their  seeing  is  very  different  ;  that  of  the  one  being  im- 
perfect and  defective  in  comparison  of  the  other.  The  apostle 
therefore,  beseeching  the  Lord  that  the  Colossians  might  be 
filled  with  knowledge,  intends  that  they  might  obtain  of  his 
goodness  a  perfection  of  both  kinds  :  first,  that  if  there  were 
any  points  of  the  gospel  not  yet  come  to  their  knowledge,  he 
would  grant  them  grace  to  observe  and  comprehend  them. 
And,  secondly,  that  if  they  did  not  clearly  enough  comprehend 
the  things  they  knew  already,  he  would  so  shine  on  them  by 
the  light  of  his  Spirit  that  they  might  plainly  and  distinctly 
perceive  them.  In  these  two  points  the  fulness  or  perfection 
he  wishes  them  in  this  place  consists  ;  the  one,  not  to  be  igno- 
rant of  any  of  the  necessary  particulars  of  the  mystery  re- 
vealed to  us  by  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  the  other,  to  know 
each  of  these  particulars  clearly  and  distinctly,  seeing  the 
truth  of  them  as  in  a  resplendent  light.  Besides,  we  must  re- 
member that  as  the  state  of  a  believer,  during  his  journey  in 
the  world,  differs  from  that  which  he  will  enjoy  in  heaven, 
where  he  will  live  in  the  bosom  of  God  ;  so  the  perfection  of 
his  knowledge  is  of  two  sorts,  the  one  earthly,  and  the  other  hea- 
venly. This  is  his  last  and  highest  perfection  ;  that  is  but  the 
propensity  and  beginning  of  it  :  the  one  is  the  perfection  of  his 
infancy,  the  other  of  his  full  age.  And  though  the  first  may  be 
in  a  sense  truly  termed  fulness  and  perfection,  yet  in  comparison 
with  the  other  it  is  imperfect.  Hence  the  apostle  elsewhere  puts 
these  two  kinds  of  knowledge  in  opposition  to  each  other  :  "  Now 
we  know  but  in  part,  and  see  but  darkly  in  a  glass,  whereas  in 
the  other  world  we  shall  see  face  to  face,  and  know  as  we  have 
been  known,"  1  Cor.  xiii.  And  in  the  same  place  he  compares 
the  knowledge  we  have  here  below  to  the  thoughts  of  a  child, 
and  that  which  we  shall  have  on  high  to  the  thoughts  and 
judgment  of  a  perfect  man.  Then  all  the  arguments  of  the 
truth  of  the  gospel  shall  be  so  magnificently  displayed  before 
our  eyes,  that  a  doubt  of  it  shall  never  be  able  to  enter  ;  and 
whereas  now  we  see  but  the  images  of  things,  then  we  shall 
touch  the  substance  of  them  ;  besides  which  the  light  of  our 
understandings  will  be  incomparably  more  clear  and  perfect 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   C0L0SSIAN3.  ,47 

than  it  is  here  below.  But  though,  considering  the  thing  in 
itself,  only  the  knowledge  of  a  believer  enjoying  the  vision  of 
his  Lord  in  heaven  can  be  called  perfect,  yet  referring  and  ad- 
justing it  to  the  state  in  which  we  now  are,  there  is  also  on 
earth  a  sort  of  knowledge  which  may  be  called  perfect,  namely, 
the  highest  measure  a  believer  can  attain  while  he  is  here 
below.  As,  though  the  knowledge  of  a  child  is  far  below  the 
understanding  of  a  man,  yet  there  is  a  certain  form  and  measure 
of  knowledge  proportionate  to  the  capacity  of  its  age,  to 
which,  when  the  child  has  arrived,  we  say  it  is  an  accomplished 
child,  yea,  most  accomplished.  For  every  age  has  its  perfec- 
tion, and  every  greatness  its  full  height.  It  is  then  of  this 
second  kind  of  perfection  and  fulness  that  the  apostle  speaks, 
when  he  prays  the  Lord  that  the  Colossians  might  be  filled 
with  knowledge  ;  that  is,  not  that  they  might  see  the  Lord  face 
to  face,  (this  is  not  given  but  in  the  other  world,)  but  that  they 
might  receive  of  his  goodness  all  the  light  necessary  for  their 
state  on  earth,  and  as  great  and  rich  a  measure  of  knowledge 
as  may  be  necessary  for  attaining  one  day  the  utmost  degree 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And  remark  here,  by  the  way,  the 
holy  artifice  of  the  apostle.  By  praying  God  that  the  Colos- 
sians might  be  filled,  he  secretly  intimates  to  them  that  they 
yet  wanted  something,  that  he  might  render  them  teachable 
and  attentive  to  the  instructions  he  wished  afterwards  to  give 
them.  For  those  who  think  they  are  perfect,  and  have  the 
consummation  of  knowledge,  disdain  instruction  as  superfluous 
and  unprofitable.  Therefore  he  seasonably  removes  this 
imagination  from  the  Colossians,  that  they  may  patiently  suffer 
him  to  instruct  them,  and  finish  in  them  what  was  only  rough- 
drawn.  To  the  same  end,  he  adds,  that  they  might  be  filled 
with  the  knowledge  of  the  will  of  God.  For  by  the  will  of 
God  he  rejects  and  removes  far  from  this  subject  all  the  in- 
ventions and  doctrines  of  men,  the  disputes  and  subtilties  of 
philosophy,  the  voluntary  devotions  and  superstitions  which 
had  been  sowed  among  the  Colossians  by  false  teachers,  as 
things  rather  contrary  than  useful  to  the  perfection  and  hap- 
piness of  man,  and  restrains  all  the  knowledge  he  desires  for 
them  to  the  sole  will  of  God,  as  its  true  object  and  its  just 
measure. 

Upon  which  we  have  to  remark,  first,  that  the  word  which 
the  apostle  uses  in  the  original,  and  which  we  have  translated 
knowledge,  signifies  properly  a  great  and  ample  knowledge  ; 
and  these  holy  authors  employ  it  ordinarily  to  express  that 
knowledge  of  God  which  is  given  us  by  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  law  of  Moses  and  the  doctrine  of  the  prophets 
teach  what  is  the  will  of  God.  But  they  were  not  designed  to 
declare  it  so  clearly  and  so  fully  as  the  gospel.  Hence  Peter 
compares  the  light  of  the  prophets  to  that  of  a  candle  shining 


*l§i  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  III. 

"in  a  dark  place,"  and  that  of  the  gospel  to  the  brightness  of 
the  day,  2  Pet.  i,  19.  And  to  this  John  had  respect,  when  he 
said  that  "  no  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time  ;  the  only  be- 
gotten Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath  de- 
clared him,"  John  i.  18;  because  the  knowledge  given  of  him 
before  the  manifestation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  was  so  weak,  that  it 
is  scarcely  worthy  of  comparison  with  that  which  is  given  to 
us.  It  is  therefore  properly  this  evangelical  and  christian 
knowledge  which  the  apostle  wishes  for  the  Colossiaus,  op- 
posing it  to  that  of  the  law,  the  rudiments  of  which  some  en- 
deavoured to  re-establish  among  them. 

Secondly,  we  must  observe  what  is  the  object  of  this  know- 
ledge, the  knowledge  (saith  he)  of  the  will  of  God.  All  men 
naturally  desire  knowledge.  Every  kind  of  real  knowledge  is 
beautiful  and  grateful,  and  adds  some  ornament  to  our  under- 
standing. Yet  it  must  be  confessed  that  generally  none  are 
capable  of  giving  us  the  perfection  and  happiness  we  desire, 
and  which  are  necessary  for  our  nature.  Such  are  all  mundane 
sciences,  discovered  and  cultivated  by  the  sages  of  the  world  ; 
not  only  their  philosophy  about  nature,  and  the  motions  of  the 
heavens  and  elements,  and  about  the  properties  and  effects  of 
things  animate  and  inanimate,  but  also  that  part  of  their  doc- 
trine which  immediately  concerns  us,  and  explains  what  our 
conduct  should  be,  both  in  private,  and  towards  those  who  go- 
vern us,  or  are  governed  by  us,  either  in  the  family  or  in  the 
state.  To  say  nothing  of  the  variety  and  extreme  uncertainty 
of  their  opinions,  which  change  every  day,  and  float  in  infinite 
doubts,  no  man,  after  having  passed  a  whole  life  in  this  study, 
and  made  the  utmost  progress,  becomes  more  contented,  or 
happier,  or  more  assured.  All  the  pretended  light  of  their 
school  cannot  dissipate  from  our  minds  either  the  horror  of 
death  or  the  fear  of  the  judgment  of  God.  The  knowledge  of 
the  Lord  alone  can  remove  them  from  us,  and  by  consequence 
it  alone  is  necessary  for  us;  the  rest  will  not  render  us  either 
more  happy  if  we  have  them,  or  more  miserable  if  we  have 
them  not.  It  is  then  only  this  knowledge  which  the  apostle 
desires  for  the  Colossians. 

But  we  must  consider,  in  the  third  place,  that  he  wishes  them 
the  knowledge,  not  of  the  nature,  or  the  majesty,  or  the  other 
essential  perfections  of  God,  but  of  his  will.  For  as  to  the  es- 
sence of  this  supreme  and  incomprehensible  Lord,  as  to  the  im- 
mensity of  his  power,  as  to  the  ineffable  manner  of  his  under- 
standing, and  the  wonders  of  his  judgment,  it  is  not  necessary 
for  us  to  know  them  clearly.  It  is  sufficient  for  us  to  adore 
them,  and  many  have  lost  themselves  in  endeavouring  to  sound 
them.  We  must  know  his  will  to  attain  salvation,  as  the  true 
rule  of  our  duty  and  his  judgment.  He  has  fully  declared  it 
to  us  by  the  ministry  of  his  heralds,  the  apostles  and  prophets, 


CHAP.  L]  the   epistle   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  49 

who  have  published  it  by  word  of  mouth,  and  consigned  it  to 
us  in  writing  by  the  holy  books  which  they  have  left  us.  We 
must  seek  it  there,  and  not  in  the  discourses  of  vain  men.  There 
we  shall  find  it  manifested,  as  far  as  it  is  necessary  for  us  to 
know  and  do  it.  It  has  two  principal  parts,  faith  and  obedi- 
ence. For  the  will  of  God,  as  the  apostle  understands  it  here, 
is  nothing  else  but  that  which  God  would  have  us  believe  and 
do  to  be  happy.  For  faith,  his  will  is,  says  our  Lord,  that 
whosoever  seeth  the  Son,  and  believeth  in  him,  shall  have  eter- 
nal life,  and  be  raised  up  at  the  last  day,  John  vi.  40.  For 
practice,  "  This  is  the  will  of  God,"  says  the  apostle,  "even  your 
sanctification,"  1  Thess.  iv.  3.  These  are  the  two  principal  parts 
of  the  will  of  God,  to  which  all  other  instructions  in  Scripture 
refer.  In  the  knowledge  of  these  things  Paul  prays  God  that 
the  Colossians  might  be  perfect  and  complete. 

He  adds  "  in  all  wisdom  and  spiritual  understanding."  We 
call  them  wise  men  in  the  world  who  know  how  to  obtain  their 
end,  who  use  means  fit  for  this  purpose,  and  skilfully  avoid  all 
that  might  hinder  it  ;  so  dexterously  conducting  their  affairs 
that  one  of  two  things  follows:  either  they  accomplish  that 
which  they  desire,  or,  if  disappointed,  some  accident,  and  not 
their  fault,  has  caused  such  ill  success.  But  because  they  pro- 
pose to  themselves  ends  vain,  evil,  and  unprofitable  to  their 
happiness,  however  wise  they  are  esteemed  by  the  world,  all 
their  industry  is  nothing  but  folly  and  error.  Those  then,  on 
the  contrary,  are  wise  after  the  Spirit  who  constantly  hold  the 
right  course  of  piety,  guiding  themselves  in  it  with  such  skil- 
fulness  that  they  avoid  scandals,  and  all  that  might  divert  them 
from  their  mark.  And  though  the  world  commonly  account 
them  extravagant,  yet  their  conduct  evinces  true  wisdom,  since, 
at  the  end,  it  will  be  found  that  none  but  they  attain  to  salva- 
tion. It  is  then  this  skilfulness  which  the  apostle  terms  here 
spiritual  wisdom;  both  because  it  respects  the  things  of  the 
Spirit,  which  appertain  to  a  celestial  and  spiritual  life,  and 
also  because  it  is  a  gift  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  coming  from 
on  high,  from  the  Father  of  lights.  Neither  the  sense  nor 
the  reason  of  nature  is  able  to  bestow  any  knowledge  of  the 
divine  will,  which  is  the  matter  and  subject  of  wisdom.  Wis- 
dom is  the  use  and  employment  of  the  knowledge  of  God.  For 
to  be  wise  after  the  Spirit  it  is  not  enough  to  know  what  is 
the  will  of  God.  There  must  be  the  use  of  this  knowledge; 
first,  by  laying  down,  as  a  certain  and  unalterable  maxim, 
that  it  is  in  this  will  our  bliss  consists  ;  and  consequently, 
that  it  must  be  the  limit  of  our  desires.  Secondly,  by  prac- 
tising what  we  know  of  this  divine  will,  aiming  at  the  mark 
it  shows  us,  and,  to  attain  it,  employing  the  means  which  it 
prescribes,  watching  and  labouring  continually  thereto.  For 
certainly  that  servant  in  the  parable,  who  knew  his  master's 


50  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  III. 

will  and  did  it  not,  was  any  thing  but  wise.  In  the  last  place, 
as  for  the  spiritual  understanding  which  the  apostle  desires  for 
the  Colossians,  it  is  real  and  exquisite  prudence,  to  judge  aright 
of  things  which  are  presented  to  us,  and  to  discern  the  good 
from  the  evil,  the  true  from  the  false,  and  the  real  from  the  ap- 
parent ;  and  this  gift,  you  perceive,  is  also  a  fruit  of  the  know- 
ledge of  God,  and  consists  only  in  a  strict  application  of  what 
we  know  of  his  will  to  the  doctrines  and  counsels  which  the 
flesh  and  its  ministers  set  before  us  to  turn  us  out  of  the  way 
of  salvation.  This  Eve  wanted  when  she  was  seduced  by  the 
serpent,  and  the  Galatians  when  they  were  misled  by  those  im- 
postors. The  apostle  feared  lest  the  same  should  befall  the  Co- 
lossians, and,  to  divert  this  fatal  blow,  supplicates  the  Lord  to 
give  them  the  understanding  necessary  for  happily  distinguish- 
ing the  false  colours,  the  dissimulations  and  enticements  of  error, 
from  the  simplicity  that  is  in  Christ.  Therefore  he  desires  of 
God  not  only  that  they  might  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of 
his  will  in  wisdom  and  understanding,  but  in  all  wisdom  and 
understanding  ;  that  is  to  say,  very  abundantly,  in  so  great  and 
rich  a  measure,  that  none  of  the  parts  or  operations  of  this  di- 
vine ability  should  be  deficient  in  them  ;  after  the  same  man- 
ner as  when  he  asks  elsewhere,  "Have  all  faith?"  to  signify  so 
high  and  elevated  a  measure  of  it,  that  no  kind  or  degree  of 
faith  is  wanting.  Such  is,  well-beloved  brethren,  the  ardent 
and  affectionate  prayer  which  the  apostle  continually  offered 
for  these  Colossians,  that  they  might  be  filled  with  the  know- 
ledge of  the  will  of  God  "  in  all  wisdom  and  spiritual  under- 
standing;" that  is,  in  such  a  manner  that  this  knowledge  might 
form  in  them  an  accurate  spiritual  prudence. 

To  conclude.  It  remains  that  we  briefly  touch  upon  the 
principal  lessons  .which  we  are  to  derive  from  it  for  the  in- 
struction of  our  faith  and  the  amendment  of  our  practice. 
First,  you  see  how  far  the  judgment  of  the  apostle  is  from  the 
doctrine  and  practice  of  Kome.  The  apostle  wishes  the  faith- 
ful to  know  the  will  of  God,  that  they  may  be  filled  with  this 
knowledge.  Home  teaches  that  their  faith  is  better  defined  by 
ignorance  than  by  knowledge,  and  that  it  is  sufficient  for  them 
to  have  I  know  not  what  implicit  faith,  (as  they  call  it,)  which, 
without  knowing  anything  itself,  refers  us  to  the  foith  of 
another.  The  apostle  desires  that  believers  be  endowed  with 
.  all  wisdom  and  spiritual  understanding.  Eome  fears  nothing 
so  much  as  this,  and  commands  the  people,  without  knowing 
or  understanding  anything  themselves,  to  leave  this  whole 
study  to  their  clergy  ;  contented  with  saying  they  believe 
what  the  church  believes,  not  knowing  in  the  meantime  what 
it  does  believe.  Darkness  is  not  more  contrary  to  light,  than 
this  pretended  faith  to  wisdom  and  understanding.  Their  prac- 
tice is  conformable  to  their  doctrine.     For  they  hide  the  Scrip- 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE    COLOSSIANS.  51 

ture  from  their  people,  the  sacred  and  authentic  evidence  of 
the  will  of  Grod,  the  living  and  teeming  source  of  all  wisdom 
and  heavenly  understanding  ;  and  if  in  their  service  they  re- 
peat any  passages  of  it,  they  repeat  them  in  a  strange  language, 
that  their  people  may  hear  and  not  understand  it.  Faithful  breth- 
ren, thank  God  that  he  has  withdrawn  you  from  this  kingdom 
of  darkness  ;  enjoy  with  gratitude  the  light  he  has  set  up  among 
you.  Learn,  in  the  brightness  thereof,  what  is  the  will  of  the 
Lord,  the  head  and  the  foundation  of  true  wisdom.  Esteem  this 
knowledge  as  the  gate  of  heaven,  the  entrance  of  eternity,  the  seed 
of  the  divine  nature,  and  the  principle  of  celestial  life.  Without 
it,  how  will  you  love  God  ?  as  no  one  loves  what  he  knows  not. 
Without  it,  how  will  you  obey  God  ?  since  to  obey  him  is 
only  to  do  his  will.  Without  it,  how  will  you  resist  the  en- 
emy ?  how  will  you  free  yourselves  from  his  wiles  ?  how  will 
you  discern  his  frauds  from  divine  truth?  Judge  how  the 
apostle  estimates  it,  since  it  is  the  first  thing  he  asked  of  God 
for  these  Colossians,  whom  he  so  ardently  loved.  If  you  will 
attain  the .  salvation  to  which  he  directs  them,  possess  that 
which  he  with  so  much  earnestness  desires  for  them.  Remem- 
ber you  are  the  people  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  of  the 
eternal  Wisdom  and  Word,  the  workmanship  of  his  Comfor- 
ter, who  is  a  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  of  understanding  ;  and  that 
one  of  the  greatest  reproaches  God  ever  gave  to  his  Israel,  was 
his  calling  them  a  "  foolish  people  and  unwise,"  Deut.  xxxii. 
6;  Isa.  i.  3,  who  had  neither  knowledge  nor  understanding. 

And  since  you  see  that  the  apostle  asks  of  God  this  divine 
wisdom  for  the  Colossians,  address  yourselves  also  to  that  Fa- 
ther of  lights  from  whom  comes  down  every  good  gift  and 
every  perfect  gift.  Press  him  ;  importune  him  ;  quit  him  not 
till  he  has  revealed  his  mysteries  to  you,  till  he  has  enlight- 
ened your  eyes  and  your  hearts  to  make  you  see  the  wonders 
of  his  wisdom.  But  to  prayer  add  study  ;  read  and  hear  his 
word  carefully  ;  meditate  on  it  here  and  at  home  ;  render  it 
familiar  ;  commune  about  it  with  your  neighbours,  and  in- 
struct your  children  in  it.  I  grant  that  without  the  grace  of 
of  the  Lord  this  labour  is  unprofitable,  but  I  maintain  that 
with  it  it  is  most  efficacious.  Paul  would  preach  to  Lydia  in 
vain,  if  God  were  not  to  open  her  heart.  But  if  God  set  to 
his  hand,  it  is  not  without  success  that  Paul  labours  for  it. 

And  to  attract  this  saving  hand  of  the  Lord,  join  to  prayer 
the  offerings  of  your  alms,  the  perfume  of  a  good  and  holy  life. 
Make  use  of  what  you  know.  Manage  these  first-fruits  of 
light  which  you  have  received  already.  Employ  the  talent 
that  has  been  given  you,  and  the  Master  will  add  to  it  others 
and  greater.  How  can  you  think  he  will  communicate  new 
graces  to  people  who  so  vilely  abuse  the  first?  You  know 
his  will,  and  do  that  of  Satan  and  of  the  flesh.     He  has  made 


52  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  IV. 

you  a  present  of  the  gospel,  and  you  drag  it  in  the  dirt.  He 
has  marked  you  with  his  seals,  and  you  pollute  them  with  the 
filth  of  vice.  You  shamelessly  wear  his  livery  amidst  the 
debauches  of  the  world,  and  the  disciples  of  heaven  are  as  ar- 
dent as  the  children  of  this  generation  after  the  dissipations 
of  time.  God  forbid  that  "wisdom  and  spiritual  understand- 
ing" should  lodge  in  hearts  so  profane.  They  are  jewels  too 
precious  to  shine  anywhere  but  in  heaven,  that  is,  in  pure  and 
holy  souls.  So  far  will  you  be  from  increasing  your  light,  if 
you  change  not  your  conduct,  that  God  will  take  away  the 
little  which  remains,  and  let  you  return  into  Egypt  to  live 
once  more  in  its  miserable  darkness.  But  God  keep  us  from 
so  great  an  unhappiness,  my  beloved  brethren  ;  and  to  prevent 
it  let  us  in  good  earnest  turn  to  him,  renouncing  the  lusts  of 
the  world  and  the  filth  of  the  flesh,  living  in  exemplary  purity 
and  righteousness,  that  the  Lord  may  take  pleasure  in  us,  that 
he  may  make  the  knowledge  of  his  will  abound  in  us  "  in  all 
wisdom  and  spiritual  understanding  ;"  and,  after  the  faith  and 
hope  of  this  life,  receive  us,  in  the  eternity  of  the  other,  to  the 
vision  and  fruition  of  his  glory.  So  be  it  ;  and  unto  him,  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  the  true  God  blessed  for  ever,  be  all 
honour  and  praise.     Amen. 


SERMON  IV. 

VERSES   10,  11. 


That  ye  might  walk  worthy  of  the  Lord  unto  all  pleasing^  being 
fruitful  in  every  good  toork,  and  increasing  in  the  knoioledge 
of  Ood :  strengthened  loith  all  mighty  according  to  his  glorious 
•power  ^  unto  all  patience  and  long-suffering  with  joy  fulness. 

Philosophers,  pagan  as  well  as  christian,  commonly  divide 
the  sciences  into  two  kinds  ;  the  speculative,  which  aim  only 
at  the  understanding  of  their  subject,  resting  there,  when  they 
have  once  acquired  it,  without  going  any  further  ;  and  the 
practical,  which  aim  at  action,  and  regard  things  only  with  re- 
spect to  the  use  made  of  them.  Of  the  first  kind  is  astron- 
omy, whose  only  design  is  to  comprehend  the  motions  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  ;  and  the  mathematics,  which  relate  to  the 
study  of  magnitude  and  number,  without  any  other  end  than 
a  knowledge  of  them.  Of  the  second  kind  is  moral  science, 
which  teaches  us  for  practical  purposes,  and  shows  us  the  na- 
ture of  each  virtue,  that  we  may  practise  it,  and  live  according 


CHAP.   I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  53 

to  the  rules  slie  gives  us.  It  is  disputed  in  the  schools  to 
which  of  these  two  kinds  of  sciences  belongs  sacred  theology  ; 
that  is,  the  doctrine  of  divine  things  revealed  to  us  in  the 
gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  For  on  one  hand  it  teaches 
us  several  things  of  the  nature  of  God  and  of  angels,  and  of 
the  world  to  come,  and  other  mysteries,  which  seem  to  be 
merely  objects  of  contemplation,  and  not  of  action  ;  on  the 
other  hand  it  gives  us  divers  rules  for  practice  :  and  this  mix- 
ture has  induced  some  to  think  that  it  is  a  discipline  not  sim- 
ple and  uniform,  but  miscellaneous,  and  composed  of  both 
kinds.  Our  apostle,  in  my  opinion,  clearly  decides  the  ques- 
tion in  this  place.  For  having  before  wished  the  Colossians 
a  rich  and  full  knowledge  of  this  divine  doctrine  "  in  all  wis- 
dom and  spiritual  understanding,"  he  stays  not  there,  but  adds, 
in  the  text  we  have  read,  the  end  to  which  it  is  subservient: 
"  That  ye  may  walk  worthy  of  the  Lord  unto  all  pleasing, 
being  fruitful  in  every  good  work."  Here  he  states  expressly 
that  the  end  of  this  knowledge  is  practice  ;  holy  walking  and 
fruitfulness  in  every  good  work  being  evidently  practical. 
Consequently  it  ought  to  be  placed  among  the  active  sciences, 
Biuce  they  are  characterized  by  their  end,  and  that  which  prop- 
erly gives  them  the  rank  they  are  to  hold.  I  grant  that  it  treats 
of  the  essence  and  attributes  of  God,  but  it  is  with  the  design  to 
carry  us  by  such  means  to  the  love  and  service  of  his  divine 
Majesty,  that  is,  unto  action  ;  whence  it  is  that  in  Scripture, 
knowledge  of  God  is  almost  always  taken  for  obedience  to  him, 
as  far  as  he  has  revealed  himself  to  us. 

But  it  is  of  no  great  importance  for  us  to  know  the  rank  of 
this  heavenly  discipline  among  the  sciences,  provided  we  hold 
fast  this  principle  of  the  apostle,  that  the  end  of  our  instruc- 
tion in  the  knowledge  of  God  is  a  godly  life,  and  not  our 
mental  amusement,  or  the  gratification  of  our  curiosity  with 
a  vain  delight  ;  much  less  the  being  able  to  divert  our  com- 
panions with  such  high  mysteries.  We  do  not  call  that  man 
an  architect  who  can  fluently  discourse  of  buildings,  but  him 
who  has  the  art  to  erect  them  ;  and  we  do  not  give  the  name 
and  glory  of  a  captain  to  one  who  can  eloquently  speak  of 
war,  but  to  him  who  can  manage  it,  and  is  able  to  conduct  an 
army  skilfully,  and  can  withstand  and  fight  an  enemy,  and  ac- 
quit himself  in  all  the  functions  of  a  military  command  ;  nor 
can  we  regard  him  as  a  christian  who  knows  the  duties  of  the 
faithful,  and  can  pertinently  explain  them,  but  him  who  per- 
forms them.  This  science  consists  in  the  life,  and  not  in  talk; 
in  the  heart  and  in  the  doings,  not  in  the  brain  and  in  the 
tongue.  Let  this  then  be  our  sole  aim  in  this  holy  study. 
Let  us  learn  not  simply  to  know  or  to  speak,  but  to  do,  care- 
fully reducing  to  practice  all  the  precepts  of  this  heavenly 
doctrine.     And  that  we  may  duly  comprehend  this  legitimate 


54  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  IV. 

end  of  our  knowledge,  let  us  meditate  on  the  lesson  whicli  the 
apostle  now  gives  us  concerning  it.  It  contains  two  partic- 
ulars :  First,  the  nature  of  the  life  and  practice  at  which  we 
are  to  aim.  And,  secondly,  the  constancy  and  patience  with 
which  we  should  persevere  in  them.  These  shall  be,  God  wil- 
ling, the  two  subjects  we  will  treat  of  in  the  present  service. 

I.  The  apostle  explains  the  former  of  these  in  the  10th 
verse,  "  That  ye  might  walk  worthy  of  the  Lord  unto  all  pleas- 
ing, being  fruitful  in  every  good  work,  and  increasing  in  the 
knowledge  of  God."  In  these  words  he  shows  us,  first,  the 
end  of  the  knowledge  of  the  gospel  in  general,  which  is  a 
walking  worthy  of  the  Lord.  Next  he  sets  before  us  the 
principal  parts  of  this  worthy  walking.  The  first  respects  the 
object  proposed,  the  pleasing  of  God  in  all  things.  The  sec- 
ond, the  manner  in  which  it  ought  to  be  attempted,  by  be- 
coming fruitful  in  every  good  work.  The  third,  its  progress, 
advancing  in  the  knowledge  of  God. 

Here  then,  christian,  in  the  first  place,  is  the  proper  and 
sole  end  of  that  heavenly  light  which  has  been  communicated 
to  you,  that  you  "  walk  worthy  of  the  Lord."  You  do  not  re- 
quire to  be  informed  that  the  Scripture  often  compares  the  life 
of  man  to  a  journey,  and  his  designs  and  occupations  to  a 
path,  or  way.  The  simple  fact  is,  that  having  entered  the 
world,  at  once  we  leave  the  moment  of  our  nativity,  as  a  start- 
ing place,  and  incessantly  advance  towards  death,  as  a  com- 
mon habitation,  where,  sooner  or  later,  all  men  meet.  Other 
travellers  may,  if  they  please,  delay  their  journey,  or  retrace 
their  steps  ;  but  we  cannot  do  either.  Time,  infolding  us  from 
the  first  moment  of  our  life,  perpetually  carries  us  forward, 
whether  we  wake  or  sleep,  whether  we  consent  to  it  or  resist, 
without  permitting  us  to  turn  back,  or  indulge  in  the  shortest 
re]:)Ose.  We  are  like  him  on  board  a  vessel  propelled  by  sea 
and  wind,  whose  personal  motion  does  not  arrest  or  abate  his 
course.  But  as  the  roads  and  projects  of  travellers  are  very 
different,  so  there  is  a  great  diversity  of  habits  and  manners 
in  men's  lives.  Wicked  men  follow  one  way,  and  good  men 
another.  The  Pagan  steers  one  course,  the  Jew  another,  the 
Mohammedan  another,  and  the  Christian  another,  each  wholly 
different  from  the  others.  This  is  what  the  Scripture  calls  "  the 
way  of  man  ;"  that  is,  the  fashion  and  method  of  life  which 
each  man  follows.  And  suitably  to  this  expressive  figure,  it 
often  makes  use  of  the  word  walking^  to  signify  a  regulating 
and  framing  of  the  life  after  some  certain  manner,  whether 
good  or  evil  ;  meaning  the  tenor  of  our  lives,  and  our  custo- 
mary deportment.  There  is  nothing  more  common  in  the 
Psalms,  and  in  the  Proverbs,  than  these  forms  of  speech  ;  "  to 
walk  in  integrity  ;"  or,  on  the  contrary,  "  to  walk  in  fraud  and 
iniquity  :"  and  in  the  writings  of  the  New  Testament,  "  to  walk 


CHAP.   1.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  55 

in  light,"  or,  "  in  darkness  ;"  "  after  the  Spirit,"  or,  "  after  the 
flesh  ;"  with  other  similar  phrases,  all  signifying  a  certain 
manner  and  condition  of  life,  good  or  evil,  as  it  is  qualified. 
Agreeably  to  this  scriptural  style,  the  apostle  says  here,  "that 
ye  might  walk  ;"  meaning,  that  you  may  live,  that  you  may 
regulate  and  form  your  lives. 

But  how  does  he  wish  us  to  walk  ?     "  Worthy  of  the  Lord." 
It  is  word  for  word  in  the  original,  worthily  of  the  Lord  ;  or, 
in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  Lord.     The  apostle  intends  that  we 
should  lead  a  life  corresponding  to  our  honour,  as  the  children 
and  disciples  of  Jesus  the  Lord  ;  his  co-heirs,  and  heirs  of  his 
Father.     He  often  uses  this  manner  of  speaking,  or  others  very 
similar  to  it.     As  when  he  exhorts  the  Philippians  to  conduct 
themselves  in  a  way  that  "  becometh   the  gospel  of  Christ," 
Phil.  i.  27;  and  the  Ephesians  to  "  walk  worthy  of  the  voca- 
tion wherewith  they  were  called,"  Eph.  iv.  1  ;  and  when  he 
adjures  the  Thessalonians  "  to  walk  worthy  of  God,  who  has 
called  them  to  his  kingdom  and  glory,"  1  Thess.  ii.  12.     The 
teachers  of  human  merits  have  drawn  from  these  passages  that 
superb  denomination  which  they  commonly  give  them,  calling 
them  "merits  of  condignity  ;"  pretending  that  to  walk  worthy 
of  God,  signifies,  a  meriting  of  life  by  their  works,  in  a  proper 
sense,  and  according  to  strict  justice.     But  they  are  evidently 
deceived.     For  not  to  speak  of  the  vanity  of  this  presumption, 
which  Scripture  and  reason   itself  strike  as  with  a  thousand 
lightnings,  it  is  plain  that  to  be  worthy  of  anything  does  not 
in  the  least  degree  mean,  in  any  of  these  passages,  to  merit  it 
properly  and  strictly.    For  who  would  interpret  in  this  manner 
the  apostle's  words,  "walk  worthy  of  God,"  that  is,  "lead  a 
life  that  merits  God  ?"     There  are  persons  found,  who  have  so 
sublime  an  opinion  of  themselves,  as  to  imagine  that  they 
merit  heaven,  and  the  glory  of  the  life  to  come.     No  one  has 
yet  been  seen,  that  I  know  of,  who  vaunted  that  he  merited 
God.     This  language  would  be  monstrous,  and  surpass  the 
pride  of  devils  themselves.     It  is  very  presuming  to  affirm 
that  any  man  merits  even  the  gifts  of  God.     Common  sense 
permits  not  any  one  to  think,  or  sa}'",  that  he  merits  God.     No 
more  will  what  the  apostle  says  elsewhere  suffer  this  comment  : 
"Let  your  conversation  be  worthy  of  the  gospel  ;"  and,  "  Walk 
worthy  of  the  vocation  of  God."     For  who  ever  affirmed  that 
our  works  merit  the  gospel,  or  the  vocation  of  God — a  thing 
which  was  past,  and  which  we  received  from  the  liberality  of 
the  Lord,  before  the  performance  of  any  one  good  work  ?     It 
is  clear  that,  in  all  these  places,  the  worthiness  of  which  the 
apostle  speaks  is  nothing  but  a  certain  seemliness,  arising  from 
our  corresponding  with  those  things  of  which  he  says  we  are 
worthy.     Just  as  when  John  the  Baptist  exhorts  the  Jews  to 
bring  forth  fruits  worthy  of  repentance,  he  means,  not  that 


56  AN"  EXPOSITION   OF  [SEKM.  IV. 

merit  repentance,  but  that  answer  to  it  ;  that  are  suitable  to 
the  sense  we  have  of  our  own  sin,  and  of  the  grace  of  God. 
In  like  manner  here,  an  eminently  holy  and  pious  life,  abound- 
ing in  good  works,  is  worthy  of  God,  not  because  it  merits 
him,  but  because  it  has  some  suitableness  with  his  sanctity  and 
glory.  It  is  worthy  of  the  gospel,  because  it  is  correspondent 
to  it,  and  conformable  to  what  it  requires  of  us.  It  is  worthy 
of  the  vocation  of  God,  because  it  is  incited  to  those  things 
to  which  he  calls  us,  and  produces  the  fruits  which  he  demands 
of  us. 

Do  you  wish  then  to  know,  0  christian,  how  you  should  live  ? 
Live  worthy  of  the  Lord.  Paul  has  comprised  all  in  these 
few  words.  When  it  was  demanded  of  a  prince,  who  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  his  enemy,  how  he  would  be  treated,  he 
answered,  "As  a  king,"  signifying  by  that  one  word  all  the 
forbearance  and  generosity  he  desired  should  be  used  towards 
him.  So  the  apostle,  in  these  two  words,  embraces  the  whole 
model  of  our  behaviour.  How  shall  we  live  ?  Lead,  says  he, 
a  life  that  is  worthy  of  the  Lord.  This  is  enough  to  let  us 
understand  that  avarice,  cruelty,  hatred,  envy,  or  any  other  of 
the  passions  of  the  world,  can  have  no  place  in  us  ;  but  that 
justice,  kindness,  and  all  other  pure  and  celestial  affections, 
should  be  resplendent  in  us  :  that  nothing  base  or  abject  should 
be  mingled  with  them  ;  but  that  all  should  be  great,  and  gene- 
rous, and  elevated  above  the  dunghills  of  the  flesh.  Keep 
then,  believer,  this  supreme  Lord  continually  before  your  eyes. 
Ask  your  conscience,  upon  everything  presented  to  you, 
whether  it  is  worthy  of  him  ;  and  do  not  anything  that  may 
not  be  so  accounted.  Flee  all  that  is  repugnant  to  the  noble 
birth  of  his  disciple  ;  all  that  deviates  from  the  rule  which  he 
has  given  you  ;  all  that  diverts  you  from  the  kingdom  to  which 
he  conducts  you.  This  Lord  is  purity  and  holiness  itself;  he 
is  entirely  separate  from  sinners  ;  he  never  had  any  communion 
with  sin.  This  Lord  is  supremely  good  ;  he  hates  no  man  ; 
he  prayed  even  for  them  who  crucified  him,  and  conferred  in- 
finite benefits  on  them  who  injured  and  blasphemed  him. 
This  Lord  neither  possessed  nor  coveted  the  honours  and 
grandeurs  of  the  world.  All  his  glory  is  divine,  and  his 
grandeur  celestial.  His  discipline  is  like  his  life  ;  he  invariably 
enjoins  us  nothing  but  eminent  innocence,  sanctity,  and  good- 
ness :  and  the  good  things  he  promises  us  are  spiritual,  and 
not  carnal  ;  the  inheritance  he  has  purchased  for  us,  and  to  the 
possession  of  which  he  lead  us,  is  in  heaven,  and  not  on  the 
earth.  From  this  it  is  easy  to  conceive  what  is  this  manner  of 
life  worthy  of  him  which  the  apostle  commands  us.  It  is  a 
life  resembling  his  life,  in  which  shine  forth  the  examples  of 
his  divine  excellencies,  and  the  characteristics  of  his  doctrine, 
and  the  badges  of  his  house,  and  the  first-fruits  of  his  glory. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  57 

It  is  a  life  that  treads  under  foot  all  the  villanies  of  sin  ;  that 
disdains  what  the  flesh  and  the  world  promise  to  their  slaves; 
and,  beholding  with  contempt  all  that  the  world  adores,  is 
ardent  only  in  the  pursuit  of  heaven.  It  is  a  sweet,  humble, 
and  inofi'ensive  life,  obliging  all  men,  and  injurious  to  none; 
that,  without  turning  to  the  right  hand  or  the  left,  glides  on, 
incessantly  advancing  towards  the  mark  of  the  celestial  calling. 
It  is  thus  you  must  live,  believer,  if  you  would  not  depreciate 
the  light  you  have  received  of  the  knowledge  of  God.  It  is, 
I  confess,  a  high  design.  But  then  it  is  not  for  mean  and 
common  things  that  God  has  given  you  his  Son  and  his  Spirit. 
If  our  infirmity  makes  us  fear,  let  the  power  and  the  might 
of  the  Lord  imbolden  us.  And  if  sometimes  any  act  escapes 
us  that  is  unworthy  of  him,  as  in  this  flesh  wherewith  we  are 
clothed  too  many  do  escape  us,  let  us  combat  our  own  weak- 
nesses, and  have  recourse  to  the  grace  of  God,  who,  pardoning 
us  what  is  past,  will  fortify  us  for  the  future. 

But  the  apostle,  after  having  enjoined  us  in  general  that  our 
life  should  be  worthy  of  the  Lord,  treats,  in  the  second  place, 
of  the  principal  duties  we  have  to  perform,  that  such  may  be 
our  lives.  First,  he  specifies  that  we  should  wholly  aim  to  please 
him;  that  is,  that  in  all  things  we  should  seek  to  please  the 
Lord,  attempting  nothing  but  what  will  be  acceptable  to  him, 
that  this  be  the  scope  of  our  life.  Consequently  the  first  point 
of  a  celestial  life,  a  life  truly  worthy  of  the  Lord,  is  to  take  his 
will  for  our  supreme  rule,  conforming  to  it  all  our  thoughts, 
words,  and  actions.  For  this  is  the  apostle's  meaning,  when  he 
says  we  must  entirely  please  him  ;  that  is,  in  all  things,  in  all 
the  parts  of  life  ;  both  in  what  respects  the  sentiments  of  our 
hearts,  and  in  what  concerns  the  words  of  our  mouths,  or  our 
external  actions.  This  is  as  the  soul  of  the  service  of  God. 
You  serve  a  man,  or  yourselves,  and  not  the  Lord,  when  you 
act  to  please  yourselves,  or  others.  The  best  action,  and  in 
itself  most  holy,  loses  its  worth  when  the  design  of  pleasing 
God  is  wanting.  Let  us  then  banish  from  our  life,  first,  all 
those  things  which  God  has  not  instituted.  For  however  noble  , 
their  appearance,  we  cannot  assure  ourselves  that  they  please 
the  Lord,  if  he  has  not  ordained  them.  Let  us  not  suffer  our- 
selves to  be  beguiled  by  the  paint  and  tinsel  of  human  devo- 
tion. Since  the  question  is  of  pleasing  God,  we  must  give 
ourselves  to  the  study  and  practice  of  that,  which  himself  has 
expressly  commanded  in  his  word.  This,  I  am  most  certain, 
is  acceptable  to  him.  But  for  that  which  superstition  or  the 
pretended  wisdom  of  men  has  invented,  I  cannot  be  assured 
whether  it  please  the  Lord  or  not.  Then  next,  in  the  very  per- 
formance of  the  things  which  he  has  commanded,  let  us  aim 
still  to  please  him.  Let  us  offer  not  our  sacrifices  but  to  his 
Deity  alone.     If  our  actions  are  also  acceptable  to  men,  so  let 


58  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  IV. 

them  :  this  will  not  offend  us.  But  in  whatever  way  they 
judge  of  us,  let  us  ever  aim  to  please  the  Lord,  Provided  that 
our  oblations  are  grateful  to  him,  let  the  world  judge  of  them 
as  it  pleases.  We  have  what  we  sought,  and  it  suffices  us  to 
have  found  favour  in  the  eyes  of  our  Master.  Let  us  renounce 
our  own  wills,  and  regard  his  alone,  wishing  daily  that  it  might 
be  done  by  us  and  by  all  other  creatures,  as  the  Lord  Jesus  has 
commanded. 

The  apostle  adds,  secondly,  the  productions  of  Christian  life: 
"  Being  fruitful  (saith  he)  in  every  good  work."  This  necessa- 
rily follows  from  the  affection  which  he  has  recommended  to 
us.  For  if  we  entirely  study  to  please  the  Lord,  we  shall 
certainly  addict  ourselves  to  good  works,  as  they  only  can  be 
acceptable  to  him.  But  to  denote  this  production  the  apostle 
uses  a  remarkable  term  ;  "  being  fruitful  in  every  good  work." 
The  Scripture  often  compares  believers  to  trees,  because  they 
are  planted  by  the  hand  of  God,  having  sprung  from  his  celes- 
tial and  incorruptible  seed,  that  is,  his  word  ;  and  you  know 
how  the  prophet,  in  the  first  Psalm,  describes  to  us  a  good  man, 
and  one  fearing  God,  under  the  image  of  a  tree  planted  by  a 
stream  of  living  water,  yielding  its  fruit  in  its  season,  and 
crowned  with  a  green  and  grateful  foliage  which  never  fades. 
And  elsewhere  he  compares  him  to  a  flourishing  and  fruitful 
palm  tree  in  the  courts  of  the  Lord,  Psal.  xcii.  12 — 14.  Jesus 
Christ  says  in  John,  chap,  xv.,  that  he  is  the  Yine,  and  we  are 
the  branches;  and  Paul  compares  the  Israel  of  God,  that  is, 
the  whole  society  of  his  children,  to  a  true  olive,  into  which 
each  of  them  is  grafted  to  partake  of  its  sap  and  fatness,  Rom. 
xi.  Suitably  to  these  metaphors,  with  much  beauty  and  pro- 
priety, the  apostle  says.  Be  fruitful,  to  express  the  production 
of  our  good  works.  That  immortal  sap  which  has  been  poured 
into  us  from  on  high  by  the  word  and  Spirit  obliges  us  to  this 
fecundity;  it  having  been  communicated  to  us  only  to  produce 
in  us  the  fruits  of  righteousness  and  holiness.  This  the  Lord 
expects  from  his  mystical  vineyard,  and  demands  it  as  the  just 
recompense  of  his  assiduous  cultivation.  And  as  we  prize  trees 
which  do  not  unprofitably  occupy  our  ground,  but  yield  us  an 
abundance  of  fruit  as  well  as  leaves  and  bloom  ;  so  is  it  with 
the  heavenly  Vineyard-keeper.  He  seeks  for  fruit  on  his 
spiritual  trees.  The  fig  tree  that  bears  none  he  condemns  to 
the  fire.  He  loves  and  purges  that  which  bears.  Good  works 
are  the  fruits  he  requires  of  us  ;  yea,  every  sort  of  good  works  : 
"  being  fruitful  in  every  good  work."  Nature  imparts  not  to 
any  of  its  trees  the  faculty  of  bearing  more  than  one  kind  of 
fruit,  because  the  seed  of  which  they  grow  is  earthly  and  ma- 
terial. But  grace,  which  originates  the  Lord's  mystical  plants 
of  a  spiritual  and  divine  seed,  makes  them  capable  of  bearing 
infinite  fruits  of  every  sort.     These  the  apostle  calls  good 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  59 

works,  commanded  by  God  in  his  word,  useful  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  his  glory  and  the  edification  of  our  neighbour. 
Let  no  one  flatter  himself  that  the  fruitless  verdure  of  leaves, 
the  outward  profession  of  Christianity,  would  suffice  him  to  be 
numbered  among  the  plants  of  the  Lord.  He  acknowledges 
no  trees  but  those  that  bear  fruit.  This  is  not  all.  It  is  not 
enough  to  bear  one  kind  of  fruit,  there  must  be  a  fertility  "in 
every  good  work."  Your  alms  will  not  serve  you  if  they  are 
not  accompanied  with  the  fruits  of  integrity  and  sanctification. 
In  vain  will  you  be  adorned  with  meekness  and  gentleness,  if 
you  have  not  also  chastity  and  beneficence. 

The  apostle  requires,  in  the  third  and  last  place,  that  we 
increase  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord.  See,  faithful  brethren, 
how  this  holy  man  every  where  combines  knowledge  and 
action,  faith  and  love.  He  begs  of  God  that  the  Colossians 
might  be  perfect  in  wisdom  and  spiritual  understanding  ;  to 
the  end  that  they  may  walk  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  Lord, 
and  be  "  fruitful  in  every  good  work."  But  lest  they  should 
imagine  that  they  had  no  need  to  acquire  any  more  knowledge, 
he  returns  to  the  topic,  and  adds,  "  increasing  in  the  know- 
ledge of  God."  For  as  our  sanctification  is  during  life  imper- 
fect, so  there  is  always  a  deficiency  in  our  knowledge.  "We 
must  endeavour  equally  to  attain  the  one  and  the  other.  And 
as  the  light  of  knowledge  incites  and  directs  us  to  the  practice 
of  good  works,  so  the  exercise  of  good  works  cleanses  the  eyes 
of  our  understandings,  and  increases  true  wisdom  :  on  the  con- 
trary, the  neglect  of  sanctification  diminishes  this  divine  perspi- 
cacity in  us,  and  gradually  brings  back  the  darkness  of  ignor- 
ance. For  as  the  Lord  gives  new  graces  to  him  who  faithfully 
employs  his  first  donations,  so  he  takes  away  his  talent  from 
him  that  abuses  it.  They  who  cast  away  a  good  conscience 
make  shipwreck  also  of  faith  ;  and  they  who  hold  the  truth  in 
unrighteousness  are  given  up  to  a  mind  despoiled  of  all  judg- 
ment; and  God  sends  them  strong  delusions  who  receive  not 
his  holy  doctrine  in  love.  On  the  contrary,  he  reveals  his 
secret  to  them,  and  augments  their  light,  who  seek  his  com- 
mandments, and  are  inclined  to  do  his  will.  Let  us  hold  fast 
therefore  these  two  precious  gifts  of  the  Lord,  knowledge  and 
practice,  faith  and  love,  and  study  to  increase  in  both,  medita- 
ting on  the  mysteries  of  God,  and  learning  them  that  we  may 
obey  his  will,  and  obey  his  will  that  we  may  confirm  ourselves 
more  and  more  in  the  knowledge  of  his  mysteries. 

II.  Dear  brethren,  that  which  the  apostle  desired  for  his 
Colossians  is  no  trivial  thing  ;  it  is  a  complete  knowledge  of 
the  divine  will,  a  life  worthy  of  the  Lord,  a  spiritual  fecundity, 
a  "  being  fruitful  in  every  good  work,"  and  a  continual  ad- 
vancement in  heavenly  wisdom.  Yet  this  is  not  all.  For 
great  and  excellent  as  these  things  are,  they  suffice  not  without 


60'  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  IV. 

perseverance  to  conduct  us  to  salvation,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
persevere  in  them  without  supernatural  strength  and  courage. 
Therefore  Paul  desires,  in  the  last  place,  that  these  believers 
"  may  be  strengthened  with  all  might,  according  to  his  glorious 
power,  unto  all  patience  and  long-suffering  with  joyfulness." 
This  succour  is  necessary  for  us,  as  well  because  of  our  own 
infirmities  as  for  the  multitude,  violence,  and  obstinacy  of  our 
enemies.  For  as  to  ourselves,  though  that  Divine  Spirit,  with 
which  God  baptizes  us  at  the  beginning  of  our  vocation,  invests 
us  with  a  new  vigour,  yet  there  remains  much  weakness  in  us 
while  we  live  on  earth,  our  inward  man  being  yet  but  in  its 
infancy  ;  a  weak  age,  and  quite  unable  to  stand  if  not  sustained. 
And  as  for  our  enemies,  they  are  multitudinous  ;  they  watch 
night  and  day  to  destroy  us  ;  and  arranged  in  divers  bands, 
under  the  ensigns  of  the  devil,  the  world,  and  the  flesh,  the 
chief  commanders  of  this  black  army,  sworn  to  effect  our  ruin, 
they  cease  not  to  trouble  us,  leaving  neither  wile  nor  assault, 
neither  malice  nor  violence,  neither  threatening  nor  promise, 
unemployed  against  us.  If  we  repulse  one  of  them,  he  returns 
with  many  others,  who  on  all  sides  attack  us,  spy  where  we 
are  weak,  and  often  turn  our  own  weapons  against  us.  If  we 
overthrow  avarice,  voluptuousness  presents  itself.  If  that  is 
defeated  also,  ambition  enters  in  its  place  ;  hatred  unites  with 
it;  desire  of  revenge  urges  us  on;  wrath  provokes  us;  envy 
assails  us  ;  persecution  troubles  us  ;  prosperity  elates  us  ;  the 
success  of  our  own  conflicts  gratifies  our  vanity.  Often  that 
which  helps  us  on  one  hand  hurts  us  on  the  other  ;  as  in  a 
complication  of  diseases,  when  the  remedies  counteract  each 
other,  or  that  which  is  good  for  the  liver  is  detrimental  to  the 
stomach.  Who  sees  not  that  to  preserve  ourselves  in  so  mixed 
a  conflict,  and  against  so  many  confused  and  obstinate  attacks, 
(for  they  last  as  long  as  our  lives,)  we,  who  are  so  weak  that 
we  are  insufficient  even  for  one  good  thought,  require  an  ex- 
traordinary degree  of  might?  But.  God  arms  us  with  the 
power  of  his  Spirit  as  with  an  impenetrable  shield,  and  under 
this  covert  we  stand  secure  amid  the  tempest  of  blows  that 
falls  continually  around  us.  This  is  that  divine  power  which 
the  apostle  desires  for  the  Colossians,  when  he  prays  that  they 
might  "  be  strengthened  with  all  might  ;"  that  their  souls  might 
be  confirmed,  their  hearts  hardened  as  a  diamond  to  resist  all 
assaults  ;  their  courage  vested  with  an  heroic  ardour  and  con- 
stancy, which  all  the  violences  of  hell  and  earth  may  never  be 
able  to  overcome. 

He  prays  they  may  be  "  strengthened  with  all  might  ;"  be- 
cause, as  we  have  to  do  with  various  enemies,  and  are  sick  of 
divers  infirmities,  we  need  not  one  or  two  kinds  of  strength 
only,  but  strength  of  every  kind.  For,  as  you  see  in  nature, 
the  strength  of  bodies  is  different  ;  one  resisting  one  thing,  and 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  61 

yielding  to  another  ;  one  having  the  virtue  to  repulse  the  force 
of  one  element,  but  not  to  guard  itself  from  another:  so  in  a 
manner  is  it  in  the  souls  of  men.  One  will  bravel}^  liberate 
himself  from  the  temptation  of  one  vice,  who  is  not  able  to  de- 
fend himself  from  another.  A  man  who  resists  the  assaults  of 
the  world  yields  to  the  charms  of  its  caresses.  And  as  they 
lose  a  victory  who  are  overcome,  though  by  only  one  of  innu- 
merable enemies,  it  is  with  great  reason  the  apostle  prayed 
that  these  Colossians  might  be  blessed  "with  all  might,"  lest 
the  honour  of  their  crown  and  triumph  should  be  endangered; 
that  is,  a  perfect  strength,  which  would  be  proof  against  all  the 
strokes  of  the  enemy  ;  which  might  boldly  undertake  good  and 
holy  services,  however  high  and  difficult;  which  might  va- 
liantly combat  all  sin,  resolutely  despise  earthly  things,  vig- 
orously repel  temptations,  and  nobly  suffer  afflictions. 

He  shows  us  also,  as  he  proceeds,  the  source  of  this  heavenly 
might,  when,  having  expressed  his  desire  that  the  Colossians 
might  be  "  strengthened  with  all  might,"  he  adds,  "  according 
to  his  glorious  power."  Whence  do  these  faithful  people  re- 
ceive this  admirable  strength  necessary  for  their  salvation  ? 
From  the  "glorious  power"  of  the  Lord,  says  the  apostle;  that 
immense  and  efficacious  might  of  God  which  nothing  can  re- 
sist. The  Holy  Spirit  is  so  styled  in  Luke,  chap.  xxiv.  49, 
where  the  Lord  commands  his  apostles  to  tarry  at  Jerusalem 
until  they  were  "  endued  with  power  from  on  high,"  that  is, 
the  Spirit  he  had  promised  them.  And  Paul,  making  a  request 
for  the  Ephesians  very  similar  to  that  which  he  here  presents 
to  God  for  the  Colossians,  distinctly  calls  that  the  Spirit  of 
God  which  in  this  passage  he  calls  the  virtue  or  power  of  his 
glory.  God  grant,  says  he,  that  you  may  be  "  strengthened 
with  might  by  his  Spirit  in  the  inner  man,"  Eph.  iii.  16.  He 
calls  this  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God  "  glorious,"  to  express  its 
admirable  and  invincible  energy,  which  magnificently  triumphs 
over  all  that  opposes  its  operation  ;  which  with  the  weakest 
means  accomplishes  the  greatest  things  ;  which  changes,  when 
it  pleases,  shepherds  into  legislators  and  kings,  herdsmen  into 
prophets,  and  persecutors  into  apostles  ;  which  demolishes  the 
proudest  fierceness,  and  preserves  invincible  the  most  despica- 
ble weakness  ;  which  hardens  the  bodies  of  its  humble  warriors 
as  steel,  sustains  them  in  the  flames,  and  confounds  with  their 
lowness  the  fury  of  men,  of  elements,  and  of  devils.  For  this  is 
what  the  sacred  writers  usually  call  glory,  even  an  abundance 
of  beauty,  of  power,  and  perfection,  so  rich  that  it  overpowers 
our  senses,  and  bends  beneath  it  all  the  vigour  of  our  spirits, 
reducing  them  to  admiration  and  astonishment.  And  Paul 
not  unfrequently  uses  the  word  in  this  sense,  as  when  he  says 
that  "  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the 
Father,"  Rom.  vi.  4,  that  is,  by  his  great  and  unspeakable 


62  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  IV. 

power.  We  learn  from  this  that  the  virtue  which  converts  us 
to  God,  and  that  which  preserves  us  in  his  grace,  is  not  a  com- 
mon and  ordinary  power,  but  an  invincible  efficacy  which 
nothing  can  resist.  Seek  it  not  in  your  own  nature,  0  chris- 
tian, seek  it  in  God  ;  and,  acknowledging  your  weakness,  ask 
of  him  the  remedy  for  it.  Whenever  you  resist  the  enemy, 
and  remain  victorious  in  combat,  render  all  the  glory  of  it  to 
this  sovereign  Lord,  without  attributing  it,  in  the  least  degree, 
to  yourself. 

Bat  the  apostle  shows  us,  in  what  follows,  what  is  the  use 
and  effect  of  the  succour  which  the  glorious  power  of  the  Lord 
affords  us  :  "  Strengthened  with  all  might,  unto  all  patience 
and  long-suffering  with  joyfulness."  These  are  the  two  pro- 
ductions of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  a  believer,  "  patience,"  and 
"long-suffering."  or  long-waiting,  in  which  principally  our 
strength  consists.  These  are  as  the  two  hands  of  heaven  that 
sustain  us  in  perils,  and  keep  us  from  sinking  under  the 
weight  of  those  evils  with  which  we  often  find  ourselves  sur- 
charged. And  though  they  are  of  a  very  similar  nature,  yet 
each  of  them  has  something  peculiar  to  itself.  Patience  bears 
the  evil  without  bending,  humbly  submitting  to  its  infliction, 
and  firmly  standing  under  this  heavy  load.  The  Spirit,  which 
is  long-suffering,  or  long- waiting,  (for  so  the  word  used  here  in 
the  original  properly  signifies,)  afterwards  assists  it,  and  with- 
out murmuring  expects  deliverance  from  the  evil  felt,  and  the 
enjoyment  of  future  good.  Patience  respects  the  weight  of 
the  affliction.  The  long-suffering,  or  the  long-waiting,  of  the 
patient  spirit  respects  its  duration.  These  two  excellences  are 
absolutely  necessary  for  a  christian  ;  for  without  them  how 
should  he  bear  either  the  chastisements  of  God  or  the  persecu- 
tions of  the  world?  How  could  he  be  steadfast  in  the  exer- 
cise of  other  graces,  to  discharge  the  duties  attendant  on  them, 
against  the  impediments  that  hourly  thwart  him  ?  Patience, 
says  Tertullian,  is  the  superintendent  of  all  the  affairs  of  God, 
and  without  it,  it  is  not  possible  to  execute  his  commands  or 
to  wait  for  his  promises.  It  defeats  all  its  enemies  without 
toil.  Its  repose  is  more  efficacious  than  the  movements  and 
deeds  of  others.  It  renders  those  things  salutary  to  us  which, 
of  their  own  nature,  are  most  pernicious.  It  changes  poisons 
into  remedies,  and  defeats  into  victories.  It  rejoices  the  an- 
gels, it  confounds  devils,  it  overcomes  the  world.  It  subdues 
the  greatest  courage,  and  converts  the  most  obstinate  hearts. 
It  is  the  strength  and  the  triumph  of  the  church,  according  to 
the  saying  of  the  ancient  oracle,  "  In  returning  and  rest  shall 
ye  be  saved  ;  in  quietness  and  in  confidence  shall  be  your 
strength,"  Isa.  xxx.  15. 

But  to  show  us  what  this  patience  is  to  which  the  Spirit  of 
God  conforms  his  children,  the  apostle  says  that  it  is  "  Avith 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  63 

joyful ness,"  This  is  the  true  character  of  christian  patience. 
Sometimes  the  hypocrite  suffers,  but  not  without  murmuring  ; 
and  the  ancient  philosophers  made  a  great  show  of  their  pa- 
tience ;  but  this  was  only  an  effect,  either  of  their  pride  or  of 
their  insensibility,  which  was  not  in  any  degree  accompanied 
with  the  joy  which  the  Holy  Ghost  pours  into  the  souls  of 
those  who  suSer  for  the  name  of  God.  Not  that  they  are  in- 
sensible, or  that  they  receive  without  pain  the  evil  brought  on 
them.  But  if  the  evil  they  bear  makes  them  sorrowful,  this 
very  thing  rejoices  them,  that  by  the  grace  of  their  Lord  they 
have  the  strength  and  the  courage  to  bear  it,  and  know  that 
their  suffering  shall  turn  to  their  good,  and  that  from  these 
thorns  they  shall  one  day  reap  the  flowers  and  fruits  of  a 
blessed  immortality.  To  which  may  be  added  the  sweetness 
which  is  then  shed  into  the  heart  by  the  lively  and  profound 
impression  of  that  inestimable  Comforter,  who,  on  such  occa- 
sions, communicates  himself  to  them  more  freely  than  ever,  and 
by  the  ineffable  virtue  of  his  balm  assuages  their  most  painful 
wounds.  This  is  what,  dear  brethren,  we  had  to  say  to  you  on 
this  text  of  the  holy  apostle. 

Let  us  receive  his  doctrine  with  faith,  and  religiously  obey 
his  voice.  He  shows  us  what  our  task  is  here  below  ;  let  us 
acquit  ourselves  in  it  with  care.  God  of  his  grace  has  raised 
up  among  us  a  great  light  of  knowledge  ;  let  us  use  it  for  its 
true  purpose,  and  walk  with  it  in  such  a  manner  as  is  worthy 
of  so  holy  and  merciful  a  Lord,  whose  name  we  bear.  Let 
this  great  name  awaken  our  senses  and  affections  ;  let  it  draw 
them  off  from  the  earth,  and  elevate  them  to  heaven,  where  he 
reigns  who  has  given  it  to  us.  Let  this  name  put  into  our 
hearts  a  secret  shame  to  do  or  think  anything  that  may  be  un- 
worthy of  it.  Brethren,  remember,  whenever  the  flesh  or  the 
world  solicits  you  to  evil,  that  you  are  christians.  Give  up 
the  world.  It  is  not  to  please  it  that  you  have  been  regene- 
rated by  the  Spirit  from  on  high.  The  world  is  so  unjust,  so 
capricious,  and  so  mutable,  that  it  is  impossible  to  satisfy  it. 
See  in  what  continual  pain  and  torment  they  live  who  attempt 
it.  And  though  you  should  effect  it,  the  success  would  cost 
you  dear.  By  pleasing  the  world  you  would  displease  your 
own  conscience  ;  to  satisfy  which  is  infinitely  more  important 
to  you  than  any  other  thing.  It  is  quite  otherwise  with  God. 
His  will  is  constant  and  always  the  same,  without  any  varia- 
tion. Nothing  is  pleasing  to  him  but  what  is  just  and  reason- 
able. Your  conscience  will  find  in  it  its  entire  satisfaction, 
and  will  never  reproach  you  for  having  served  so  good  a  Mas- 
ter. Not  to  allege  to  you,  that  the  world,  after  you  shall  have 
killed  yourself  to  serve  it,  will  pay  you  only  with  ingratitude 
and  contempt,  as  experience  daily  shows  us;  whereas  the  Lord 
will  magnificently  reward  the  care  you  shall  have  taken  to  do 


64  AN  EXPOSITION-   OF  [SEEM.  IV. 

his  will  ;  comforting  and  blessing  you  in  this  world,  crowning 
and  glorifying  you  in  the  next.  If  you  demand  what  must  be 
done  to  please  him,  the  apostle  shows  you  in  a  word,  "  Be  fruit- 
ful in  every  good  work."  As  often  as  the  Lord  shall  cast  his  eyes 
on  this  vineyard,  let  him  see  it  always  laden  with  good  fruits. 
Let  him  never  have  cause  to  complain  of  it,  as  he  formerly  did 
of  that  of  Israel.  "  I  looked,"  says  he,  "  that  it  should  bring 
forth  grapes,  and  it  brought  forth  wild  grapes,"  Isa.  v.  Surely 
he  has  had  no  less  care  of  ours  than  of  theirs.  He  has  planted 
it,  in  like  manner,  with  the  choicest  vines  ;  he  has  also  encom- 
passed it  with  a  lofty  and  admirable  hedge  ;  he  has  watered  it 
with  the  rain  of  his  clouds,  and  made  the  beams  of  his  Sun  of 
righteousness  to  shine  on  it,  and  ma}'-  justly  say  of  it,  "  What 
could  be  done  more  to  my  vineyard,  that  I  have  not  done  in 
it  ?"  Let  us  not  be  ungrateful  to  so  sweet  a  Master.  Let  not 
our  sterility  confound  his  expectation.  Let  our  fruits  be  an- 
swerable to  his  cares,  and  our  fecundity  to  his  husbandry.  Let 
there  be  no  soul  barren  and  unprofitable  among  us  :  let  every 
one  be  fruitful  of  what  he  has,  every  one  improve  the  dressing 
and  sap  the  Lord  has  given  us.  Let  the  sinner  present  him 
his  repentance  ;  the  just,  his  perseverance  ;  the  rich,  his  alms  ; 
the  poor,  his  praises;  old  age,  its  prudence;  youth,  its  zeal. 
Let  the  learned  abound  in  instruction,  the  strong  in  modesty, 
the  weak  in  humility,  and  all  together  in  love.  And  as  it  is 
the  good  pleasure  of  our  heavenly  Father  that  here  we  should 
have  many  conflicts,  as  none  can  live  piously  without  persecu- 
tion, let  us  prepare  also  for  this  part  of  our  duty,  and,  with  the 
apostle,  supplicate  the  Lord  that  he  may  strengthen  us  with  all 
might,  according  to  his  glorious  power  ;  that  he  may  grant  us 
firm  and  unmovable  patience,  to  persevere  constantly  in  the 
holy  communion  of  his  Son  ;  so  that  neither  the  promises  nor 
the  threatenings  of  the  world,  neither  the  lusts  nor  the  fears 
of  flesh,  may  be  ever  able  to  entice  us  from  his  service.  0 
God,  our  task  is  great,  and  we  are  feeble.  Our  enemies  are 
giants,  and  we  but  dwarfs.  Therefore,  do  thou  thyself  perform 
within  us,  merciful  Lord,  the  work  which  thou  commandest 
us.  Perfect  thy  glorious  power  in  our  infirmities.  Strength- 
en our  hands,  and  confirm  our  hearts,  that  we  may  fight  vig- 
orously, and  achieve  great  things  in  thy  name  ;  and,  after  the 
trials  and  temptations  of  this  life,  may  hereafter  receive  from 
the  sacred  and  sweet  hand  of  thy  Son  the  glorious  crown  of 
immortality,  for  which  we  ardently  breathe.     So  be  it. 


CHAP,  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  65 

SERMON    V. 

VERSES   12,   13. 

Giving  thanks  unto  the  Father,  which  hath  made  us  meet  to  he 
partakers  of  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light:  who  hath 
delivered  us  from  the  power  of  darkness,  and  hath  translated  us 
into  the  kingdom  of  his  dear  Son. 

Dear  brethren,  the  first  creation  of  man  is  a  most  illus- 
trious masterpiece  of  the  goodness,  power,  and  wisdom  of  God, 
when  this  great  artificer  made  Adam  of  the  dust,  and  formed 
him  after  his  own  image,  to  live  and  reign  on  the  earth  in  sov- 
ereign felicity  ;  yet  it  must  be  confessed  that  our  restoration 
by  Jesus  Christ  is  much  more  excellent  and  admirable.  For 
whether  you  consider  the  things  themselves  which  have  been 
given  us,  or  have  respect  to  the  condition  of  those  to  whom 
they  have  been  communicated,  or  to  what  the  Lord  did  for 
communicating  them,  you  will  see  that  in  every  way  the  se- 
cond of  these  divine  benefits  surpasses  the  first.  The  first 
gave  us  a  human  nature,  the  second  has  communicated  to  us 
a  divine  one.  The  first  made  us  a  living  soul,  the  second 
makes  us  a  quickening  spirit.  By  the  one,  we  had  an  earthly 
and  animal  being;  by  the  other,  we  receive  a  spiritual  and 
heavenly  one.  The  one  placed  us  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  the 
other  elevates  us  to  the  heaven  of  glory.  There  we  had  do- 
minion over  animals,  and  the  empire  of  the  earth  ;  here  we 
have  the  fraternity  of  angels,  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
There  we  enjoyed  a  life  full  of  delight,  but  not  stable,  and  de- 
pendent, like  that  of  other  living  creatures,  on  the  use  of  meat, 
and  drink,  and  sleep  ;  here  we  possess  a  life  full  of  vigour  and 
strength,  which,  like  that  of  blessed  spirits,  is  sustained  by  its 
own  virtue,  requiring  no  other  nourishment.  The  one  was 
subject  to  change,  as  the  event  has  declared  ;  the  other  is  truly 
immortal  and  immutable,  and  above  the  accidents  which  al- 
tered the  first.  The  advantage  of  the  first  man  was,  that  he 
might  not  have  died  ;  the  privilege  of  the  second  is,  that  he 
cannot  die.  But  the  difference  will  appear  no  less  in  the  dis- 
position of  the  persons  to  whom  the  Lord  has  communicated 
these  benefits,  if  you  attentively  consider  it.  I  confess  that 
the  dust  which  God  invested  with  a  human  form  did  not  merit 
a  condition  so  excellent,  and  received  it  from  the  mere  liberal- 
ity of  the  Creator.  But  if  it  was  not  worthy  of  such  a  favour, 
certainly  there  was  nothing  in  it  which,  in  the  rigour  of  justice, 
rendered  it  incapable  of  it  ;  whereas  we  not  only  have  not 
merited  the  salvation  which  God  gives  us  in  his  Son,  but  have 


•66  AN  EXPOSITION-   OF  [SERM.  V. 

most  abundantly  merited  that  death  which  is  opposite  to  it. 
If  the  matter  on  which  the  Lord  wrought,  in  the  first  creation 
of  man,  had  no  disposition  for  the  form  he  gave  it,  so  neither 
had  it  any  repugnance  to  it  ;  but  in  our  second  creation,  that 
is,  in  our  redemption  by  Jesus  Christ,  he  finds  in  us  souls  so 
far  from  complying  with  his  operation,  that  they  powerfully 
resist  it.  So  you  see  that,  to  effect  the  first  work,  he  merely  is- 
sued his  will  and  word  ;  but,  for  creating  the  second,  it  was 
necessary  that  he  should  shake  the  heavens,  send  down  his  Son 
to  earth,  deliver  him  up  to  death,  and  do  miracles  that  aston- 
ished men  and  angels.  With  this  grand  and  incomprehensible 
mystery  of  God  the  apostle  now  engages  our  attention,  my 
brethren,  in  the  text  which  you  have  heard.  For  having  fin- 
ished the  exordium,  or  the  preface,  of  this  Epistle  ;  and  intend- 
ing thence  to  enter  on  his  principal  subject,  in  order  to  glide 
the  more  gently  into  it,  after  mentioning  to  the  Colossians  the 
prayers  that  he  offered  to  God  for  them,  he  now  adds  the 
thanks  which  he  ofiered  him  for  their  common  salvation  ;  and 
by  this  means  opens  his  disquisition,  touching  the  sufficiency 
and  inexhaustible  abundance  of  Jesus  Christ  for  the  salvation 
of  believers,  which  renders  it  unnecessary  to  make  any  addi- 
tion to  his  gospel.  "  Giving  thanks  unto  the  Father,"  says  he, 
"  who,"  &c.  As  this  text  consists  of  two  verses,  so  it  may  be 
divided  into  two  articles.  In  the  first  the  apostle  gives  thanks 
unto  God,  who  "  hath  made  us  meet  to  be  partakers  of  the  in- 
heritance of  his  saints."  In  the  second  is  proposed  what  he 
has  done  to  make  us  meet  for  this  happiness;  namely,  "de- 
livered us  from  the  power  of  darkness,  and  translated  us  into 
the  kingdom  of  his  dear  Son."  These  are  the  two  points  we 
will  handle,  if  it  please  the  Lord,  in  this  discourse;  humbly 
beseeching  him  to  guide  us  in  meditating  on  this  sacred  sub- 
ject, and  to  touch  our  hearts  so  vividly  with  it,  that  it  may 
effectually  promote  our  edification  and  consolation. 

I.  The  benefit  of  our  redemption  being  very  great,  and 
most  admirable  in  all  respects,  (as  we  intimated,)  it  is  with 
great  propriety  that  the  apostle  begins  his  discourse  concerning 
it  by  giving  thanks  to  God.  And  in  his  Epistles  he  scarcely 
ever  speaks  of  it  without  extolling  it,  or  admiring  the  good- 
ness of  the  Lord.  He  directs  his  thanksgiving  to  the  Father, 
as  the  first  and  supreme  author  of  this  excellent  work.  Think 
not  that  he  denies  the  Son  or  the  Spirit  their  part  in  it,  or  that 
he  would  deprive  them  of  the  glory  due  to  them  for  it.  For 
as  these  three  persons  are  only  one  and  the  same  God,  the 
works  of  the  Deity  appertain  to  all  three  of  them.  But  as 
they  subsist  in  a  certain  order,  the  Father  of  himself,  the  Son 
of  the  Father,  who  generated  him,  the  Holy  Spirit  of  the  Fa- 
ther and  the  Son,  from  whom  he  proceeds  from  all  eternity  ; 
so  likewise  they  act  in  the  same  manner.    And  as  the  Father  is 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  67 

the  first  in  this  order  of  their  subsistence  and  of  their  opera- 
tion, Paul  addresses  his  benedictions  particularly  to  him,  as 
the  prime  and  sovereign  source  of  the  Deity,  whence  originally 
has  flowed  down  to  us  all  the  good  and  grace  that  we  have  re- 
ceived in  our  redemption. 

But  let  us  see  how  the  apostle  describes  this  work  of  our 
salvation  for  which  he  gives  the  Lord  thanks  :  "  He  hath  made 
us  meet,"  saith  he,  "  to  be  partakers  of  the  inheritance  of  the 
saints  in  light."  After  sin  had  made  a  separation  between  God 
and  us,  it  was  naturally  impossible  for  us  to  have  a  part  in  any 
of  his  blessings  :  the  Lord,  therefore,  designing  to  save  us, 
took  care  first  of  all  to  remove  this  obstacle  to  our  communi- 
cation with  him.  This  he  did,  satisfying  his  justice  by  the 
expiation  of  sin  through  the  death  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ. 
By  this  means  that  free  commerce  between  his  goodness  and 
our  poor  nature  which  our  sin  had  interrupted  was  again 
opened,  so  that  now  there  is  no  obstruction,  except  on  man's 
own  part,  to  his  approaches  to  God,  and  participation  of  his  grace 
through  faith  and  repentance.  Bnt  this  is  not  what  the  apos- 
tle intends,  when  he  says  that  the  Father  has  made  us  meet  to 
have  a  part  in  his  inheritance.  For  this  grace,  by  which  he 
has  opened  a  way  to  the  throne  of  his  beneficence  through  the 
expiation  of  sin,  generally  respects  all  men  ;  nor  is  there  any 
one  who  will  not  find  free  access  if  he  present  himself  with 
faith  and  repentance  :  but  the  grace  of  which  the  apostle  here 
speaks  is  appropriate  to  him  and  the  Colossians,  and  such  as 
resemble  them  ;  that  is,  in  a  word,  it  is  peculiar  to  true  be- 
lievers, and  not  common  to  all  men.  It  must  be  observed, 
therefore,  in  the  second  place,  that  besides  this  first  impedi- 
ment, which  shut  the  gate  of  God's  house  against  us,  I  mean 
the  inexorable  severity  of  his  avenging  justice  ;  there  is  another 
and  as  difficult  to  be  surmounted  as  the  former,  though  it  is 
of  another  kind,  and  of  a  different  nature.  It  is  the  malig- 
nancy, the  insensibility,  and  the  blindness  of  our  corrupt 
nature.  For  as  the  justice  of  God  would  not  permit  a  crea- 
ture polluted  with  sin  to  approach  him  except  its  sin  were  ex- 
piated ;  so  his  wisdom  could  not  suffer  it  to  touch  any  of  his 
divine  favours,  except  it  repented  of  having  offended  him,  and 
believed  his  promises.  But  in  our  fallen  state  our  souls  are 
so  depraved  by  sin,  that  they  are  incapable  of  themselves 
either  to  think  aright  of  God,  or  to  put  affiance  iu  his  good- 
ness ;  and  so  this  great  miracle  of  the  love  of  God  towards 
us  (I  mean  the  expiation  of  sin  by  the  death  of  his  Son) 
would  remain  without  any  saving  effect  with  respect  to  us,  if,  leav- 
ing us  in  our  native  condition,  he  simply  presented  to  us  in  ex- 
ternal means,  the  declarations  of  his  grace.  And  therefore  this 
kind  and  compassionate  Lord,  not  satisfied  with  having  opened 
the  gate  of  his  bounty  by  the  cross  of  Christ,  also  delivers  us 


68  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.   IV. 

from  the  grave  of  our  impiety,  and  gives  us  the  will  and  the 
strength  to  come  to  himself.  It  is  properly  this  second  benefit, 
peculiar  to  those  who  believe,  which  the  apostle  intends,  when 
he  says  that  God  hath  made  us  capable  to  partake  of  his  inhe- 
ritance. The  first  gift  of  the  Father  capacitated  his  hand  to 
communicate  his  treasures  to  us  ;  and  the  second  capacitates 
us  to  enjoy  them.  "Without  the  death  of  his  dear  Son  he  could 
not  give  us  life  ;  and  without  his  effectual  calling  we  could 
not  receive  it  from  him. 

Faithful  brethren,  mark  well  this  lesson  of  the  apostle,  who 
gives  thanks  to  God  that  he  hath  made  us  meet  to  partake  of 
his  inheritance.  He  first  brings  down,  by  this  means,  the 
pride  of  those  who  give  this  glory  to  free-will,  boasting  that 
they  have  made  themselves  meet  for  salvation,  either  by  some 
kind  of  predispositions  which  oblige  God  at  least  by  the  way 
of  decency  to  give  them  his  grace,  or  by  the  proper  manage- 
ment of  afflictions,  as  well  as  the  pride  of  all  those  in  gen- 
eral who  pretend  that  it  is  in  a  man's  own  power  to  prepare 
himself  for  the  heavenly  inheritance.  No,  says  the  apostle, 
this  wholly  appertains  to  God.  It  is  he  that  "  hath  made  us 
meet."  Of  ourselves  we  cannot  so  much  as  think  a  good  thought  ; 
so  he  elsewhere  affirms,  2  Cor.  iii.  5.  I  confess  that  this  impo- 
tency  of  man  is  voluntary,  and  consequently  criminal  ;  it  pro- 
ceeds from  the  extreme  wickedness  of  his  heart,  and  from  no  de- 
fect in  any  of  those  things  which  are  necessary  from  without  for 
producing  this  effect.  For  what  besides  his  own  rebelliousness 
hinders  him  from  believing  in  God,  and  embracing  with  re- 
pentance the  exhibitions  of  divine  grace  which  are  presented 
to  him,  either  in  the  course  of  nature,  or  in  the  law,  or  by  the 
gospel  ?  Yet  so  it  is,  that  however  voluntary  this  his  wicked- 
ness, it  is  also  invincible,  and  altogether  refractory.  It  is  no 
longer  a  weakness.  It  is  a  formed  impotency,  which  nature  is 
not  able  to  correct.  And  the  Scripture  always  speaks  of  it  in 
this  sense.  "  The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  because  they  are  spiritually  discerned,"  1  Cor. 
ii.  14.  And,  "  The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God  :  for  it 
is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be,"  Rom. 
viii.  7.  John,  speaking  of  the  Jews,  says,  "  They  could  not  be- 
lieve," John  xii.  39.  And  Jeremiah  of  their  ancestors,  "  Their 
ear  is  uncircumcised,  and  they  cannot  hearken,"  Jer.  vi.  10. 
"  Can  the  Ethiopian  change  his  skin,  or  the  leopard  his  spots  ? 
then  may  ye  also  do  good,  who  are  accustomed  to  do  evil," 
Jer.  xiii.  23.  Such  is  by  nature  the  miserable  state  of  all 
men. 

Let  us  learn  then,  in  the  second  place,  to  give  the  Lord 
alone  the  whole  glory  of  all  that  we  are  in  his  Son,  as  in  re- 
ality it  belongs  to  none  but  him.  He  has  not  only  given  us 
this  rich  inheritance,  the  purchase  of  the  blood  of  his  Son 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  6^ 

Christ,  he  has  even  given  us  the  meetness  to  enter  into  it,  and 
possess  our  part  of  it.  Besides  his  making  us  the  gift,  he  has 
also  imparted  to  us  the  strength  to  receive  it.  For  it  is  not 
with  the  inheritance  of  God  as  with  the  honours  of  earthly 
princes  ;  these  often  fall  into  the  hands  of  persons  most  inca- 
pable of  enjoying  them.  That  divine  honour  of  the  heavenly 
inheritance  is  given  to  none  but  those  that  are  "  meet"  for  it  ; 
that  is,  who  have  the  circumstances  requisite  for  partaking  of 
it,  which  are  faith  and  repentance.  But  the  same  God  who 
has  prepared  the  heritage  for  us,  gives  us  also  the  preparation 
which  is  necessary  for  entering  into  it  ;  according  to  what  the 
apostle  says  elsewhere,  "Our"  meetness,  or  "sufficiency,  is  of 
God,"  2  Cor.  iii.  5  ;  and  what  our  Lord  himself  avers  in  John, 
"  No  man  can  come  unto  me,  except  the  Father  which  hath 
sent  me  draw  him,"  John  vi.  44.  This  also  is  what  the  apostle 
intends  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians:  "It  is  God  who 
worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure," 
Phil.  ii.  13.  And  elsewhere  he  comprises  this  whole  work  of 
the  grace  of  God  in  one  only  word,  saying,  "  He  that  hath 
wrought  us  for  the  selfsame  thing  is  God,"  2  Cor.  v.  5.  There- 
fore he  calls  us,  in  one  place,  the  workmanship  of  God,  and 
his  creation  in  Jesus  Christ,  Eph.  ii.  10  ;  and  in  another,  his 
husbandry  and  his  building,  1  Cor.  iii.  9.  Consequently  it 
appears  that  the  offer  of  grace,  which  is  made  to  all  by  the 
gospel,  if  there  be  nothing  else,  gives  us  not  a  part  in  the  hea- 
venly inheritance.  I  grant  that  it  is  sufficient  in  itself,  and 
would  produce  its  effect  in  man,  if  the  wickedness  of  his  heart 
had  not  blinded  him.  But  this  deplorable  blindness  obstructs 
the  effect  which  these  offers  of  the  divine  grace  should  produce. 
Wherefore  God  himself  makes  us  capable  of  them,  by  that  in- 
ward operation  of  his  Spirit  with  which  he  accompanies  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  in  the  hearts  of  his  elect,  by  reason 
of  which  they  are  called  the  "  taught  of  God,"  John  vi.  45, 
It  is  this  teaching  which  renders  them  meet  for  entering  into 
the  communion  of  his  Son,  according  to  what  he  says  in  John, 
"  Whoever  hath  heard  and  learned  of  the  Father  cometh  unto 
me,"  John  vi.  45.  Thus  he  made  Lydia  capable  of  having 
part  in  his  inheritance,  opening  her  heart  to  understand  the 
things  that  were  spoken  by  Paul,  as  the  sacred  history  informs 
us.  Acts  xvi.  14.  Doubtless,  in  the  same  manner,  he  also  made 
both  Paul  and  these  Colossians,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  faithful, 
capable  of  the  same  effect,  inwardly  enlightening  them,  and 
leading  captive  their  hearts  into  the  yoke  of  the  gospel. 

In  fine,  we  may  again  observe  how  contrary  to  apostolic 
doctrine  is  the  presumption  of  those  who  boast  of  meriting 
salvation.  If  there  is  anything  in  us  to  which  merit  can  be 
attributed,  without  doubt  it  is  our  capacity  and  sufficiency,  that 
we  are  meet  to  partake  of  the  kingdom  of  God.     Bat  this  very 


70  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  V. 

thing  is  a  donation  from  God,  for  which  we  owe  him  most 
humble  thanks.  How  then  and  by  what  right  can  we  in  jus- 
tice demand  wages  for  it  ?  Would  it  not  be  as  preposterous  as 
if  a  patient  were  to  enter  action  against  his  physician,  and  in- 
sist on  compensation  for  being  cured  by  his  art?  or  as  if  a 
poor  man  were  to  demand  wages  of  us  for  receiving  our  alms  ? 
or  a  prisoner  for  having  been  redeemed  with  our  money  ? 
Let  a  man  turn  and  transform  things  as  much  as  he  pleases,  it 
is  clear  that  grace  and  merit  are  incompatible  ;  and  that  he 
who  is  justly  obliged  to  render  thanks  cannot,  without  folly, 
pretend  to  have  merited  that  very  thing  for  which  he  renders 
thanks.  Our  sufficiency  or  meetness  is  a  gift  of  God,  or  it  is  not. 
If  it  is  his  gift,  why  maintain  ye  that  it  is  meritorious  ?  If  it  is 
not,  why  does  the  apostle  thank  our  Lord  for  having  made 
us  meet  to  have  part  in  his  inheritance  ?  The  word  inheritance, 
which  the  apostle  here  employs,  evidently  confirms  the  same 
truth,  as  an  ancient  instructor  of  the  church  has  well  observed. 
Why  is  it,  says  he,  that  the  apostle  uses  the  word  inheritance? 
To  show  us  that  no  man  obtains  the  kingdom  of  heaven  by 
his  own  works  or  performances.  But  as  an  inheritance  de- 
pends upon  happiness,  and  not  upon  merit,  so  is  it  in  this 
matter.  None  can  exhibit  a  manner  of  life  and  conversation 
so  excellent  as  to  be  worthy  of  the  kingdom.  The  whole  is 
derived  from  the  gift  of  God.* 

To  proceed,  I  doubt  not  but  Paul  took  this  term  from  the 
Old  Testament.  There  we  find  that  the  land  of  Canaan,  des- 
tined and  given  to  the  children  of  Israel  for  an  inheritance, 
according  to  the  promises  made  to  their  fathers,  was  the  figure 
of  this  blessed,  spiritual,  and  divine  life,  which  God  puts  us 
into  possession  of  by  the  gospel  of  his  Son,  beginning  it  here 
below  by  the  consolation  and  sanctification  of  his  Spirit,  and 
designing  to  complete  it  on  a  future  day  in  the  highest  hea- 
vens, by  the  communication  of  his  immortal  glory.  For  as 
each  Israelite  had  his  portion  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  the  same 
in  substance  with  the  rest,  but  diversely  qualified  ;  so  each 
believer  has  his  share  in  celestial  life  ;  but  in  such  a  manner, 
that  though  all  substantially  possess  the  same  life,  yet  it  is 
variously  proportioned  and  attempered  to  each  of  them. 
Again,  as  none  but  the  children  of  Abraham  had  right  and 
title  to  that  ancient  inheritance  ;  so  there  are  none  but  the 
children  of  the  promise  who  are  born  of  the  word  of  God, 
and  not  of  flesh  or  of  blood,  that  have  part  in  the  new. 
For  this  cause  the  apostle  entitles  it  the  inheritance  of  the 
saints.  Depart,  ye  unbelieving  and  profane.  It  is  not  for 
you  that  God  has  prepared  this  glorious  inheritance.  "Be 
not  deceived:  neither  fornicators,  nor  idolaters,  nor  adulter- 

*  Chrysostom  iu  loc. 


CHAP.   I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  71 

ers,  nor  effeminate,  nor  thieves,  nor  covetous  persons,  nor 
drunkards,  nor  revilers,  nor  extortioners,  shall  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God,"  1  Cor.  vi.  9,  10.  It  is  designed  for  saints 
alone.  The  portion  of  the  profane  and  ungodly  is  elsewhere  ; 
during  this  life,  in  the  world,  and  in  its  wretched  delights  ; 
and  when  life  shall  pass  away,  in  the  lake  of  fire  and  brim- 
stone. 

But  the  apostle  having  styled  that  salvation  which  God  com- 
municates to  us  in  his  Son  "  the  inheritance  of  the  saints,"  adds 
further,  "  in  light."  As  light  is  in  Scripture  the  symbol  of 
two  things,  knowledge  and  glory,  so  it  may  be  taken  here  two 
ways  ;  either  for  the  knowledge  of  those  divine  things  which 
God  reveals  in  his  gospel,  or  for  that  sovereign  joy  and  fe- 
licity which  we  shall  possess  on  high  in  the  heavens.  It  is 
best,  in  my  opinion,  to  conjoin  these  two  expositions,  that  so 
we  may  comprehend  the  entire  state  of  the  whole  inheritance 
of  the  saints,  who,  after  they  are  once  united  to  Jesus  Christ, 
always  live  in  light;  first,  in  that  of  grace,  during  their  pil- 
grimage on  earth  ;  afterwards,  in  that  of  glory,  when  they 
shall  be  elevated  to  that  blessed  city,  "which  hath  no  need  of 
the  sun,  nor  of  the  moon,  to  shine  in  it  ;  for  the  glory  of  God 
hath  lightened  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof,"  Rev.  xxi. 
23.  For  this  cause  all  the  divine  denizens  of  this  heavenly 
state  are  called  "  children  of  light  and  of  the  day,"  1  Thess, 
V.  5  ;  which  should  shine  as  lights  in  the  midst  of  a  perverse 
generation,  Phil.  ii.  15,  and  be  "  the  light  of  the  world,"  Matt. 
V.  14  :  as  persons  born  of  the  light  of  the  Spirit  and  the  word 
of  God,  who,  being  led  by  the  rays  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness, 
walk  on  straight  towards  the  supreme  source  of  lights;  where 
arrived,  they  shall  eternally  dwell  in  that  brightness  which 
will  transform  them  into  the  image  of  their  Lord,  from  glory 
to  glory,  by  the  power  of  his  omnipotent  Spirit. 

II.  But  it  is  time  to  come  to  the  other  verse,  in  which  the 
apostle  adds  what  the  Father  has  done  to  make  us  thus  meet 
for  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light:  "He  hath  delivered 
us,"  says  he,  "  from  the  power  of  darkness,  and  translated  us 
into  the  kingdom  of  his  dear  Son."  By  "  darkness  "  the  Scrip-, 
ture  ordinarily  means  ignorance  and  misery  ;  the  two  contraries 
of  knowledge  and  joy,  which  it  expresses  by  light,  as  we  just 
now  said.  For  ignorance  and  error  hide  the  true  and  proper 
form  of  things  from  our  understandings,  just  as  darkness  con- 
ceals visible  objects  from  our  bodily  eyes.  And  because  there 
is  nothing  more  unpleasant  to  men,  nor  more  terrifying,  than 
the  obscurity  of  darkness  ;  the  term  is  also  used  to  represent 
horror,  trouble,  and  misery.  So  "  the  power  of  darkness  "  is 
nothing  else  than  that  tyranny  which  the  devil  and  sin  exercise 
over  their  slaves,  filling  their  spirits  with  deadly  errors  and 
brutish  ignorance,  and  their  consciences  either  with  terror  or 


72  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  V 

insensibility,  and  drawing  them  on  by  little  and  little  under 
this  dismal  yoke  into  the  horrors  of  eternal  death,  which  our 
Lord  often  calls  outer  darkness,  where  there  is  weeping  and 
gnashing  of  teeth.  For  as  knowledge  and  truth  are  a  light 
necessary  for  the  attainment  of  salvation,  so  error  and  igno- 
rance infallibly  lead  to  death.  Therefore  the  devil,  the  sworn 
enemy  of  our  good,  blinds  men  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability, 
spreading  before  them  gross  and  thick  mists,  which  hide  heaven 
and  its  blessed  brightness  from  them.  This  is  the  sum  of  his 
artifices.  The  well  of  his  abyss  ever  vomits  forth  into  our  air 
a  black  vapour,  to  render  our  senses  useless.  By  this  means 
be  turned,  in  former  ages,  the  nations  of  the  earth  from  the 
service  of  their  Creator,  obscuring  and  smothering  by  his  illu- 
sions those  sparks  of  the  knowledge  of  him  which  they  possessed, 
and  plunging  them,  and  holding  them  down,  in  such  profound 
ignorance,  that  these  miserable  men  were  not  ashamed  to  adore 
the  work  of  their  own  hands,  and  "change  the  glory  of  the  in- 
corruptible God  into  an  image  made  like  to  corruptible  man, 
and  to  birds,  and  four-footed  beasts,  and  creeping  things,"  Rom. 
i.  23.  As  for  justice  and  moral  deportment,  this  impostor  had 
so  extinguished  the  lights  which  Providence  had  kindled  for 
them  in  their  hearts,  and  so  disordered  all  their  knowledge  by 
his  seductions,  that  the  vilest  abominations  passed  among  them 
for  matters  of  indifference.  Walking  on  in  such  thick  dark- 
ness, it  is  no  wonder  if  they  were  in  continual  fear;  they  knew 
not  where  they  were  walking,  nor  whither  they  were  going, 
and,  after  much  stumbling  and  staggering,  fell  at  last  over  the 
precipice  of  eternal  perdition.  And  would  to  God  the  prince 
of  error  did  not  in  the  same  manner  still  abuse  the  world! 
Certainly  the  darkness  of  ancient  paganism  was  not  more  gross 
nor  shameful  than  that  which  at  this  very  day  covers  the  greater 
part  of  the  earth. 

But  as  the  apostle  calls  that  error  wherein  the  devil  keeps 
men  "  the  power  of  darkness,"  and,  not  simply  darkness  ;  this 
teaches  us  that  that  accursed  one  works  effectually  in  them, 
doing  with  their  hearts  what  seemeth  him  good,  and  planting  all 
deceit  and  ignorance  in  them  at  his  will,  so  that  these  wretches 
cannot  defend  themselves.  The  same  thing  the  apostle  teaches 
us  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  when  he  says  that  this  evil 
"spirit  now  worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience,"  Eph.  ii. 
2.  Not  that  he  has  naturally  any  just  dominion  over  the  souls 
of  men,  but  their  sin  brings  them  under  his  sceptre  ;  and  their 
hearts  being  of  themselves  full  of  unclean  and  unjust  affections, 
it  follows,  through  the  excess  of  their  corruption,  that  he  never 
tempts  them  in  vain.  And  all  this  domination  over  them  is 
founded  merely  on  imposture,  error,  and  ignorance;  so  that  it 
is  with  great  truth  and  elegance  that  Paul  here  calls  it  "the 
power  of  darkness."     This  is,  faithful  brethren,  the  sad  and 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  73' 

pitiable  state  in  whicli  naturally  men  lie.  Let  not  the  paint 
and  tinsel  of  their  pretended  wisdom  and  justice  dazzle  your 
eyes.  In  the  sight  of  God  it  is  but  darkness,  and  for  this  rea- 
son the  Scripture  calls  them  darkness  itself.  "  Ye  were  some- 
times darkness,"  says  the  apostle  to  the  Ephesians,  chap.  v.  8. 

Judge  by  this  how  horrible  is  the  error  of  those  who  dogma- 
tize that  liberty  is  so  very  natural  to  men,  that  they  cannot 
conceive  how  they  could  be  men  without  it.  Let  them  philo- 
sophize upon  this  subject  as  they  please,  they  will  never  be 
able  to  show  that  a  man  can  be,  at  the  same  time,  both  at  lib- 
erty and  under  the  power  of  darkness.  He  that  is  under  the 
power  of  another  is  not  free.  Only  God  can  enfranchise  men, 
and  take  them  from  this  miserable  servitude,  and  bind  that 
strong  tyrant  who  held  them  captive.  To  this  sovereign  Lord 
the  apostle  here  gives  the  glory  both  of  his  own  liberation  and 
of  that  of  the  Colossians  :  "He,"  says  the  apostle,  "  hath  delivered 
us  from  the  power  of  darkness."  But  the  Greek  word,*  which 
he  uses  in  the  original,  has  more  emphasis  than  this,  signify- 
ing that  he  delivered  us  by  an  exertion  of  power,  drawing  us, 
and,  if  I  may  so  speak,  plucking  us  by  force  out  of  our  irons; 
by  which  he  represents  to  us,  on  the  one  hand,  how  strong  and 
strait  were  the  bonds  of  our  slavery,  and,  on  the  other,  how 
excellent  and  admirable  is  the  power  which  God  has  displayed 
in  bringing  us  out  of  this  spiritual  Egypt.  For  we  daily  ex- 
perience, that  though  nothing  is  more  sordid  and  shameful 
than  the  tyranny  of  error,  yet  we  all  naturally  love  it,  so  hor- 
rible is  our  depravity.  The  most  of  them  adore  their  fetters, 
and  leave  not  the  darkness  of  Egypt  and  the  horrors  of  Sodom 
but  with  regret  ;  and,  to  draw  them  out,  God  must  descend 
from  heaven,  and  take  them  by  the  hand,  as  of  old  he  did  to 
Lot  and  his  children.  You  know  he  delivers  them  from  this 
black  power  of  darkness  when  he  dissipates  their  error  and 
ignorance,  causing  his  sacred  truth  to  shine  into  their  hearts, 
in  so  vivifying  and  so  glorious  a  manner,  that  they  discern  it, 
maugre  all  the  illusions  of  Satan  and  the  world.  Then  the 
domination  which  this  impostor  exercised  over  them  vanishes. 
They  wonder  how  such  mists  could  hide  from  them  so  resplen- 
dent a  light;  and  this  new  flame,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly, 
this  new  sun,  discovering  to  them  the  true  face  of  things,  the 
false  colours  wherewith  the  devil  and  the  flesh  endeavour  to 
disguise  them,  have  no  more  efficacy  on  them.  They  then  see 
the  naked  turpitude  and  horror  of  idolatry,  of  superstition,  and 
of  vice  ;  and,  on  the  other  side,  clearly  perceive  the  verity,  the 
beauty,  and  the  excellence  of  piety  and  holiness. 

This  deliverance  is  absolutely  necessary  for  a  participation 
in  the  inheritance  of  saints,  unto  which  none  is  received  who 

10  *    E/j'/Jio-aro. 


74  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  V. 

is  not  a  child  of  ligbt,  and  has  not  renounced  the  servitude  of 
error  and  sin.  And  I  confess  that  to  have  shaken  off  the  yoke 
of  darkness,  and  to  have  issued  from  its  power,  is  a  great 
thing.  But  this  is  not  all.  If  the  Lord  were  to  stop  there, 
we,  for  all  this,  should  have  no  share  in  the  divine  glory  of 
the  heavenly  Canaan.  It  is  of  absolute  necessity  for  admis- 
sion there,  that  we  bear  the  marks  of  the  Lamb,  and  on  our 
going  out  of  darkness  enter  into  his  holy  light.  For  this 
cause  the  apostle,  after  he  had  said  that  the  Father  hath  "  de- 
livered us  from  the  power  of  darkness,"  immediately  adds, 
"  and  translated  us  into  the  kingdom  of  his  dear  Son."  For 
though,  in  fact,  these  two  divine  benefits  are  inseparably 
united,  yet  they  constitute  two  difierent  graces.  It  is  his 
goodness,  and  not  anything  in  them,  that  has  thus  combined 
them.  Had  not  the  counsel  of  his  love  otherwise  ordered,  a 
man  might  be  delivered  from  the  power  of  darkness,  and  yet 
not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  his  Son,  but  remain  in  such  a 
liberty  as  Adam's  was  before  he  fell.  But  now  as  no  man 
has  remission  of  his  sins  without  becoming  a  member  of  Jesus 
Christ  by  faith  ;  and  as  all  who  have  this  honour  are  predes- 
tined by  the  good  pleasure  of  the  Father  to  be  conformed  to 
the  image  of  their  Head,  and  consequently  to  have  a  part  in 
his  kingdom  and  glory;  there  must  of  necessity  be  an  enter- 
ing into  his  kingdom,  or  an  eternal  abiding  under  the  power 
of  darkness.  The  apostle,  by  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  God, 
means  that  very  thing  which  the  evangelists  ordinarily  call 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  that  is,  the  church  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  that  blessed  city  builded  by  the  ministry  of  the  apostles 
and  prophets  upon  the  Son  of  God,  its  only  eternal  and  im- 
movable foundation,  the  state  of  the  Messiah,  the  new  republic 
of  God,  his  royalty  and  priesthood.  Very  pertinently,  he  here 
calls  the  inheritance  of  the  saints,  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of 
God,  because  no  one  but  a  child  of  God  can  have  a  part  in  it: 
this  teaches  us  that  we  cannot  obtain  this  right  except  in  the 
kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  as  none  but  he,  the  true  and  proper 
Son  of  God,  is  able  to  convey  divine  adoption  to  us;  and  it 
is  for  a  like  reason  that  he  styles  him  the  dear  or  well-beloved 
Son  of  God,  that  we  might  confidently  hope  for  all  the  grace 
and  glory  which  the  Father  promises  us  ;  inasmuch  as  we  have 
the  honour  of  being  related  to  his  well-beloved,  him  in  whom 
he  is  well  pleased,  whom  he  most  peculiarly  loves,  and  as 
perfectly  as  he  loves  himself,  his  eternal  delight  and  love. 
Besides,  I  doubt  not  but  the  apostle  designed  to  heighten  the 
grace  which  the  Father  has  shown  us  by  this  fine  and  impres- 
sive contrast  between  the  kingdom  of  his  well-beloved  Son, 
into  which  he  has  translated  us,  and  that  power  of  darkness, 
the  dominion  of  his  enemy,  from  which  he  has  delivered  us. 
God  brought  us  into  this  blessed  kingdom  when  he  gave  us 


CHAP.   I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  75 

the  faith  of  his  gospel,  the  righteousness  of  his  Son,  and  the 
consolation  of  his  Spirit,  designating  us  by  the  badges  of  his 
house,  and  sealing  us  with  his  holy  baptism.  But  the  word 
"translated,"  which  the  apostle  uses,  represents  also  the  strength 
and  efficacy  of  this  act  by  which  God  has  brought  us  into  the 
communion  of  his  Son.  I  acknowledge  that  the  operation  of 
this  divine  grace  is  sweet  and  pleasant,  for  it  persuades,  it  wins 
the  heart,  it  is  accompanied  with  the  extreme  joy  of  him  who 
receives  it:  still  it  is  potent  and  effectual:  nothing  can  resist 
it.  There  is  no  rebellion  nor  hardness  of  heart  but  it  subdues  ; 
it  draws  men  to  Jesus  Christ,  as  himself  expresses  it,  John  vi. 
44  ;  or,  as  his  apostle  says  here,  it  translates  them  into  his 
kingdom. 

Thus,  beloved  brethren,  we  have  delivered  to  you  the  expo- 
sition of  this  text.  I  wish  that  the  same  Spirit  which  of  old 
indited  it  to  the  pen  of  the  apostle,  would  please  to  engrave  it 
in  the  lowest  depth  of  our  hearts,  with  the  point  of  a  diamond, 
in  characters  that  could  not  be  effaced,  that  we  might  have  it 
day  and  night  before  our  eyes,  that  we  might  carefully  peruse 
it  and  consult  it  in  all  the  occurrences  of  our  life.  This  medita- 
tion would  suffice  to  preserve  us  in  a  constant  and  happy 
exercise  of  christian  piety,  and  to  guard  us  from  all  that  in- 
terrupts our  sanctification  or  our  comfort.  First,  it  would 
inflame  us  with  an  ardent  love  to  God,  and  excite  us  to  a  vivid 
and  sincere  acknowledgment  of  his  benefits.  For  what  love, 
what  reverence,  and  what  services  do  we  not  owe  to  this 
sovereign  Lord,  who  has  vouchsafed  to  display  on  us  so  much 
mercy  and  goodness — who  has  called  us  from  that  eternal  death 
wherein  we  were  sunk  with  the  damned,  to  the  possession  of 
the  inheritance  of  his  saints — who  has  made  us  meet  to  enter 
into  the  fruition  of  his  light — who,  by  a  miracle  of  his  power 
and  wisdom,  has  plucked  us  from  the  yoke  of  the  devil  ;  has 
delivered  us  from  the  unrighteous  and  murderous  power  of 
darkness  ;  and,  to  crown  all  his  other  favours,  has  translated 
us  into  the  blessed  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  his  love — who,  from 
brands  of  hell,  that  we  were,  has  changed  us  into  living  and 
lightsome  stars  in  his  firmament — of  dead  dogs,  has  made  us 
the  first  fruits  of  his  creatures  ;  and  from  slaves  of  demons 
transformed  us  into  angels  ;  and  from  the  accursed  state  of 
Satan  raised  us  to  the  sacred  fellowship  of  his  Son,  to  be  hence- 
forth his  free-men,  his  brethren,  and  his  members — 0  love  ! 
O  goodness  incomprehensible  !  How  have  we  the  heart  to  still 
offend  a  Lord  so  merciful,  so  admirable  ?  How  is  it  that  his 
most  divine  beneficence  does  not  transport  our  spirits — does 
not  win  to  his  service  all  our  thoughts,  and  affections,  and  emo- 
tions ?  Christians,  all  the  acknowledgment  he  demands  of 
you  for  his  vast  goodness  is  only  that  you  lead  holy  lives. 
Refuse  him  not  so  just  and  so  reasonable  a  due.     He  has  made 


76  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   V. 

you  to  partake  of  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  ;  be  not  so 
ungrateful  as  to  mix  with  the  profane.  Be  ye  separate  from 
them,  and  have  no  communion  with  the  impurity  and  filth 
of  their  sins.  Despise  not,  as  Esau,  the  title  you  have  to  so 
precious  an  inheritance  ;  let  it  be  dearer  to  you  than  all  the 
perishing  viands  and  delights  of  the  earth,  none  of  which  are 
better  than  that  contemptible  pottage  of  lentils  for  which  the 
profane  man  bartered  his  birthright. 

This  inheritance  is  in  light.  Live,  then,  as  children  of  light. 
Let  your  conversation  be  all  radiant  with  those  divine  and 
heavenly  excellences  which  the  gospel  of  our  Saviour  recom- 
mends to  you.  The  darkness  is  now  passed.  The  Sun  of 
righteousness  is  at  its  full  height.  Let  that  infamous  power  of 
darkness,  under  which  you  formerly  groaned,  have  no  longer 
authority  over  you.  Open  all  your  understanding,  that  you 
may  perceive  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  and  suffer  no  more  abuse 
by  the  illusions  of  error.  Labour  to  increase  your  light,  being 
assiduous  at  the  Scriptures  of  God,  the  living  spring  of  all 
spiritual  illumination,  the  inexhaustible  treasure  of  saving 
knowledge.  But  let  this  light  shine  also  in  your  deportment  ; 
for  it  is  to  no  purpose  that  you  renounce  the  darkness  of 
superstition,  if  you  remain  in  that  of  sin.  "  He  that  hateth  his 
brother,"  says  John,  "  is  in  darkness,  and  walketh  in  darkness, 
and  knoweth  not  whither  he  goeth  ;  for  darkness  hath  blinded 
his  eyes,"  1  John  ii.  11.  Remember,  you  are  no  longer  in  the 
school  of  Satan,  the  prince  of  darkness  ;  you  are  in  the  king- 
dom of  the  Son  of  God.  Think  and  act  worthily  of  so  glorious 
a  condition.  Let  it  purify  your  life  of  all  that  is  filthy  and 
sordid.  Let  it  elevate  your  hearts  above  mortal  things,  and 
set  them  in  heaven,  the  residence  of  this  divine  royalt3\ 

But,  dear  brethren,  as  this  text  obliges  us  to  make  sanctifica- 
tion a  special  study  ;  so  it  opens  to  us  a  living  source  of  conso- 
lation and  joy.  For  if  we  knew  our  blessings,  and  that  wonder- 
ful grace  which  the  Father  has  shown  us,  who  would  equal  us 
in  felicity  ?  We  have  a  part  in  the  heritage  of  the  saints.  The 
kingdom  of  the  beloved  Son  of  God  has  been  given  us.  O 
great  and  magnificent  portion  !  Let  the  world  boast  of  and 
adore  its  gold,  its  honours,  and  its  delights,  as  much  as  it  plea- 
ses ;  we  have  that  better  part,  which  is  sufficient  to  make  us  eter- 
nally happy,  though  we  should  be  deprived  of  all  other  things. 
Christian,  if  the  world  were  to  bereave  you  of  what  you  have 
within  its  jurisdiction,  consider,  it  cannot  take  from  you  the 
inheritance  of  the  saints.  If  it  denies  you  its  leeks,  and  onions, 
and  flesh-pots,  it  cannot  debar  you  from  that  divine  light  which 
shines  on  you,  and  which,  in  spite  of  all  its  attempts,  will  con- 
duct you  to  your  blissful  Canaan.  If  it  takes  from  you  its 
honours,  should  it  drive  you  even  out  of  its  dominions,  it  will 
not  be  able  to  wrest  from  you  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  God, 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  77 

nor  the  dignity  and  glory  you  possess  in  it.  This  is  not  a 
corruptible  kingdom;  it  is  not  like  those  of  the  earth,  that  are 
subject  to  a  thousand  and  a  thousand  dishonours,  miseries,  and 
mutations.  It  is  an  immortal  kingdom,  firmer  than  the  heavens  ; 
so  abundant  in  glory  and  in  goodness,  that  it  changes  all  those 
who  partake  of  it  into  kings  and  priests.  Faithful  brethren, 
let  us  be  contented  with  so  advantageous  a  portion.  Let  us 
enjoy  it  for  the  present  by  a  lively  and  established  hope, 
meekly  bearing  the  inconveniences  of  this  brief  journey  we 
are  taking  to  attain  it,  and  patiently  except  that  blessed  day, 
when  our  heavenly  Father,  having  finished  the  work  of  his 
grace,  will  elevate  us  all  into  his  glory,  and  put  on  our  heads 
the  crowns  of  life  and  immortality,  which  he  has  promised  us 
in  the  eternal  communion  of  his  well-beloved  Son  ;  to  whom, 
with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  true  and  only  God, 
blessed  for  ever,  be  all  honour  and  praise,  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


SEKMON  VI 

VEESE  14. 


In  whom  we  have  redemption  through  his  bloody  even  the  for  give- 
7iess  of  sins. 

Dear  brethren,  as  a  true  and  extensive  knowledge  of  that 
great  and  glorious  Eedeemer,  whose  remembrance  we  are 
this  day  to  celebrate,  is  the  only  foundation  of  the  religion  and 
salvation  of  men  ;  so,  on  the  contrary,  ignorance  of  his  person, 
of  his  offices,  and  of  his  benefits,  is  the  source  of  those  errors 
and  abuses  which  have  corrupted  religion,  and  consequently 
of  that  uuhappiness  into  which  the  unbelieving,  the  profane, 
the  superstitious,  and  the  heretical  are  ever  falling.  We  may 
say  to  all  these  people,  as  our  Lord  formerly  did  to  the  woman 
of  Samaria,  If  ye  knew  who  he  is  that  speaks  to  you  in  our 
gospel,  ye  would  ask  of  him  the  refreshment  and  consolation 
of  your  souls  ;  and  he  would  give  you  living  water,  springing 
up  to  everlasting  life,  John  iv.  10.  And  as  Paul  said  of  the 
ancient  Jews,  that  if  they  had  known  the  wisdom  of  God,  "they 
would  not  have  crucified  the  Lord  of  glory  ;"  1  Cor.  ii.  8  ;  so 
may  we  say  of  all  the  enemies  of  godliness  in  general,  that  if 
they  knew  Jesus,  the  wisdom  and  word  of  the  Father,  they 
would  not  injure  either  his  truth,  or  those  that  make  a  pro- 
fession of  it.  Jesus  truly  and  fully  known,  believed,  and 
apprehended,  suffices  to  expel  error,  doubt,  superstition,  sin 


78  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  VI. 

and  death  from  our  hearts;  and  to  establish  in  their  room 
truth,  peace,  joy,  holiness,  and  salvation.  Accordingly,  you 
see  that  Paul,  the  instructor  of  the  whole  world,  the  minister 
of  truth,  the  teacher  of  life  and  happiness,  protests  that  to 
execute  this  high  commission,  and  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  bring  them  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God,  he 
determined  to  know  nothing  among  them  but  "Jesus  Christ 
and  him  crucified,"  1  Cor.  ii.  2.  He  finds  in  this  rich  and 
inexhaustible  subject  all  that  is  necessary  for  him  to  convert 
infidels,  to  confirm  believers,  to  comfort  the  afflicted,  to  reclaim 
them  who  had  been  misled,  and  recover  them  who  had  erred. 
He  finds  in  it  wherewith  to  confute  the  philosophy  of  the 
pagans,  wherewith  to  abase  the  presumption  of  the  Jews,  where- 
with to  instruct  the  ignorant,  and  to  convince  the  learned. 
It  is  with  the  mere  science  of  this  Jesus,  that  he  wrests  men 
from  idolatry,  and  liberates  them  from  the  slavery  of  sin. 
With  this  also  he  reforms  the  abuses  and  cures  the  wounds 
which  error  has  caused  in  the  church.  It  is  his  weapon  against 
enemies  without,  and  against  the  factious  within.  With  this 
knowledge  he  builds  the  house  of  God  ;  and  with  this  he 
cleanses  and  keeps  it  pure.  Whatever  enemy  appears,  he  op- 
poses to  him  nothing  whatever  but  his  crucified  Jesus.  For 
as  in  nature  no  sooner  does  the  sun  appear  in  our  horizon, 
showing  his  beautiful  and  luminous  visage  to  the  world,  but 
the  shades  and  clouds  that  filled  the  air  immediately  vanish  ; 
so  in  the  church,  when  the  Lord  Jesus  arises  in  the  hearts  of 
men,  there  diffusing  the  riches  of  his  saving  light,  and  display- 
ing his  beauty,  at  the  same  instant  error  and  misconception 
disappear,  unable  to  sustain  the  force  of  this  divine  brightness; 
and,  as  the  psalmist  sings  on  another  occasion.  When  he  arises 
his  enemies  are  dispersed,  and  they  that  hate  him  flee  before 
him.  He  driveth  them  away  as  wind  driveth  the  smoke,  Psal. 
Ixviii.  1,  2.  This  then  is  the  only  certain  means  either  to 
preserve  or  to  recover  the  truth  and  the  purity  of  heavenly 
doctrine;  that  is,  to  propose  Jesus  Christ  incessantly  to  believ- 
ers, and  diligently  show  them  all  his  riches,  all  his  power  and 
his  grace.  This  is  the  apostle's  method.  Thus  he  acts  on 
every  occasion,  always  taking  back  his  scholars  to  Jesus  Christ. 
So  you  see  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  that  he  might  put 
aside  the  shadows  of  the  Jewish  law,  with  which  some  of  that 
nation  endeavoured  to  darken  the  gospel,  he  shows  them  at 
the  beginning  the  majesty  and  divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
setting  him  up  above  men  and  angels  on  the  throne  of  a  super- 
eminent  glory.  He  does  the  same  in  this  Epistle,  and  indeed 
he  combats  here  a  similar  error.  For  after  he  had  saluted  the 
Colossians,  and  given  them  some  evidences  of  the  affection 
he  bore  them,  as  you  have  already  heard,  he  now  begins  to 
speak  to  tiiem  of  Jesus  Christ,  discovering  his  divine  glory, 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  79 

and  the  fulness  of  his  goodness  to  them,  that,  being  satisfied 
with  so  rich  a  treasure,  they  might  not  go  to  beg  either  the 
succour  of  Moses,  or  the  assistance  of  philosophy,  for  the 
saving  of  their  souls.  It  is  precisely  at  the  text  which  we 
have  read  that  he  begins  this  excellent  discourse.  For  having 
before  thanked  God  for  the  grace  that  he  had  shown  the  Colos- 
sians  in  translating  them  into  the  kingdom  of  his  well-beloved 
Son,  he  thence  takes  occasion  to  speak  of  him,  adding,  "In 
whom  we  have  redemption  through  his  blood,  even  the  for- 
giveness of  sins."  This  is  the  great  benefit  which  we  have 
received  from  God  by  means  of  Jesus  Christ.  Then  he  des- 
cribes, in  connection  with  this,  the  excellency  and  divinity  of 
his  person  :  "Who  is,"  says  he,  "the  image  of  the  invisible 
God,  the  first-born  of  every  creature."  But  at  this  time  we 
shall  be  satisfied  with  the  first  topic. 

You  see,  my  brethren,  that  meditation  on  the  subject  is  very 
suitable  to  the  service  of  the  holy  supper  to  which  we  are  in- 
vited, where  the  remission  of  sins,  which  we  have  in  Jesus 
Christ,  is  sealed  to  us  by  his  sacrament  ;  where  the  blood,  by 
which  he  has  purchased  it,  is  represented  and  communicated 
to  us  ;  where  Jesus  the  author  of  this  benefit,  is  portrayed  be- 
fore our  eyes  as  broken  and  dead  for  us,  and  as  feeding  us  to 
everlasting  life.  Let  us,  then,  lift  up  our  hearts  with  devout 
earnestness,  that  having  well  comprehended  the  greatness  of 
the  grace  of  God,  and  the  excellency  of  his  Christ,  we  may 
present  to  him  souls  strongly  affected  with  a  sense  of  his  good- 
ness, and  may  afterwards  receive  that  joy  and  blessed  life 
which  he  promises  to  all  them  who  approach  him  with  such  a 
disposition.  To  aid  you  in  so  necessary  a  meditation,  I  will 
examine,  if  the  Lord  pleases,  what  the  apostle  teaches  us  con- 
cerning the  benefit  which  we  receive  of  God  in  his  Son  ;  "  In 
whom  we  have  redemption  through  his  blood,  even  the  for- 
giveness of  sins." 

In  these  words  he  briefly  points  out  the  author  of  "  redemp- 
tion," that  is,  Jesus  Christ  ;  what  is  its  nature,  "  the  forgive- 
ness of  sins  ;"  what  the  means  by  which  Jesus  Christ  has  ob- 
tained it  for  us,  "  through  his  blood  ;"  and,  lastly,  who  they 
are  that  receive  it  from  God,  namely,  "  we  ;"  that  is,  believers. 

I.  He  had  said  before  that  God  hath  delivered  us  from  the 
power  of  darkness,  and  translated  us  into  his  kingdom.  Now 
he  shows  us  by  whom  he  effected  that  great  work,  adding  that, 
we  have  redemption  in  Jesus  Christ,  He  is  the  author  of  our 
redemption,  our  only  Deliverer,  the  Prince  of  our  salvation. 
The  apostle  says  that  it  is  in  him  we  have  redemption  ;  this 
may  be  taken  two  ways,  both  of  them  good  and  suitable  :  first, 
as  signifying  that  it  is  by  him  we  have  been  delivered.  For 
it  is  a  Hebraism  frequent  in  Scripture  to  say  in  instead  of  hy. 
And  in  this  sense  the  apostle  declares  that  it  is  by  Jesus  Christ 


80  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SEEM.  VI. 

his  Son  that  God  has  accomplished  the  work  of  his  good  plea- 
sure towards  us,  having  constituted  him  the  Mediator  of  man- 
kind, who,  according  to  the  will  of  him  who  sent  him,  per- 
fectly executed  all  things  that  were  necessary  to  put  us  in  pos- 
session of  salvation.  But  this  word  "  in"  may  also  be  taken 
in  the  sense  it  has  in  our  usual  language,  as  signifying  our 
spiritual  communion  with  the  Lord,  by  reason  of  which  we 
are  said  to  be  in  him,  and  he  in  us.  For  though  "  he  is  the 
propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,"  1  John  ii,  2,  and 
the  worth  of  his  sacrifice  so  great  that  it  abundantly  suffices 
to  expiate  all  the  crimes  of  the  universe  ;  and  although  the 
salvation  obtained  by  him  is  really  offered,  and  by  his  will, 
unto  all  men  ;  yet  none  actually  enjoy  it  but  those  that  enter 
into  his  communion  by  faith,  and  are  by  that  means  in  him,  as 
that  clause  of  his  covenant  expressly  imports,  "  God  so  loved 
the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life," 
John  iii.  16.  Whence  it  is  that  John  proclaims,  "  He  that  hath 
the  Son  hath  life  ;  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  of  God  hath  not 
life,"  1  John  v.  12  ;  which  amounts  to  this,  He  that  is  in  Jesus 
Christ  hath  life,  and  he  that  is  not  in  him  hath  not  life;  ac- 
cording to  what  our  Lord  himself  said  to  his  apostles,  "  Out 
of  me  ye  can  do  nothing,"  John  xv.  5.  This  sense  is,  as  you 
perceive,  grand  and  lucid,  and  contains  an  excellent  truth, 
that  to  enjoy  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ  we  must  be  in  him. 
But  because  the  apostle's  design  is  to  show  us  what  the  Lord 
has  done  for  our  salvation,  rather  than  what  he  requires  of  us 
for  our  participating  it,  I  prefer  the  first  acceptation  of  the 
words,  "  in  whom,"  that  is,  by  whom,  "  we  have  redemption." 
And  this  indeed  is  the  most  common  exposition  of  the  best 
interpreters,  both  ancient  and  modern. 

II.  Let  us  next  consider  what  is  the  divine  benefit  which  we 
have  by  Jesus  Christ.  The  original  word*  used  by  the  apos- 
tle particularly  signifies  a  deliverance,  effected  by  some  ran- 
som given  for  bringing  him  who  is  delivered  out  of  his  mis- 
erable condition,  and  is  strictly  that  which  we  call  redemption. 
For  a  man  may  be  delivered  many  ways  :  as  by  being  simply 
taken  out  of  his  affliction  ;  as  when  a  master  enfranchises  his 
slave,  of  his  good-will  setting  him  at  liberty  ;  or  when  a  cred- 
itor lets  his  debtor  out  of  prison,  forgiving  him  the  debt  ;  or 
by  exchange,  as  when  one  prisoner  of  war  is  alienated  for 
another  ;  or  by  forcible  recovery,  as  when  Abraham  delivered 
Lot,  by  defeating  his  enemies,  and  David  his  people,  who  had 
been  taken  by  the  Amalekites.  The  deliverance  we  have  by 
Jesus  Christ  is  not  of  this  kind.  He  has  procured  it  by  the 
ransom  which  he  gave  for  us,  and  this  is  the  meaning  of  the 

*  'A-o.  vrpuiats. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  81 

word  "  redemption"  here  used  by  the  apostle.  But  tbe  same 
term  teaches  us  also  that  the  benefit  which  we  have  received 
from  him  is  not  simply  the  gift  of  life.  It  is  a  deliverance 
which  brings  us  out  of  some  misery,  God  gave  life  and  im- 
mortality to  the  angels,  but  he  gave  them  no  deliverance,  since 
they  never  were  in  sin  or  misery  ;  and  indeed  he  promised 
life  to  Adam  prior  to  his  fall,  but  not  salvation  and  redemp- 
tion, because  man  was  then  in  his  integrity  without  sin  and 
misery.  The  benefit  that  we  receive  from  him  by  Jesus  Christ 
is  not  simply  life  and  immortality  ;  it  is  a  deliverance,  a  sal- 
vation, a  redem.ption,  that  not  only  confers  on  us  some  good, 
but  takes  us  out  of  sin,  and  wrests  us  from  misery. 

This  the  apostle  explains  more  particularly,  when  he  adds 
that  this  redemption  which  we  have  in  Jesus  Christ  is  "  the 
remission  of  sins."  True  it  is  that  the  word  "  redemption"  is  of 
general  import,  comprising  deliverance  from  any  kind  of  evil  ;  it 
is  also  certain  that  the  number  of  our  evils  is  great,  and  that 
Jesus  Christ  has  delivered  us  not  merely  from  one  or  two 
evils,  but  from  all.  He  has  delivered  us  from  the  ignorance  in 
which  we  were  by  nature  overwhelmed.  He  has  delivered  us 
from  the  bondage  of  the  flesh,  the  lusts  whereof  exercised  a 
horrible  tyranny  in  our  members.  He  has  delivered  us  from 
that  death  to  which  we  were  subjected,  and  from  the  curse  of 
the  eternal  Father  which  we  had  deserved.  For  which  cause 
the  apostle  elsewhere  says  that  "Jesus  Christ  is  made  unto  us," 
not  simply  "righteousness,"  but  also  "wisdom,  sanctification, 
and  redemption  ;"  and  in  a  multitude  of  places,  that  he  has 
brought  us  out  of  darkness,  and  delivered  us  from  the 
tyrannous  power  of  sin  and  death.  All  this  is  most  certain. 
But  in  this  place  he  restrains  the  redemption  which  we  have 
in  Jesus  Christ  to  the  remission  of  sins,  and  that,  I  think,  for 
two  reasons  : 

First,  because  remission  of  sin  is  the  first  and  the  principal 
of  his  benefits,  the  basis  and  foundation  of  all  the  rest,  which 
infallibly  attracts  them,  and  without  which  it  is  impossible  to 
touch  any  of  them.  For  sin,  as  you  know,  is  expressly  that 
which  separates  between  God  and  us.  The  cause  why  this 
most  merciful  and  all-powerful  Euler  of  the  world  withholds 
from  us  the  light  of  his  knowledge  and  the  communication  of 
his  goodness,  leaving  us  in  the  darkness  of  error  and  in  mis- 
ery, is  not  a  hatred,  or  contempt,  or  disdain  of  his  creatures. 
It  is  nothing  but  our  sin,  his  justice  and  sovereign  equity  not 
permitting  him  to  reward  the  guilty  with  his  favours.  Jesus 
Christ  therefore  intervening  and  procuring  for  us  the  remis- 
sion of  our  sins,  thereby  brings  us  out  of  our  miserable  con- 
dition, and  o])ens  the  fountain  of  celestial  good,  which  before 
was  closed  by  justice.  This  obstacle  being  removed,  this 
sluice,  if  I  may  so  say,  opened,  divine  goodness  recovering  its 
11 


82  AN   EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.   VI. 

natural  course,  flows  forth  upon  us,  and  pours  into  us  light, 
peace,  holiness,  and  life.  It  is  not  then  to  exclude  these  other 
benefits  of  the  redemption  which  is  by  Jesus  Christ  that  the 
apostle  defines  it  "  the  forgiveness  of  sins,"  (for  it  comprises 
them  all,  none  having  this  remission  who  do  not  after  that  re- 
ceive all  other  divine  graces,)  but  to  show  us  the  due  order  of 
all  the  parts  of  this  redemption,  of  which  remission  of  sin  is 
the  first  and  principal. 

Secondly,  the  apostle  does  this  because  the  ransom  which 
the  word  "  redemption"  implies  was  not  strictly  necessary,  ex- 
cept for  obtaining  the  remission  of  sins.  But  for  this  there 
was  no  need  that  Jesus  Christ  should  lay  down  his  life  for  us. 
For  supposing  that  a  pure  and  sinless  creature  should  have 
lain  in  ignorance  and  misery,  and,  if  you  will,  even  in  death 
itself,  there  would  have  been  no  necessity  that  the  Son  of  God 
should  have  shed  his  blood  or  suffered  death  to  have  rescued 
it.  It  would  have  sufficed  that  he  loved  it.  His  good- will 
would  have  immediately  excited  his  power  to  display  itself  in 
its  behalf,  and  deliver  it  out  of  its  distress.  There  was  no- 
thing to  hinder  this  natural  operation  of  his  goodness,  and  so 
the  happiness  of  such  a  creature  would  have  been  simply  a  de- 
liverance, and  not  a  redemption.  But  as  we  were  sinners,  it 
was  necessary  for  our  recovery  that  Jesus  Christ  should  make 
his  soul  an  offering  for  sin,  and  pay  the  ransom  of  our  liberty. 
Whence  it  follows,  that,  to  speak  properly  and  exactly,  no- 
thing but  the  remission  of  sins  should  be  called  redemption, 
as  the  apostle  here  defines  it;  the  other  deliverances  which  we 
obtain  by  our  Lord  being  only  the  fruits  and  results  of  the  re- 
mission of  sin. 

This  then  is  the  grand  achievement  of  the  Son  of  God,  the 
miracle  of  his  goodness  and  love,  that  he  has  procured  and 
obtained  for  us  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins.  This  is  our  true 
redemption.  Without  this  redemption  we  should  still  be  ene- 
mies of  God  ;  we  should  have  no  part  either  in  his  grace  or 
in  his  glory.  Be  in  other  respects  al]  that  you  can  desire  ; 
possess  all  the  goods  of  the  earth,  all  perfections  of  body  and 
mind  ;  be  monarch  of  the  whole  world  ;  have  (if  it  be  pos- 
sible) the  light  of  angels  and  the  riches  of  their  knowledge  : 
if  you  possess  not  the  remission  of  your  sins,  you  are  a  bond- 
man and  a  wretch,  a  slave  to  devils,  and  vanity,  and  death  ; 
for  true  redemption  is  the  remission  of  sins.  But  as  without 
it,  it  is  impossible  to  be  otherwise  than  infinitely  wretched,  so 
with  it,  it  is  not  possible  to  be  otherwise  than  infinitely  happy, 
The  repose  of  the  conscience,  the  illumination  of  the  under- 
standing, the  jewel  of  sanctification,  the  graces  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  life  and  immortality,  inseparably  follow  it.  "  Go  in 
peace,"  said  the  Lord  Jesus  to  those  whose  sins  he  pardoned  ; 
as  if  he  had  said,  Thou  hast  nothing  more  to  fear,  as  tliy  sin 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  83 

is  forgiven  thee.  There  is  no  longer  any  evil  that  can  hurt 
thee,  or  good  that  can  be  denied  thee,  if  profitable  for  thy 
salvation.  Away  with  that  cruel  and  extravagant  doctrine 
which  insists  that  God  remits  the  fault  without  remitting  the 
punishment.  This  is  repugnant  to  common  sense  and  reason  ; 
for  what  is  it  to  remit  a  sin,  but  not  to  punish  it,  and  treat 
him  who  has  committed  it  as  if  he  had  not  been  culpable  ? 
This  is  to  contradict  the  apostle,  who  elsewhere  proclaims  that 
"  there  is  now  no  condemnation  to  them  who  are  in  Jesus 
Christ,"  Rom.  viii.  1  ;  and  here,  that  the  forgiveness  of  our 
sins  is  a  redemption.  For  if  God  punishes  believers,  as  it  is 
presumed,  he  does  so  after  having  condemned  them  to  suffer  ; 
for,  being  most  just,  he  neither  punishes  nor  absolves  any 
without  judgment.  And  if  notwithstanding  our  forgiveness 
we  escape  not  burning  in  the  fire  of  a  pretended  purgatory, 
how  is  our  forgiveness  a  redemption  ?  Is  a  criminal  ransomed 
by  burning  him  ?  I  grant  that  believers,  after  receiving  this 
remission,  are  not  freed  from  divers  afflictions  during  their 
temporary  abode  here  below.  But  I  affirm  that  their  suffer- 
ings are  exercises  or  chastisements,  and  not  properly  pun- 
ishments of  their  sin.  The  Lord  sends  to  them  these  not  in 
his  wrath,  but  in  his  grace  ;  not  to  punish  them,  but  either  to 
amend  them  or  to  prove  them,  and  to  conform  them  to  the 
image  of  his  Son,  who  in  the  days  of  his  flesh  was  conse- 
crated by  afflictions.  Such  is  this  forgiveness  of  sins,  the  re- 
demption which  we  have  in  Jesus  Christ. 

III.  Let  us  now  see  by  what  means  he  has  obtained  it  for  us. 
The  apostle  teaches  us  that  we  have  it  by  his  blood.  We 
have  already  said  that  the  word  "  redemption,"  here  used, 
shows  that  our  deliverance  was  effected  by  the  payment  of  a 
ransom.  This  he  expressly  asserts  in  another  place,  saying, 
"  Ye  are  bought  with  a  price,"  1  Cor.  vi.  20.  Now  here  he  de- 
clares what  this  price  is,  what  this  ransom  of  our  deliverance, 
even  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  Peter  insists  likewise  on  the 
same  important  topic  :  "  Ye  have  been  redeemed,"  says  he, 
"  not  with  corruptible  things,  as  silver  and  gold  ;  but  with 
the  precious  blood  of  Christ,  as  of  a  lamb  without  blemish 
and  without  spot,"  1  Pet.  i.  18,  19.  And  the  Lord  Jesus  dis- 
tinctly teaches  us  the  same  thing,  when  speaking  of  the  end 
and  design  of  his  mission  to  the  world,  he  says  that  he  "  came 
not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life 
a  ransom  for  many,"  Matt.  xx.  28.  In  a  like  manner  Paul 
states  that  Jesus  Christ  "gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all,"  1 
Tim.  ii.  6.  And  in  this  sense  we  must  understand  what  the 
spirits  of  the  blessed  say  when  they  glorify  the  Lamb  for 
having  redeemed  them  to  God  by  his  blood,  Eev.  v.  9  ;  and 
Paul  in  the  Acts,  that  God  has  purchased  the  clmrch  by  his 
own  blood,  chap.  xx.  28.     By  these  passages,  and  a  multitude 


84  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  VI. 

of  Others  of  similar  import,  it  is  evident  that  the  apostle,  both 
in  this  place  and  in  the  first  chapter  of  his  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians,  where  he  repeats  the  words,  "  through  the  blood  of 
Christ,"  means  the  violent  death  the  Son  of  God  suffered  on 
the  cross,  with  the  effusion  of  his  blood,  which  he  shed  forth 
in  great  abundance  through  the  wounds  of  his  feet,  of  his 
hands,  and  of  his  side.  And  it  is  a  thing  common  in  all  lan- 
guages to  express  life  by  blood,  and  the  loss  of  life  by  a  shed- 
ding of  blood.  But  the  Holy  Ghost  particularly  uses  this 
manner  of  speaking  when  there  is  reference  to  a  sacrifice.  For 
in  such  cases  the  blood  of  the  victim  is  almost  always  put  for 
the  life  which  it  loses  when  offered.  It  cannot  therefore  be 
thought  strange  that  these  divine  authors  say,  "  the  blood" of 
Christ,  (who  is  the  only  Lamb  and  most  perfect  oblation,  which 
all  the  old  sacrifices  typified,)  when  they  mean  the  life  that  he 
poured  out  for  us  on  the  cross,  offering  it  to  the  Father  as  the 
propitiation  for  our  sins.  This  now  is  the  great  mystery  of 
the  gospel,  which  was  not  known  to  men  or  angels,  nor  could 
have  been  ever  thought  of  or  conceived  by  any  but  the  su- 
preme and  infinite  wisdom  of  God,  that  Jesus  Christ,  the  well- 
beloved  of  the  Father,  the  most  holy  One,  should  lay  down 
his  life  for  us,  be  put  in  our  stead,  and  bear  our  sins  in  his 
own  body  on  the  tree,  and  suffer  in  his  sacred  flesh,  and  in 
his  most  holy  soul,  the  pains  and  sorrows  which  we  had  mer- 
ited, to  exempt  us  from  them. 

This  is  precisely  what  we  mean,  when  we  affirm  that  he  satis- 
fied the  justice  of  God  for  us.  And  the  apostle,  in  these  words, 
furnishes  us  wherewith  to  preserve  this  glory  to  our  Lord, 
against  two  sorts  of  adversaries  :  one  of  them  that  impudently 
deny  his  having  satisfied  for  us  at  all  ;  the  other,  of  those  who 
grant  his  satisfaction,  but  extend  this  honour  to  others  also, 
and  insist  that  it  pertains  likewise  to  saints,  and  even  to  our- 
selves. As  for  the  first,  they  deserve  not  to  be  accounted 
christians,  since  they  reject  a  truth  so  clearly  and  so  frequently 
asserted  in  the  gospel,  confessed  by  all  the  church,  and  which 
is  also  the  source  of  our  comfort  in  life  and  death,  and  the  only 
foundation  of  all  our  hopes.  For  if  Jesus  Christ  satisfied  not 
for  us,  what  mean  the  prophets  and  apostles  who  proclaim  at 
the  beginning,  in  the  midst,  and  at  the  end  of  all  their  preach- 
ing, that  he  "  died  for  our  sins,"  "  was  wounded  for  our  trans- 
gressions, and  bruised  for  our  iniquities  :  the  chastisement  of 
our  peace  was  upon  him;  and  with  his  stripes  we  are  healed?" 
that  his  soul  was  made  "an  offering  for  sin?"  that  he  is  our 
"propitiation,  through  faith  in  his  blood?"  that  he  is  "the  Lamb 
of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world?"  that  he 
offered  up  himself  a  sacrifice  for  sin,  and  sanctified  us  through 
this  offering,  and  purged  away  our  sins  by  himself?  1  Cor, 
XV.  3  ;  Isa.  liii.  5,  10  ;  Eom.  iii.  25  ;  John  i.  29  ;  Heb.  ix.  28; 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  85 

X.  10;  i.  3.  I  omit,  at  present,  other  places,  of  which  the  num- 
ber is  infinite;  these  are  sufficient  to  settle  the  truth.  For, 
first,  as  our  deliverance  is  called  a  redemption,  it  must  needs 
be  that  Jesus  Christ  has  purchased  it  for  us,  by  some  ransom 
which  he  gave  in  our  behalf.  But  he  gave  none  at  all,  unless 
in  dying  he  expended  his  life  and  his  blood  for  us,  and  in  our 
stead.  Again,  if  it  is  not  thus,  why  says  the  apostle,  it  is  by 
the  blood  of  Christ  that  we  have  remission  of  our  sins  ?  If  his 
blood  is  not  a  satisfaction  for  our  sins,  it  is  evidently  of  no  use 
whatever  to  obtain  for  us  the  remission  of  them.  In  this  case 
we  should  have  it,  not  by  the  blood  or  death  of  Christ,  which, 
according  to  this  notion,  would  have  contributed  nothing  to  it, 
but  by  the  mere  goodness  of  God  or  of  his  Son.  For  to  say 
that  the  remission  of  sins  is  attributed  to  the  blood  and  death 
of  our  Lord,  because  he  by  dying  sealed  the  truth  of  what  he 
preached  in  his  life  ;  this  is  evidently  to  mock  the  world.  His 
miracles  also  confirmed  his  doctrine,  and  yet  neither  Scripture 
nor  any  wise  man  ever  said  that  we  have  remission  of  sins  by 
his  miracles,  as  Paul  says  here,  and  in  many  other  places,  that 
we  have  it  by  his  blood  and  by  his  death.  Besides,  if  this  rea- 
son is  valid,  as  the  martyrs  suffered  to  seal  the  same  doctrine, 
it  may  be  also  said  that  we  have  redemption  and  remission  of 
sins  by  their  blood,  which  we  can  nowhere  read.  On  the 
contrary,  the  apostle  vehemently  denies  that  he  or  any  other 
was  crucified  for  us,  but  Christ  alone,  1  Cor.  i.  13. 

These  reasons  destroy  also  another  subterfuge  used  by  these 
people  ;  namely,  that  we  have  salvation  by  the  death  of  Jesus 
Christ,  because  in  dying  he  gave  us  an  example  of  patience 
and  perfect  obedience.  For,  according  to  this  sentiment,  the 
martyrs,  in  whose  sufferings  were  the  like  patterns,  should  have 
saved  us  as  well  as  Christ.  We  add  that  patience  and  obedi- 
ence constitute  part  of  our  sanctification  ;  but  the  apostle  says 
we  have  in  Jesus  Christ,  by  his  blood,  the  remission  of  sins, 
and  not  simply  sanctification.  Their  third  evasion  is  no  better  ; 
that  Christ  has  acquired  by  his  death  the  right  of  pardoning 
sins.  For  either  their  meaning  is  that  the  Lord  has  rendered 
sin  remissible  by  the  satisfaction  he  has  made  for  it,  or  they 
simply  intend  that  Christ  obtained  by  his  death  the  power  of 
pardoning  sins,  which  he  had  not  before.  If  they  answer,  the 
first,  they  grant  us  the  very  thing  that  we  demand.  If  the  se- 
cond, they  contradict  the  gospel,  which  testifies  that  our  Lord 
often  remitted  the  sins  of  men  prior  to  his  death,  and  said  ex- 
pressly that  he  had  authority  on  earth  to  forgive  them.  Their 
last  resort  (and  which  nothing  but  despair  of  so  bad  a  cause 
could  suggest)  is  of  no  more  validity  ;  namely,  that  the  remis- 
sion of  our  sins  is  attributed  to  the  death  of  Christ  because  it 
preceded  his  resurrection,  the  glory  of  which  enkindles  faith 
and  repentance  in  us,  the  true  causes  of  that  remission.     But 


86  AN  EXPOSITION"   OF  [SEEM.  VI. 

they  cannot  produce  any  one  example  of  so  strange  a  manner 
of  speaking  ;  and  to  say  that  the  blood  of  Christ  washes  away 
our  sins  because  it  was  shed  prior  to  his  resurrection,  the  cause 
of  that  faith  by  which  we  obtain  pardon,  this  is  as  absurd,  if 
not  more  so,  than  if  you  were  to  say  that  by  the  darkness  of 
the  night  we  are  enlightened  during  the  day,  because  the  light 
of  the  sun,  which  then  shines  on  us,  was  preceded  by  the  dark- 
ness of  the  night.  If  this  were  correct,  the  remission  of  our 
sins  should  be  everywhere  attributed  to  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  Jesus,  to  his  ascension  to  heaven,  and  to  the  miracles  of 
his  apostles,  and  not  to  his  death  ;  but,  in  perfect  opposition  to 
this,  it  is  ever  constantly  referred  to  the  death,  to  the  blood, 
and  to  the  cross  of  the  Lord,  as  to  its  true  cause,  and  not  ever 
to  his  resurrection.  As  to  the  statement  of  the  apostle,  that 
Christ  rose  "again  for  our  justification,"  his  meaning  is  not 
that  our  sins  obliged  him  to  rise,  as  they  had  obliged  him  to 
die,  according  to  what  he  had  afiirmed,  that  he  "  was  delivered 
for  our  offences,"  Eom.  iv.  25  ;  but,  that  he  might  apply  to  men 
the  fruit  of  his  death  in  justifying  them  by  the  virtue  of  his 
blood,  he  was  raised  from  the  grave,  and  crowned  with  the 
highest  glory  ;  this  being  necessary  for  the  production  of  those 
divine  effects  in  the  world.  We  say  then,  that  by  pouring  out 
his  blood  and  his  life  on  the  cross,  the  Lord  truly  satisfied  the 
avenging  justice  of  the  Father,  undergoing  for  us,  and  in  our 
room,  that  death  which  we  deserved;  and  until  this  be  admitted, 
there  can  be  no  rational  ground  for  asserting,  as  the  apostle 
does  here  and  in  many  other  places,  that  we  have  remission  of 
sins  in  Jesus  Christ  by  his  blood. 

But  from  the  same  apostolical  assertion  it  is  also  very  evi- 
dent, that  none  but  our  Lord  is  capable  of  satisfying  for  us. 
For  as- the  forgiveness  of  sins  is  our  redemption,  who  sees  not 
that  if  any  one  procures  it  for  us  he  must  be  our  redeemer?  a 
title  which,  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  all  christians,  per- 
tains singly  to  Jesus  Christ.  Moreover,  by  the  blood  of  our 
Lord  this  forgiveness  has  been  purchased  ;  so  that  neither  Paul, 
nor  Cephas,  nor  any  other  having  been  crucified  for  us,  it  fol- 
lows that  no  one  of  them  has  either  satisfied  God  for  us,  or 
merited  the  remission  of  sins.  Though  their  death  was  pre- 
cious in  the  sight  of  God,  said  an  ancient  writer,*  yet  there  were 
none  of  them,  however  innocent,  whose  suffering  could  be  the 
propitiation  of  the  world.  The  just  have  received  crowns,  not 
given  them  ;  and  from  their  constancy  and  steadfastness  in  the 
faith  have  grown  up  examples  of  patience,  not  gifts  of  right- 
eousness. This  glory  is  due  to  nothing  but  the  blood  of  Christ. 
And  as  he  is  the  only  victim  that  was  offered  for  our  sins,  so 
is  it  sufficient  to  expiate  them  all.     Never  man  found  favour 

*  Leo  Mag.  Serm.  12,  de  Passion. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  87 

but  through  this  sacrifice.  Never  did  the  sword  of  God  spare 
any,  but  for  the  sake  of  this  blood.  This  Paul  teaches  us  in 
our  text,  and  this  is  the  last  particular  which  we  have  to  ob- 
serve upon  it.  For  when  he  says  "  we  have  redemption  in 
Jesus  Christ  by  his  blood,"  he  intends  not  to  speak  singly  of 
himself  and  the  Colossians,  but  of  all  believers  that  were  on  the 
earth,  and  even  of  those  that  had  lived  from  the  beginning  of 
the  world  to  that  time.  There  neither  was  nor  ever  had  been, 
salvation  in  any  other  but  in  him.  And  as  sin  and  death  de- 
scended from  Adam  on  all  men,  so  the  righteousness  and  life 
of  all  believers  come  from  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  "  the  Lamb  that 
was  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,"  Eev.  xiii.  8,  and 
his  death  intervened  "  for  the  redemption  of  the  transgressions 
that  were  under  the  old  testament,"  as  well  as  of  those  that  are 
committed  under  the  new,  Heb.  ix.  15.  His  blood  is  the  re- 
mission of  the  sins  both  of  the  one  and  the  other  people.  That 
it  was  to  be  shed  in  due  time  gave  it  the  same  efficacy  for  the 
generations  that  preceded  his  cross,  which  it  had  by  its  actual 
effusion  in  those  that  succeeded.  God  the  Father,  appeased  by 
this  sacrifice,  ever  present  in  his  sight,  as  well  before  as  after 
its  oblation,  communicated  the  fruit  and  merit  of  it,  that  is  to 
say,  grace  and  remission,  to  all  those  who  believed  in  him, 
under  the  one  and  the  other  testament. 

Behold,  beloved  brethren,  that  which  we  had  to  say  to  you 
concerning  the  redemption  which  we  have  in  Jesus  Christ. 
This  the  text  of  the  apostle  teaches  us,  and  the  table  of  the  Lord 
represents  it  to  us.  This  is  the  mystery  of  the  bread  which  we 
there  break,  and  of  the  cup  we  there  bless  in  remembrance  and 
for  the  communicating  of  that  sacred  body  which  was  broken 
for  us,  and  of  that  divine  blood  which  was  shed  for  the  remis- 
sion of  our  sins.  Let  us  carefully  improve  a  doctrine  so  neces- 
sary, and  which  is  so  diligently  inculcated  on  us  in  the  word 
and  in  the  sacraments  of  our  Lord,  applying  it  for  our  edifica- 
tion and  comfort. 

We  learn  from  it,  first,  the  horror  of  sin  ;  a  spot  so  black 
that  it  could  not  be  washed  out  but  by  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ.  That  remission  of  it  might  be  given  us,  it  was  neces- 
sary that  the  Father  should  deliver  up  his  dear  Son  to  die,  and 
the  Son  give  his  blood,  the  most  precious  jewel  of  the  universe, 
a  thousand  times  more  worth  than  heaven  and  earth,  and  all  the 
glory  of  them.  From  this  meditation  conceive  a  just  hatred 
against  sin  ;  as  it  is  so  abominable  in  the  eyes  of  this  sove- 
reign Lord,  on  whose  communion  alone  depends  all  your 
bliss,  shun  it,  and  pluck  it  out  of  your  consciences  and  your 
hearts.  As  for  sins  already  committed,  seek  the  remission  of 
them  in  the  blood  of  Christ.  Give  yourselves  no  rest  till  you 
have  found  it,  till  you  have  obtained  grace,  till  it  be  confirmed 
in  your  souls  by  the  hand  and  seal  of  the  Holy  Ghost.     Lay 


88  AN  EXPOSITION   OP  [SERM.  VI. 

aside  the  pretended  satisfactions  and  merits  of  men.  Have  no 
recourse  but  to  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  alone 
is  able  to  cover  our  shame  and  render  ns  acceptable  to  God. 
But  having  once  obtained  pardon  for  the  time  past,  return  not 
to  sin  for  the  future.  When  sin  shall  present  itself  to  you, 
courageously  repel  it,  opposing  to  all  its  temptations  this  holy 
and  salutary  consideration  :  It  is  my  Master's  tormentor,  the 
murderer  of  the  Lord  of  glory  ;  it  is  the  accursed  serpent  that 
separated  man  from  God,  that  put  enmity  between  heaven  and 
earth,  that  sowed  misery  and  death  in  the  world,  and  obliged 
the  Father  to  deliver  up  his  Son  to  the  sufferings  of  the  cross. 
God  forbid  I  should  take  into  my  bosom  so  cruel,  so  deadly  an 
enemy. 

But  from  this  same  source  we  may  also  draw  unspeakable 
consolation  against  the  gnawing  guilt  of  sin,  and  the  troubles 
of  conscience.  For,  as  it  is  by  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God 
that  we  have  been  redeemed,  what  cause  is  there  to  doubt  but 
that  our  remisssion  is  secured  ?  The  superstitious  have  rea- 
son to  be  in  continual  fear,  for  man,  in  whom  they  put  their 
confidence,  is  but  vanity.  The  propitiation  which  I  present 
to  you,  0  believer,  is  not  the  blood  of  a  man  or  of  an  angel, 
creatures  finite  and  incapable  of  sustaining  the  eternal  burn- 
ings of  the  wrath  of  the  Almighty  ;  it  is  the  blood  of  God's 
own  Son,  who  also  is  himself  God  blessed  for  ever.  It  is  blood 
of  infinite  value,  and  truly  capable  of  counterpoising  and  pre- 
vailing against  the  infinite  demerit  of  your  crimes.  Come, 
then,  sinner,  whoever  you  are  ;  come  with  assurance.  How- 
ever foul  your  transgressions,  this  blood  will  cleanse  them 
away.  However  ardent  the  displeasure  of  God  against  you, 
this  blood  will  quench  it.  Only  bedew  your  soul  with  it. 
Make  an  aspersion  of  it  on  your  hearts  with  a  lively  faith,  and 
you  need  no  more  fear  the  sword  of  the  executioner  of  the 
vengeance  of  God. 

But,  believing  brethren,  having  thus  assured  your  conscience 
by  meditation  on  this  divine  blood  of  our  Lord,  admire  ye 
also  his  infinite  love,  which  he  so  clearly  shows  us  and  con- 
firms to  us.  This  King  of  glory  has  so  loved  you,  that  when 
your  sins  could  not  be  pardoned  without  the  effusion  of  his 
blood,  he  would  die  upon  a  cross  rather  than  see  you  perish  in 
hell.  He  poured  out  his  blood  to  keep  in  yours,  and  under- 
went the  curse  of  God  that  you  might  partake  of  his  blessings. 
Oh  great  and  incomprehensible  love  !  the  singular  miracle  of 
heaven,  ravishing  men  and  angels  !  what  should  we  fear 
henceforth,  as  this  great  God  has  so  loved  us  ?  Who  shall 
condemn  us,  as  he  is  our  Surety  ?  Who  shall  accuse  us,  as  he 
is  our  Advocate  ?  He  has  given  us  his  own  blood  ;  what  can 
he  any  longer  refuse  to  bestow  on  us  ?  He  has  laid  down  his 
soul  for  us  ;  how  much  more  will  he  grant  us  all  other  things 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  89 

that  are  necessary  for  our  salvation  !  But  as  tbis  thought  com- 
forts us,  so  ought  it  to  sanctify  us.  Of  what  hells  shall  not  we 
be  worthy,  if  we  love  not  a  Lord  who  has  so  ardently  loved 
us — if  we  obey  not  his  commandments  who  hath  blotted  out 
our  sins — if  for  this  precious  blood  which  he  has  given  us  we 
do  not  render  ours  to  him,  and  consecrate  to  his  glory  a  life 
which  he  has  redeemed  by  offering  his  own  in  sacrifice  for  our 
salvation  ? 

And  after  an  example  of  such  admirable  goodness,  how  can 
we  be  ill  affected  to  any  man  ?  Christians,  God  has  forgiven 
you  a  thousand  and  a  thousand  most  enormous  sins  ;  have  you 
the  heart  to  deny  your  neighbour  the  pardon  of  one  slight 
offence  ?  He  has  given  you  his  blood,  you  that  were  his  ene- 
mies ;  how  can  you  refuse  a  small  alms  to  him  that  is  your 
brother,  both  by  nature  and  grace  ?  Let  the  goodness  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  mollify  the  hardness  of  your  heart  ;  let  the  virtue 
of  his  blood  melt  your  bowels  into  sweetness,  into  charity,  and 
into  love  towards  him  and  towards  his  members.  Dismiss  you 
this  very  day,  at  his  table,  all  the  bitter  passions  of  your  flesh. 
Put  off  there  pride,  hatred,  and  envy  ;  and  there  clothe  your- 
selves with  his  humility  and  his  gentleness.  Do  him  new 
homage,  and  bind  yourselves  by  oath  to  be  never  any  other's 
but  his  alone  ;  presenting  yourselves  with  deepest  reverence 
before  this  throne  of  his  grace.  Eemember  at  this  time,  and 
ever  after,  that  blood  by  which  he  has  obtained  redemption 
for  you,  that  is,  the  forgiveness  of  your  sins.  This  blood  is 
the  peace  of  heaven  and  of  earth.  This  blood  has  brought  us 
out  of  hell,  and  opened  paradise  unto  us.  It  has  delivered  us 
from  death,  and  given  us  life.  This  blood  has  blotted  out  the 
sentence  of  our  curse  that  stood  registered  in  the  law  of  God  ; 
it  has  stopped  the  mouth  of  our  accusers,  and  pacified  our 
Judge.  This  blood  has  effected  a  renovation  of  the  world.  It 
has  quickened  the  dead,  and  animated  the  dust,  and  changed 
our  mortal  flesh  into  a  heavenly  and  divine  nature.  Dear  bre- 
thren, God  forbid  we  should  tread  under  foot  a  thing  so  holy, 
or  account  such  precious  blood  profane  or  common.  Let  us 
reverence  it,  and  receive  it  into  our  hearts  with  ardent  devo- 
tion. And  may  it  display  its  admirable  efficacy  in  them,  caus- 
ing the  royal  image  of  God,  even  holiness  and  righteousness, 
to  flourish  there,  to  the  glory  of  the  Lord  and  our  own  conso- 
lation and  salvation.  Amen. 
12 


90  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  VII. 

SERMON   VII. 

VERSE   15. 

Who  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  first -born  of  every 
creature. 

Dear  brethren,  as  tlie  salvation  of  mankind,  the  true  end 
of  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  into  the  world,  obliged 
him  to  expiate  sin,  and  destroy  the  dominion  of  Satan  ;  so  the 
performing  of  these  great  works  required  an  infinite  dignity 
and  power  in  his  person.  For  as  it  was  not  possible  that  he 
should  give  us  eternal  life  without  obliterating  our  guilt, 
and  satisfying  the  justice  of  the  Father,  and  delivering  us 
from  the  grasp  of  devils  ;  so  it  was  equally  impossible  that  he 
could  perfect  these  achievements  without  an  infinite  merit  and 
a  divine  strength  ;  that  is,  without  being  God  ;  none  but  a  true 
God  possessing  an  infinite  dignity  or  an  infinite  power.  As 
then  the  streams  conduct  us  to  their  spring,  branches  to  their 
stock  and  root,  the  house  to  the  foundation  that  sustains  it  ;  so 
the  salvation  which  is  of  the  Lord  Jesus  leads  us  to  the  deeds 
by  which  he  obtained  it  for  us,  and  thence  to  the  dignity  that 
was  necessary  in  his  person  for  executing  those  acts.  Salva- 
tion is  the  fruit  of  this  tree  of  life.  The  infinite  merit  of  his 
cross  is  as  the  branch  which  yielded  this  noble  fruit  ;  and  his 
almighty,  most  holy,  and  most  divine  person  is  the  stock  or 
root  that  shot  forth  this  beautiful  and  blessed  branch.  This 
order  the  apostle  observes  here  in  the  consideration  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  sets  forth  to  us,  first,  his  fruit,  that  is, 
our  salvation  or  redemption  ;  the  end  of  his  whole  mediation. 
Next  he  represents  the  means  by  which  he  acquired  this  sal- 
vation for  us  ;  that  is,  the  effusion  of  his  blood  for  the  remis- 
sion of  our  sins.  Thence  he  now  ascends  to  the  dignity  of  his 
person,  which  he  magnificently  describes  in  the  text  that  you 
have  heard,  saying  that  he  "  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God, 
the  first  born  of  every  creature  ;"  forasmuch  as  "  by  him  were 
all  things  created."  Wonder  not,  faithful  brethren,  that  Jesus 
should  give  us  life  and  eternity  ;  us,  I  say,  poor  sinners,  who 
had  deserved  death  and  the  curse  of  God.  For  he  purchased 
remission  of  our  sins  by  his  blood,  and  by  the  sweet  savour  of 
his  sacrifice  perfectly  appeased  the  wrath  of  God,  which  alone 
withstood  our  entering  into  his  heavenly  kingdom.  Neither 
account  it  any  more  strange  that  this  Jesus,  so  infirm,  clothed 
with  frail  flesh,  subject  to  all  our  sufferings,  should  be  able  to 
ofi:er  so  great  and  so  precious  a  sacrifice  to  God.  For  however 
weak  and  despicable  was  that  form   under  which  he  appeared 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS.  9l 

here  below,  yet  he  is  in  reality  the  true  Son  of  God  ;  his  wis- 
dom,  his  word,  and  his  power  ;  the  perfect  portrait  of  his  per- 
son, his  living  and  essential  image,  the  sovereign  Lord  and 
Creator  of  the  universe. 

In  this  description  of  the  dignity  and  excellency  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  the  apostle  compares  him,  first,  with  God  the 
Father,  saying  that  he  "  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God."  In 
the  second  place,  with  the  creatures,  saying,  that  he  "  is  the  first- 
born of  them  ;"  and  adds  the  reason  of  it  in  the  two  following 
verses,  which  is  taken  from  his  having  made  and  established 
them  all,  as  their  Creator,  their  Preserver,  their  last  and  highest 
end.  And,  finally,  he  proposes  his  relation  to  the  church, 
saying,  in  the  18th  verse,  that  he  is  "  the  Head  thereof,"  the 
"  Beginning,"  and  **  the  First-born  from  the  dead,"  having  the 
first  place  in  all  things.  You  see  in  these  three  points  com- 
prised the  sovereign  dignity  and  excellency  of  the  Saviour  of 
the  world.  But  because  it  would  be  difiicult  to  explain  them 
all  three  in  a  single  sermon,  the  richness  and  profundity  of 
the  matter  constrains  us  to  fix,  for  this  time,  on  the  first  two, 
and  to  defer  the  remainder  to  another  time.  We  have  then  to 
handle  in  this  discourse  the  two  heads  contained  in  the  verse 
which  we  have  read.  One,  that  Jesus  Christ  "  is  the  image  of 
the  invisible  God  ;"  the  other,  that  he  is  "  the  first-born  of  every 
creature."  May  the  same  Lord  who,  by  his  grace,  will  be  the 
subject  of  our  discourse,  please  to  be  also  our  direction  and 
light,  inspiring  us  with  conceptions  and  expressions  worthy 
of  him,  illuminating  our  understandings  with  the  knowledge 
of  his  high  and  supereminent  majesty,  and  inflaming  our 
hearts  with  a  fervent  love  to  himself  for  the  glory  of  his  own 
great  name  and  our  salvation. 

I.  As  for  the  first  head,  the  apostle  asserts  two  things  in  it  : 
the  one  is,  that  Jesus  Christ  "  is  the  image  of  God  ;"  the  other, 
that  the  God  whose  image  Jesus  Christ  is,  is  "  invisible."  For 
understanding  aright  how  the  Lord  Jesus  is  the  image  of  God, 
we  must  premise  that  the  word  "  image"  is  of  great  extent,  sig- 
nifying generally  anything  that  represents  another;  so  that 
things  being  very  variously  represented,  it  happens  that  there 
is  a  great  variety  and  difference  of  images.  Some  are  perfect, 
which  have  in  them  an  entire,  an  exact,  and  adequate  resem- 
blance of  the  subjects  which  they  represent  ;  others  are  imper- 
fect, and  express  but  some  particular,  nay,  that  too  with  some 
defect,  having  not  properly  in  them  the  same  features  and  es- 
sence which  are  in  their  original.  I  place  in  this  second  rank 
all  artificial  images,  whether  drawn  by  painters,  or  engraven 
or  carved  by  sculptors,  or  cast  by  founders,  or  figured  by  em- 
broiderers and  workers  of  tapestry  ;  which  represent  only  the 
colour,  the  figure,  and  the  lineaments  of  men,  and  animals,  and 
plants,  and  similar  subjects,  and  indeed  have  nothing  of  their 


J9i  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   VII. 

life  and  nature.  To  this  same  order  must  be  reduced  that 
which  Moses  writes,  that  Adam  was  made  after  the  image  of 
God.  It  is  not  to  be  thought  he  had  such  an  essence  as  God 
has  ;  but  this  is  said  because  the  conditions  of  his  nature  had 
some  resemblance  to  the  properties  of  God  ;  namely,  in  that 
he  was  endowed  with  intellect  and  will,  and  was  the  master 
and  lord  of  animals  and  earthly  creatures.  In  the  same  manner 
must  we  take  what  Paul  says,  when,  comparing  the  two  sexes 
of  our  nature,  he  terms  the  man  "the  image  and  the  glory  of 
God  ;"  but  the  woman  "  the  glory  of  the  man,"  1  Cor.  xi.  7. 
He  calls  the  man  "  the  image  of  God,"  because  of  the  advan- 
tage and  superiority  he  has  over  the  woman,  having  no  one 
above  himself  but  God,  who  is  his  Head  :  but  man  is  the  head 
of  the  woman,  because  she  was  created  of  him  and  for  him,  as 
the  apostle  teaches. 

But  besides  these  kinds  of  images,  which  but  imperfectly 
represent  their  originals,  there  are  others  that  have  a  perfect 
resemblance  to  them.  Thus  we  call  a  child  the  image  of  his 
father,  a  prince  the  image  of  his  predecessor.  For  a  son  has 
not  merely  the  shadow,  or  the  colour,  or  the  figure  of  his  father, 
he  has  his  nature,  his  qualities,  and  properties,  and,  if  we  may 
so  say,  the  whole  fulness  of  his  being,  a  soul,  a  body,  a  life,  all 
of  the  same  several  species  with  those  of  his  father,  A  prince, 
in  like  manner,  has  not  only  the  shadow  or  the  appearance  of 
the  authority  and  power  of  his  predecessor,  but  the  whole  sub- 
stance and  reality.  Thus  it  is  that  Moses  says  Adam  begat 
Seth  his  son  "  in  his  own  likeness,  after  his  image,"  Gen.  v.  3  ; 
by  which  he  suggests  that  Seth  had  a  nature  the  same  in  all 
things  with  Adam's.  Now  the  question  is,  in  which  of  these 
two  senses  must  we  take  the  word  "  image,"  when  the  apostle 
says  here,  and  also  elsewhere,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  "  the  image 
of  God,"  2  Cor.  iv.  4.  The  very  nature  of  the  subject  in  ques- 
tion shows  us  so  clearly  that  we  must  apprehend  it  in  the 
second  and  not  in  the  first  sense,  that  even  those  who  oppose 
it  dare  not  say  that  Jesus  Christ  is  an  imperfect  image  of  his 
Father.  For  where  is  the  christian  ear  that  could  tolerate  a 
blasphemy  so  horrible,  and  so  contrary  to  all  holy  Scripture  ? 
Surely  when  the  apostle  says  of  our  Lord  that  he  is  "the 
image  of  God,"  he  thereby  means  quite  another  thing  than 
when  he  says  elsewhere  that  man  is  "  the  image  of  God."  For, 
intending  here  to  exalt  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  to  demonstrate  that 
his  dignity  is  so  high  as  to  capacitate  him  to  save  us,  he  would 
ill  suit  this  design  if  he  attributed  no  more  to  him  than  what 
holds  good  of  any  man,  whoever  he  is.  But  if  you  do  not 
admit  that  Jesus  Christ  is  a  perfect  image  of  God,  the  apostle 
affirms  nothing  more  of  him  here  than  he  asserts  elsewhere  of 
man,  when  he  says  he  is  "the  image  of  God."  Beside  the 
apostle's  design,  the  thing  he  expressly  mentions  evidently 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS,  93 

shows  US  this.  For  our  Lord  informs  us  that  he  who  hath  seen 
him  hath  seen  the  Father  ;  and  that  he  who  beholdeth  him 
beholdeth  him  that  sent  him,  John  xiv.  9  ;  xii.  45.  Where  is 
the  portrait  of  which  it  may  be  said,  that  he  who  has  seen  it 
has  seen  the  subject  which  it  represents  ?  This  evidently  cannot 
be  found  but  in  such  an  image  as  is  most  perfect,  and  which 
fully  contains  all  the  nature  of  its  original.  Whence  it  ap- 
pears that  it  is  in  this  sense  that  Jesus  Christ  is  "  the  image  of 
God."  And  for  our  understanding  it  the  better,  the  apostle 
has  a  passage  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  which  in  scope, 
and  terms,  and  sense  very  much  resembles  this  before  us  ;  there 
he  saith  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  resplendence  of  the  glory  of 
his  Father,  and  the  image,  or  the  character,  or  engraven  stamp 
of  his  person,  Heb.  i.  3  ;  terms  exceedingly  elegant  and  ex- 
pressive, and  such  as  clearly  decide  this  case,  that  the  Lord  is 
the  image  of  God  in  a  manner  that  man  is  not,  and  that  the 
same  glory  which  shines  in  the  Father  is  resplendent  also  in 
the  Son,  and  that  the  same  nature  which  is  in  the  person  of  the 
one  is  likewise  in  the  person  of  the  other.  We  say  therefore, 
according  to  the  analogy  of  this  doctrine,  and  the  reason  of 
the  thing  itself,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  image  of  God  his 
Father,  but  a  perfect  one,  yea,  as  perfect  as  an  image  can  pos- 
sibly be;  an  image  which  exhibits  to  us  and  represents,  not 
the  colour  or  the  shadow,  but  the  truth  and  substance  of  the 
Deity.  The  Scripture,  our  only  guide  in  these  high  mysteries, 
clearly  teaches  this.  And  to  aid  you  in  comprehending  it, 
though  the  Godhead  is  most  simple  in  itself,  exempt  from  all 
mixture  and  composition,  yet  speaking  of  it  according  to  the 
weakness  of  our  understanding,  to  which  God  has  not  disdained 
to  accommodate  himself  in  his  word,  we  will  consider  three 
things  of  him;  the  nature,  the  properties,  or  qualities,  (which 
divines  commonly  call  his  attributes,)  and  his  works. 

As  for  his  nature^  it  is  most  perfectly  represented  in  Jesus 
Christ  ;  for  he  has  really  and  veritably  the  same  essence  and 
substance  with  God  the  Father  ;  as  a  child,  whom  we  call  the 
image  of  his  father,  has  the  same  nature  with  him,  being  as 
truly  man  as  he  is.  The  Scripture  teaches  us  this  truth  in  very 
many  places,  where  it  says  that  Jesus  Christ  is  God  ;  that  he 
is  "the  true  God;"  our  "  great  God  and  Saviour  ;"  God  blessed 
above  all  ;  Jehovah,  of  old  tempted  by  the  Israelites  in  the 
desert  ;  he  whose  glory  Isaiah  saw  in  the  vision  described  in 
the  sixth  chapter  of  his  prophecies  ;  1  John  v.  20  ;  Tit.  ii.  13  ; 
Rom.  ix.  5  ;  1  Cor.  x.  9  ;  John  xii.  41.  It  lays  down  the  same 
thing  also  whenever  it  presents  him  to  us  as  a  proper  object 
of  our  adoration  ;  saying  that  all  men  ought  to  honour  him 
"  even  as  they  honour  the  Father,"  John  v.  23  ;  and  that  the 
very  "angels  worship  him,"  Ileb.  i.  6  ;  it  being  evident  that, 
according  to  Scripture,  there  is  nothing  but  a  nature  truly 
divine  to  whom  adoration  may  be  lawfully  given. 


M  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  VIT. 

But  the  Lord  Jésus  no  less  perfectly  represents  the  Father 
in  his  properties  than  in  his  nature.  The  Father  is  eternal,  so 
is  the  Son  ;  and  Isaiah  calls  him  upon  this  account  the  Father 
of  eternity,  Isa.  ix,  6.  "  Before  Abraham  was  I  am,"  John 
viii.  58.  He  was  from  the  beginning  with  God  ;  and  before 
the  world  was  created,  even  then  he  was  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,  his  love  and  his  delight.  The  heavens  shall  perish, 
but  he  is  permanent.  The  heavens  shall  wax  old  as  a  gar- 
ment, and  be  folded  up  as  a  vesture,  and  be  changed  ;  but 
Jesus  is  the  same,  and  his  years  shall  not  fail,  Heb.  i.  11,  12. 
The  Father  is  immutable,  without  ever  receiving  any  alteration 
or  change,  either  in  his  being  or  in  his  will.  The  Son  is  "  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever,"  Heb.  xiii.  8.  The  Father 
is  infinite,  filling  heaven  and  earth  ;  neither  is  there  anything 
within  or  without  the  world  that  limits  the  presence  of  his 
being.  The  Son  is  in  like  manner  infinite.  He  is  in  heaven 
while  he  speaks  to  Nicodemus  on  earth,  John  iii.  13.  He  is 
here  below  on  earth,  in  our  hearts,  and  in  our  assemblies,  at 
the  same  instant  that  he  is  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
Father  in  the  highest  room  of  the  universe  ;  and  though  the 
heavens  contain  that  body  and  human  nature  which  he  as- 
sumed, yet  they  do  not  enclose  his  majesty  and  omnipresent 
divinity.  The  Father  has  a  sovereign  understanding,  knowing 
all  things,  present,  past,  and  to  come.  The  Son  is  wisdom 
itself.  He  knows  all  things  ;  and  if  on  one  occasion  he  says 
that  he  knows  not  the  day  of  judgment,  his  words  are  to  be 
understood  in  respect  of  his  human  nature,  and  not  in  respect 
of  his  divine  intelligence.  He  trieth  the  reins,  and  knoweth 
the  heart  of  man,  Kev.  ii.  23  ;  a  power  which  the  Scripture 
sets  down  as  the  character  and  specific  mark  of  the  knowledge 
of  God,  asserting  that  it  is  only  he  who  knoweth  the  hearts  of 
men.  The  Father  knows  himself,  and  no  man  or  angel,  to 
speak  properly,  ever  saw  him.  The  Son  so  perfectly  knows 
him  that  he  has  even  declared  and  revealed  him  unto  men. 
The  Father  is  almighty,  and  does  whatsoever  he  will.  The 
Son  has  all  power  in  heaven  and  in  earth,  and  there  is  nothing 
difficult  to  him.  The  Father  is  supremely  good,  hating  evil 
and  loving  rectitude  and  justice.  The  Son  is  the  Saint  of 
saints,  entirely  separate  from  sinners  ;  goodness  itself,  justice 
itself  The  Father  is  merciful  and  inclined  to  pity.  The  Son 
is  the  fountain  of  compassion.  The  Father  maketh  his  sun  to 
shine  on,  and  his  rain  to  bedew,  even  the  men  that  blaspheme 
him.  The  Son  died  for  his  enemies,  and  prayed  for  those  who 
crucified  him.  In  short,  the  Father  has  not  any  other  essential 
quality,  but  the  Son  likewise  has  it,  and  in  the  same  measure 
with  the  Father. 

I  come  to  his  works.     Certainly  the  Son  himself  informs  us 
that  he  perfectly  represents  the  Father  in  this  respect  ;  saying, 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  95' 

in  general,  that  "what  things  soever  the  Father  doeth,  the 
same  doeth  the  Son  likewise,"  John  v.  19.  The  Father  created 
the  universe.  The  Son  "  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth,  and 
the  heavens  are  the  works  of  his  hands,"  Heb.  i.  10.  "All 
things  were  made  by  him,  and  without  him  was  not  anything 
made  that  was  made,"  John  i.  3.  The  Father  preserves  the 
world  by  his  providence  ;  the  Son  sustains  all  things  by  the 
word  of  his  power.  The  Father  has  set  up  the  princes  and 
magistrates  who  govern  mankind  ;  and  there  is  no  power  but 
of  him.  It  is  by  the  Son  that  "  kings  reign  and  princes  decree 
justice,"  Prov.  viii.  15.  The  Father  saved  and  redeemed  the 
church  ;  the  Son  is  our  righteousness,  our  wisdom,  and  our  re- 
demption. The  Father  loved  us,  and  delivered  up  his  Son  to 
death  for  us  ;  the  Son  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  our  sins.  If 
the  Father  raised  up  the  Son,  the  Son  also  raised  again  his 
own  temple  when  the  fury  of  the  Jews  had  beaten  it  down. 
If  the  Father  quickens  the  dead,  the  Son  also  quickens  them  ; 
and  the  last  judgment,  the  punishing  of  the  wicked  in  hell,  the 
glory  of  the  faithful  in  heaven,  and  all  that  refers  to  it,  is  the 
work  of  the  one  and  the  other.  The  Father  hath  elected  us  ; 
so  likewise  hath  the  Son.  "  I  know,"  he  says,  "  whom  I  have 
chosen,"  John  xiii.  18. 

It  is  the  same  in  all  the  other  operations  of  the  divine  nature. 
If  you  accurately  read  the  Scriptures,  you  will  not  see  any  of 
them  attributed  to  the  Father  which  are  not  likewise  attributed 
to  the  Son.  And  as  for  that  right  and  sovereign  authority 
over  all  things  which  accrues  to  God  from  these  great  and  high 
qualities  and  operations,  this  glory  shines  in  the  person  of  the 
Son  as  it  does  in  the  person  of  the  Father.  If  the  Father  is 
Judge  of  the  earth.  King  of  ages,  and  Monarch  of  the  world, 
the  Son  is,  in  like  manner,  the  Lord  of  glory,  the  Commander 
of  the  armies  of  heaven,  the  Prince  of  men  and  angels,  the 
Judge  of  all  flesh.  If  the  name  of  the  Father  is  great  and  awful, 
that  of  the  Son  is  above  every  name  which  is  named  in  this 
world  or  in  the  world  to  come.  If  all  creatures,  both  superior, 
intermedial,  and  inferior,  owe  sovereign  homage  to  the  Father, 
and  cast  down  themselves  before  him,  adoring  his  majesty 
with  the  profoundest  reverence  of  which  they  are  capable  ;  so 
it  is  clear  that  before  Jesus  every  knee  bows,  both  of  things 
in  heaven,  and  things  on  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth, 
the  Father  himself  proclaiming  when  he  bringeth  him  into 
the  world,  "  Let  all  the  angels  of  God  worship  him,"  Heb.  i.  6. 

So  you  see,  dear  brethren,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  is  trul}^  the 
image  of  his  Father,  as  he  has,  and  perfectly  displays  in  himself, 
the  nature,  the  properties,  and  the  works  of  the  Father  ;  an 
admirable,  a  singular,  and  a  truly  divine  image,  which  posses- 
ses the  whole  form  of  its  original,  without  any  variation,  and 
faithfully  and  naturally  represents  all  the  features  of  it  in 


^  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  VII. 

their  true  and  just  greatness,  measure  and  nature.  I  confess 
that  among  men  there  are  sons  who  resemble,  in  some  degree, 
their  fathers  ;  but  there  are  none  in  whom  such  resemblance  is 
comparable  with  that  of  the  Son  of  God  to  his  eternal  Father. 
If  our  sons  express  our  nature  and  manners,  it  is  always 
with  some  difference,  which  a  penetrating  eye  may  easily  ob- 
serve ;  and  after  all  there  are  none  who  in  their  life  entirely 
express  the  lives  of  their  fathers,  with  every  one  of  their  actions 
and  operations.  But  the  Son  of  God  is  a  most  perfect  image 
both  of  the  nature  and  the  life  of  his  Father,  (if  we  may  speak 
in  this  manner  of  these  mysteries,)  all  the  works  of  the  one, 
whether  small  or  great,  being  also  the  works  of  the  other. 

This  sacred  truth  here  taught  by  the  apostle  overthrows  two 
heresies,  which,  though  contrary  to  each  other,  were  at  one 
time  equally  afflicting  to  the  church  of  God.  I  mean,  that  of 
the  Sabellians,  and  that  of  the  Arians.  The  former  confounded 
the  Son  with  the  Father,  the  latter  rent  them  asunder.  Those 
took  from  the  Son  his  person  ;  these  his  nature.  For  the  Sa- 
bellians dogmatically  insisted  that  the  Father  and  the  Son  were 
but  one  and  the  selfsame  person,  who  according  to  the  various 
ways  and  designs  of  his  manifestations  assumed  sometimes  the 
name  of  Father,  sometimes  the  name  of  Son.  So  that  in  their 
account  it  is  the  Father  who  suffered  on  the  cross,  and  it  is  the 
Son  who  sent  him  that  suffered.  Paul  demolishes  their  error, 
by  saying  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  image  of  the  Father.  For 
no  one  is  the  image  of  himself;  and  however  great  and  exact 
the  resemblance  of  the  image  may  be  to  its  original,  it  has  of 
necessity  a  subsistence  distinct  from  that  of  its  original.  A 
son  has  the  same  nature  with  the  father  whose  image  he  is  said 
to  be  ;  but  nevertheless  the  person  of  the  father  is  one,  and 
that  of  the  child  another.  Since  then  the  apostle  declares  here 
and  elsewhere,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  "  the  image  of  God,"  (that 
is  to  say,  of  the  Father,)  we  must  either  desert  his  doctrine, 
or  acknowledge  that  Jesus  Christ  is  another  person  than  the 
Father.  But  if  you  distinguish  their  persons,  it  follows  not 
that  you  must  divide  their  nature,  as  did  the  Arians,  who 
made  it  their  position,  that  the  nature  of  the  Father  is  of  one 
kind,  and  that  of  the  Son  of  another  ;  the  one  uncreated  and 
infinite,  the  other  created  and  finite.  These  are  two  shores 
which  we  must  equally  avoid,  steering  our  course  straight 
between  them  ;  shunning  on  one  side  the  confusion  of  Sabel- 
lius,  and  on  the  other  the  division  of  Arius.  Jesus  Christ, 
saith  the  apostle,  is  the  image  of  God  his  Father.  He  could 
not  be  his  image,  if  he  were  one  and  the  same  person  with  him. 
He  could  not  be  his  perfect  image,  if  he  had  a  nature  different 
from  the  nature  of  the  Father.  How  could  he  represent  his 
eternity,  if  he  had  been  created  in  time  ?  how  his  immensity, 
if  he  had  a  limited  essence  ?  how  his  majesty  and  glory,  if  he 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  97 

were  but  a  creature  ?  Let  us  then  hold  fast  this  truth  full 
and  entire  ;  and  believing  that  the  Son  of  God  is  a  person  dis- 
tinct from  that  of  the  Father,  let  us  acknowledge  that  his  divine 
nature  is  the  same  with  that  of  the  Father  ;  that  is  to  say,  that 
he  is  one  only  and  the  same  God  with  him,  blessed  for  ever  ; 
as  without  this  the  doctrine  of  the  apostle,  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
"the  image  of  God,"  cannot  be  fully  and  firmly  established. 

But  let  us  now  consider  how  and  why  he  here  declares  God 
the  Father,  whose  image  Jesus  Christ  is,  to  be  "  invisible." 
Truly  the  divine  nature  is  spiritual,  as  our  Lord  said  to  the 
woman  of  Samaria,  "  God  is  a  Spirit,"  and  every  spiritual  na- 
ture is  invisible  ;  it  being  clear  that  the  eye  sees  no  objects 
but  such  as  are  corporeal,  such  as  have  some  figure  and  colour, 
and  cast  forth  from  them  some  kind  of  species  into  the  air,  and 
into  other  diaphanous  and  transparent  bodies,  through  which 
they  gliding  with  incredible  swiftness,  come  to  strike  our 
senses  ;  things  which  have  none  of  them  any  place  in  spiritual 
and  immaterial  substances.  For  this  cause  Moses,  when  he 
would  teach  the  Israelites  that  there  is  nothing  gross  or  ma- 
terial in  the  divine  essence,  nothing  that  might  be  represented 
by  the  pencil  or  the  chisel  in  visible  images,  expressly  remon- 
strates to  them,  that  on  the  day  the  Most  High  manifested 
himself,  giving  them  the  law  upon  Mount  Sinai,  they  "heard 
the  voice  of  words,  but  saw  no  similitude,"  Deut.  iv.  12,  15, 
&,G.  Whence  he  infers  that  they  should  take  good  heed  to 
make  no  graven  image,  or  the  likeness  of  any  kind  of  thing  ; 
no  image  of  any  form  whatever  for  a  religious  use,  as  a  repre- 
sentation of  God  ;  as  the  nations  then  did,  and  almost  all  do  to 
this  day.  This  truth  is  clear  and  undoubted,  nor  was  it  ever 
contested  but  by  the  Anthropomorphites,  who  attributed  to 
God  a  human  body  and  members  ;  an  extravagance  long  since 
condemned  and  abolished  in  all  Christendom. 

But  the  apostle  here  styling  God  invisible,  intends  not  only 
that  neither  our  eyes  nor  our  other  senses  can  apprehend  the 
form  of  his  nature,  but  that  our  very  understandings  cannot 
comprehend  it,  and  that  it  is  hidden  from  all  our  conceptions. 
For  it  is  usual  in  Scripture  to  put  seeing  for  knowing,  and  to 
express  the  apprehensions  and  conceptions  of  the  mind  by  the 
names  of  the  senses  of  the  body.  And  on  this  principle  we 
understand  what  the  apostle  says  elsewhere,  that  God,  the 
King  of  ages,  is  invisible  ;  and  in  another  place,  that  he 
dwelleth  in  inaccessible  light,  and  that  "  no  man  hath  seen  or 
can  see  him,"  1  Tim.  vi.  16.  The  angels  themselves,  however 
superior  their  understanding  is  to  ours,  cannot  comprehend 
the  true  form  and  nature  of  this  supreme  and  most  glorious 
majesty,  because  his  essence  is  infinite,  and  no  finite  being  can 
comprehend  an  infinite  being.  And  therefore  the  seraphim, 
in  Isaiah,  standing  before  God,  covered  their  faces  with  two  of 


9è  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  VII. 

tlieir  wings,  to  testify  that  they  could  not  bear  the  splendour 
of  his  glory,  Isa.  vi.  2.  I  grant  that,  through  his  grace,  we 
know  something  of  his  nature  ;  and  this  the  Scripture  means, 
when  it  says  of  Moses  and  other  believers,  that  they  saw  God 
in  proportion  to  the  various  degrees  of  knowledge  which  he 
gave  them  of  himself;  of  which  the  highest  degrees  will  be 
those  which  we  shall  attain  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  to  express  this  to  us,  says  that  we  shall  see 
God  as  he  is,  that  we  shall  see  him  face  to  face,  and  know  him 
as  we  are  known,  1  John  iii.  2  ;  1  Cor.  xiii.  12.  But  however 
fair,  and  clear,  and  excellent  all  this  knowledge  of  God  which 
believers  and  holy  angels  have  in  this  world  or  the  other,  it  is 
not,  to  speak  strictly,  a  seeing  ;  that  is,  an  apprehension  which 
reaches  and  conceives  the  true  and  proper  form  of  its  object; 
so  that  this  remains  still  firm,  that  God,  to  speak  properly,  is 
invisible. 

But  why  does  the  apostle  ascribe  this  quality  to  God  the 
Father,  particularly  in  this  place  ?  Dear  brethren,  he  does  so 
with  great  propriety,  and  thereby  shows  us  how  it  is  that  God 
has  manifested  himself  to  us  by  Jesus  Christ  his  Son.  For 
there  is  a  secret  opposition  between  the  word  image  and  invi- 
sible. God  is  invisible,  says  the  apostle,  but  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  image  of  him.  This  eternal  Father  has  a  nature  so  sub- 
lime, and  so  impenetrable  by  any  of  our  senses,  that  without 
this  his  image,  which  shines  forth  in  his  Son,  neither  men  nor  an- 
gels would  have  known  aught  of  him;  he  would  have  remained 
eternally  veiled  in  that  inaccessible  light  in  which  he  dwells, 
without  being  known  by  any  but  himself.  But  now  he  has 
vouchsafed  to  manifest  to  us  that  which  may  be  known  of  him 
by  this  eternal  and  most  perfect  image  of  his  person,  that  is 
to  say,  by  his  Son.  For  first,  it  is  by  him  he  made  the  world, 
the  theatre  of  his  wonders.  And  it  is  by  him  also  he  pre- 
serves and  governs  it  in  so  admirable  a  manner.  It  is  to  him 
likewise  that  we  must  refer  the  revelations  of  God  under  the 
Old  Testament.  It  is  the  Son,  as  most  of  the  ancient  teachers 
of  the  church  have  very  well  observed,  that  appeared  to  Abra- 
ham and  the  other  patriarchs  ;  that  led  Israel  through  the  wil- 
derness, and  inspired  their  prophets.  But  the  apostle,  in  this 
passage,  has  respect  particularly  and  properly  to  the  manifes- 
tation of  God  in  the  fulness  of  time,  when  his  eternal  and  es- 
sential image  discovered  all  his  glory  to  the  Jews  first,  and 
afterwards  to  the  other  nations  of  the  world,  rendering  it,  in- 
visible as  it  was  in  itself,  visible  in  that  flesh  with  which  he 
vested  himself  in  the  blessed  virgin's  womb.  It  was  then  pro- 
perly that  the  Son  appeared  before  our  eyes,  as  he  is  in  reality 
from  all  eternity,  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  bright- 
ness of  his  glory,  and  the  engraven  character  or  express  image 
of  his  person.     For  the  office  of  an  image  is  to  represent  that 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  99 

of  which  it  is  the  figure.  Now  it  was  principally  in  this  last 
manifestation  that  the  Son  made  us  see  all  the  wonders  of  his 
Father,  the  abysses  of  his  justice  and  of  his  mercy,  the  depths 
of  his  wisdom  and  his  infinite  power,  of  which  the  world 
knew  not  before.  The  creatures  of  this  universe  show  us 
only  the  edges,  as  it  were,  and  the  footsteps,  and  the  stronger 
lineaments  of  them  ;  Jesus  Christ  has  unfolded  them  all  to  our 
view  in  their  very  nature.  The  world,  and  even  the  law  itself, 
were  but  imperfect  draughts  and  obscure  shadows  ;  Jesus 
Christ  is  that  living  image,  in  which  the  majesty,  the  nature, 
and  the  goodness  of  God  appear  with  all  their  fulness. 

II.  But  it  is  time  now  to  come  to  the  second  point,  in 
which  the  apostle,  having  compared  Jesus  Christ  with  God  his 
Father,  of  whom  he  is  the  image,  considers  him  with  respect 
to  the  creatures,  and  expresses  the  relation  he  has  to  them,  by 
saying  that  he  "  is  the  first-born  of  every  creature."  This 
passage  has  variously  exercised  the  heretics.  Those  of  them 
who  deny  that  the  Son  of  God  subsisted  at  all  before  he  was 
born  of  the  holy  virgin,  perceiving  that  these  words  place 
him  before  all  the  creatures,  to  support  their  error,  corrupt  the 
word  creature,  and  insist  that  in  this  place  it  signifies  the 
faithful,  who  believed  the  gospel  of  our  Lord.  Wretched 
unbelief;  to  what  extravagancies  dost  thou  lead  miserable 
men  !  For  what  delirium  can  produce  anything  less  substan- 
tial and  more  suspicious  than  this  exposition  ?  First,  it 
renders  the  apostle's  conception  frigid  and  absurd.  If  you 
believe  these  people,  the  apostle  informs  the  Colossians  that 
Jesus  Christ  was  born  before  men  believed  what  he  preached  ; 
is  not  this  a  great  secret,  and  highly  conducive  to  the  apostle's 
design  ?  Then  again,  who  gave  them  the  authority  which  they 
claim  to  change  the  sense  of  the  words  of  God  ?  Paul  says 
that  the  Lord  "is  the  first-born  of  every  creature."  By  what 
right  do  they  restrain  a  subject  of  such  vast  extent  to  the  faith- 
ful alone  ?  The  faithful,  say  they,  are  created  anew  of  the 
Lord  !  Who  doubts  it  ?  Paul  teaches  us  that  they  are  the 
"  workmanship  of  God,  created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good 
works,"  Eph.  ii.  20  ;  and  elsewhere,  that  "  if  any  one  be  in 
Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature."  But  it  follows  not  thence  that 
the  word  creature,  without  any  adjunct,  must  be  taken  merely 
for  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles.  The  Scrip- 
ture never  uses  the  term  in  that  sense.  As  for  the  eighth 
chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  where  they  pretend 
that  the  apostle  means  the  faithful  alone  by  all  the  crea- 
tures which  "  groan  and  travail  in  pain  together,"  ver.  22, 
this  is  a  new  dream,  no  less  absurd  than  the  former;  it 
being  clear  by  all  the  circumstances  of  the  passage,  that 
the  creatures  there  mentioned  are  not  the  children  of  God 
but  of  another  kind.     Paul   plainly  distinguishes  them,  say- 


lOO  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM,   VII. 

ing  of  those,  that  they  "  also  shall  be  delivered  from  the 
bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children 
of  God  :  and  that  not  only  they,  but  we  also,  (  that  is,  all  the 
faithful,)  who  have  the  first  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  groan  within 
ourselves,"  ver.  21,  23.  All  those  creatures  are  no  other  than 
the  universe,  the  heavens  and  the  elements,  which  shall  one 
day  be  set  free  from  the  vanity  under  which  they  now  groan, 
and  to  which  they  were  made  subject  by  sin.  That  which  they 
allege  out  of  the  third  of  the  Revelation,  is  in  no  degree  more 
to  the  purpose  ;  Jesus  Christ  styles  himself  there,  the  begin- 
ning or  principal  of  the  creature  or  creation  of  God,  ver.  14. 
But  nothing  obliges  us  to  take  the  creature  of  God  in  this 
place  for  the  faithful  alone,  any  more  than  in  the  other.  The 
Lord  means  all  the  things  which  God  has  created,  either  in  the 
first  or  in  the  second  world,  he  being  the  principal  of  the  one 
and  of  the  other,  according  to  what  he  had  said  in  the  same 
book  generally  and  indefinitely,  "I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the 
first  and  the  last,"  Rev.  i.  8.  Besides,  though  the  creature  of 
God  should  signify  the  faithful  in  this  place,  we  are  not  to 
infer  that  the  words  "  every  creature"  here  must  be  taken  for 
the  faithful  alone  ;  as  when  the  Scripture  calls  them  men  of 
God,  it  follows  not  thence  that  when  we  mean  the  faithful  alone 
we  must  say  all  men.  The  term,  "  of  God,"  is  put  there  for 
an  adjective  epithet,  as  grammarians  speak,  according  to  the 
use  of  the  holy  tongue;  the  creature  of  God,  that  is,  a  divine 
and  celestial  creature  ;  a  quality  which  evidently  restrains  the 
sense  of  the  word  creature,  to  which  it  is  annexed,  to  the  most 
excellent  kind  of  creatures,  that  is,  the  faithful.  Whereas 
Paul  says  here  simply,  "  every  creature,"  without  adding,  "  of 
God,"  or  "divine"  or  any  other  word  that  might  contract  the 
signification  of  the  general  term  creature  to  merely  one  of  its 
species,  that  is,  the  faithful.  Rejecting  therefore  the  gloss  of 
these  critics  as  impertinent,  and  contrary  both  to  the  scope 
and  style  of  the  apostle,  we  say  that  by  "  every  creature"  he 
intends  what  the  Scripture  and  all  the  languages  of  men  ordi- 
narily intend  by  these  words,  namely,  created  things,  "the 
heavens  and  the  earth,  and  all  that  in  them  is." 

But  here  rise  up  the  Arians,  another  kind  of  heretics,  who, 
insisting  upon  this  interpretation,  infer  that  the  Son  of  God  is 
a  creature,  as  he  is  called  the  first-born  of  them  ;  alleging  that 
the  first-born  is  of  the  same  nature  with  his  brethren  ;  and 
adding,  to  fortify  their  pretension,  that  in  fact,  the  supreme 
Wisdom,  which  is  no  other  than  the  Son,  says  in  the  Proverbs, 
that  God  possessed  or  created  it  "  in  the  beginning  of  his  ways, 
before  his  works  of  old,"  Prov.  viii.  22  ;  which  is  nothing  else, 
as  they  affirm,  but  what  Paul  says  here,  that  the  Son  is  the 
first-born  of  every  creature  ;  and  they  adjoin  also  that  which 
is  said  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  faith- 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  101 

ful  to  him  who  appointed  or  made  him,  Heb.  iii.  2  ;  that  is,  as 
they  pretend,  to  God,  who  created  him.  But  God  forbid  that 
we  should  rank  him  with  creatures,  to  whom  the  Scripture 
ascribes  the  glory  of  having  created  them  all,  and  to  whom  it 
commands  us  to  give  that  supreme  adoration  which  is  due  to 
God  alone,  and  not  to  any  creature.  The  apostle,  in  this  very 
place  which  they  abuse,  makes  a  most  evident  distinction  be- 
tween the  Son  and  other  things  ;  for  whereas  he  calls  them 
creatures,  he  says  of  the  Son  that  he  is,  not  the  first-created,  (as 
should  have  been  said,  if  he  were  of  their  order,)  but  the  first- 
born; an  evident  sign  that  he  received  his  beginning  of  the 
Father  by  a  divine  and  ineffable  generation,  and  cot  by  crea- 
tion. As  for  that  which  they  cite  out  of  the  Proverbs,  not  to 
urge  another  exposition  of  it,  the  original  text  imports  that 
God  possessed  wisdom  in  the  beginning  of  his  ways,  (as  our 
Bibles  have  well  rendered  it,)  and  not  that  he  created  it,  as  the 
Greek  interpreters  have  improperly  taken  it.  And  as  to  what 
Paul  says  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  that  God  made  Christ, 
he  means  not  that  he  created  him,  (a  notion  which  would  be 
quite  beside  his  purpose,)  but  that  he  ordained  and  established 
him  High  Priest  in  his  church.  Even  as  when  Samuel  says 
that  God  appointed  or  made  Moses  and  Aaron,  1  Sam.  xii.  6, 
he  intends  that  he  established  them  in  the  charges  which  they 
bore  among  his  people.  And  in  this  sense  we  must  understand 
Peter's  language  in  the  Acts,  "  that  God  hath  made  Jesus  both 
Lord  and  Christ,"  Acts  ii.  36;  that  is,  has  ordained  him  to  these 
great  dignities.  And  so  from  these  passages  it  strictly  follows 
that  the  Son  of  God  was  called  the  Anointed,  and  settled  in  his 
ofiice  of  Mediator,  (which  we  confess,)  but  not  that  his  divine 
nature  was  created  (which  we  utterly  deny.)  In  fine,  for  these 
words  of  Paul,  some  answer  that  by  saying  Jesus  Christ  "is  the 
first-born  of  every  creature,"  he  means  no  more  than  that  he 
was  born  before  all  creatures  ;  and  perhaps  it  would  be  very 
difficult,  that  I  may  not  say  impossible,  to  refute  this  exposi- 
tion. 

Yet  there  is  another  which  I  judge  more  suitable  both  to  the 
scope  and  to  the  sequel  of  this  text:  it  is  that  by  the  "first-born" 
is  meant  the  Owner,  the  Lord,  and  the  Prince  of  every  crea- 
ture. That  which  the  apostle  adds,  "for  by  him  were  created 
all  things  in  heaven  and  in  earth,"  perfectly  accords  with  this 
sense;  it  being  evident  that  the  creation  of  things  is  a  true  and 
solid  title  to  that  power  and  lordship  which  God  has  over 
them.  Why  is  the  Son  of  God  the  Lord  of  every  creature  ? 
Because  there  is  not  any  of  them  which  he  did  not  create;  and 
it  is  most  reasonable  that  he  should  dispose  of  them  and  govern 
them  at  his  pleasure,  since  he  gave  them  all  the  being  or  life 
that  they  have.  And  that  the  word  "  first-born  "  may  be  taken 
to  signify  master  and  lord,  is  evident  both  by  examples  in 


102  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  VII. 

Scripture,  and  by  the  reason  of  the  thing  itself.  For  the 
Lord  promises  in  the  Psahns  to  make  David  the  first-born  of 
the  kings  of  the  earth,  Psal.  Ixxxix.  27  ;  that  is,  as  every  one 
sees,  to  make  him  master  and  the  chief  of  kings  ;  it  being  evi- 
dent that,  to  speak  properly,  he  was  not  their  elder  brother, 
being  neither  the  brother  to  other  kings,  nor  more  aged  than 
they.  Isaiah  says  also  in  his  prophecy,  chap.  xiv.  30,  "the 
first-born  of  the  poor,"  to  signify  the  veriest  poor,  those  that 
(if  I  may  so  say)  carry  away  the  prize  for  poverty,  though 
otherwise  they  were  not  born  before  others,  nor  of  the  same 
family  with  them.  But  the  passage  in  Job  is  more  remarkable 
than  any  other,  where  mention  is  of  "  the  first-born  of  death," 
Job  xviii.  13.  He  is  meant  who  has  the  power  and  the  admin- 
istration of  death,  the  Angel  and  Prince  of  death,  and  (as  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  speaks)  "he  that  hath  the  power  of 
death."  The  reason  of  this  manner  of  speaking  is  also  perfectly 
evident.  For  the  eldest  born,  by  the  law  and  custom  of  most 
nations,  formerly  were,  and  to  this  day  are,  the  principal  of  the 
family,  the  heads,  and  in  a  manner  lords,  as  well  of  their  bre- 
thren as  of  the  slaves  and  goods  ;  hence  originated  this  kind 
of  language,  putting  eldest  or  first-born,  to  signify  the  head, 
the  lord,  and  the  master.  We  say,  therefore,  that  it  is  in  this 
sense  we  must  understand  the  apostle's  words,  Christ  "  is  the 
first-born  of  every  creature,"  that  is,  the  Master  and  Lord  of 
them  ;  which  no  way  implies  that  he  himself  is  a  creature  ; 
lords  not  being  always  of  the  same  extraction  and  lineage  with 
their  subjects,  but  most  frequently  of  another  very  different. 
And  as  it  would  be  ridiculous  reasoning  to  conclude  that  he 
who  has  the  dominion  of  death  is  death  itself,  under  the  colour 
that  Job  terms  him,  "the  first-born  of  death;"  so  is  it  most  im- 
pertinent arguing  to  infer  that  the  Lord  is  a  creature,  because 
the  apostle  says  here,  that  he  "  is  the  first-born  of  every  crea- 
ture." We  have  a  passage  exactly  parallel  with  this  in  the 
beginning  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  where  the  apostle 
says  that  God  has  appointed  his  Son  "heir  of  all  things,  by 
whom  also  he  made  the  worlds,"  chap.  i.  2.  Here  you  see, 
first,  that  he  expresses  the  Lordship  which  Jesus  Christ  has 
over  all  the  creatures,  by  a  figurative  word,  styling  him  the 
heir  of  them.  For  that  the  word  heir  was  taken  by  the  ancients 
to  mean  lord  and  master,  the  civilians  themselves  have  ob- 
served.* And,  secondly,  you  see  further,  that  the  apostle,  after 
the  same  manner  as  in  the  text,  founds  the  dominion  which 
Jesus  Christ  has  over  the  whole  universe  upon  his  being  the 
Creator  of  it.  For  this  he  means  when  he  says  that  "by  him 
God  made  the  worlds."  Be  it  then  concluded  that  this  primo- 
geniture of  the  Lord  Jesus  over  every  creature  is  nothing 

*  Instit.  1.  2,  tit.  19,  s.  ult. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE, EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  103 

else  but  that  glorious  and  sovereign  empire  which  he  has  over 
the  whole  world,  and  every  one  of  its  parts,  by  the  right  of 
creation  ;  being  its  supreme  and  absolute  Lord,  as  he  that 
brought  all  creatures  out  of  nothing,  and  gave  them  every  de- 
gree of  that  being  which  they  possess. 

Thus,  dear  brethren,  we  have  given  you  the  exposition  of 
this  text.  Let  us  profit  by  it  and  extract  the  practical  uses 
that  it  contains,  and  the  succour  it  may  give  us  against  sin  and 
error. 

First,  it  furnishes  us  with  an  answer  to  those  who  censure  us 
for  having  no  images  among  us.  Tell  them  that  Jesus  Christ, 
the  only  most  perfect  image  of  God,  suffices  us.  This  is  an 
image  that  we  safely  honour  without  fear  of  offending  God, 
because  it  is  a  true  one,  and  shows  us  to  the  life,  and  in  reality, 
all  the  perfections  of  the  Father;  while  all  other  images  offered 
to  us  are  the  work  of  men's  hands,  inventions  of  their  super- 
stition, and  images,  not  of  God,  but  of  their  own  vain  imagi- 
nations. Even  their  visibility  discovers  their  falsity,  as  God 
is  invisible.  For  to  represent  an  invisible  nature  by  colours, 
is  much  worse  than  if  you  should  paint  anything  white  with, 
charcoal,  or  light  with  darkness.  Your  images,  0  adversaries, 
are  dead  and  insensible,  destitute  of  the  advantages  which  na- 
ture has  given  to  the  least  and  lowest  animals.  Ours  is  alive 
and  intelligent,  the  source  of  life  and  wisdom.  Yours  are  in- 
capable of  seeing  or  rewarding  the  service  which  you  do  them. 
Ours  knows  our  hearts,  and  has  infinite  goodness  and  power. 
For  Jesus,  the  image  of  God,  whom  we  adore,  "  is  the  first-born 
of  every  creature,"  the  sovereign  Master  of  the  universe.  Let 
us  boldly  address  our  most  religious  services  to  him.  And 
since  it  is  in  him  that  God  manifests  himself  to  us,  let  us  have 
him  ever  before  our  eyes,  seeking  the  true  knowledge  of  God 
in  him  alone.     There  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is. 

But  let  this  seeing  by  no  means  be  idle  :  he  does  not  set  be- 
fore us  this  most  perfect  picture  of  his  perfections,  which  he  has 
drawn  to  the  life  in  his  Christ,  that  we  may  un  profitably  gaze 
on  it  ;  but  that  each  of  us  may  imitate  him  according  to  his 
small  ability,  and  express  in  his  soul  a  draught  of  that  perfect 
goodness  and  holiness  which  shines  so  gloriously  in  him,  and 
gradually  become  an  exact  and  lively  image  of  our  Lord. 
Consider,  how  he  was  obedient  to  the  Father,  bountiful  to 
men,  helpful  to  the  afflicted,  compassionate  to  sinners,  mild 
and  kind  to  enemies.  There,  christian,  is  the  pattern  of  your 
life.  Follow  these  sacred  examples.  Serve  God,  like  him,  pa- 
tiently bearing  all  that  he  lays  on  you,  courageously  marching 
on  all  occasions  wherever  he  calls  you.  Love  men  as  he  loved 
them,  cheerfully  employing  all  that  you  are  and  all  you  can 
do  for  their  edification  ;  communicating  your  goods  to  the 
poor,  your  light  to  the  ignorant,  your  assistance  to  the  op- 


104  AN   EXPOSITION   OF      ^  [SERM.  VIL 

pressed.  Let  not  their  malevolence  obstruct  your  kindness. 
If  they  offend  you,  pardon  them,  and  pray  for  them  ;  and 
remember,  as  the  Lord  said,  that  they  know  not  what  they  do. 
Let  neither  their  injuries  nor  their  caresses  ever  turn  you  from 
a  pious  course. 

Fear  neither  the  hatred  nor  the  forces  of  the  world.  Ee- 
member  that  as  this  Jesus  whom  you  serve  is  "  the  image  of 
God,"  so  he  is  likewise  "  the  first-born  of  every  creature." 
He  has  them  all  in  his  hand.  He  commands  the  heavens  and 
the  elements  ;  he  governs  men  and  beasts.  All  the  parts  of 
nature  owe  him  and  render  him  a  prompt  obedience,  and, 
will  they  nill  they,  do  nothing  against  his  orders.  Having  the 
Master  of  all  things  for  your  Head  and  Saviour,  how  is  it  that 
you  are  not  ashamed  of  your  timidity  ?  The  wind  makes  us 
tremble  as  the  leaves  of  the  wood.  The  least  sound  affrights  us,' 
and  instead  of  glorifying  the  Lord  here  in  his  palace,  in  peace 
and  joy,  while  his  voice  makes  the  world  tremble,  we  tremble 
while  the  world  is  in  repose.  Is  it  this  that  we  promised 
Jesus  Christ  ?  Is  this  to  bear  his  cross  with  patience,  and  re- 
sist for  his  sake  even  unto  blood  ?  Is  this  that  lively  and  un- 
movable  faith  of  which  we  make  profession,  which  should 
carry  us  unappalled  through  waters  and  through  flames  ?  If 
the  providence  of  the  Lord  were  unknown  to  us,  our  weak- 
ness would  be  less  inexcusable  ;  but  having  lived  for  so  long 
a  time  by  continual  miracles  of  his  goodness,  why  doubt  we  so 
readily  of  a  care  and  fidelity  which  we  have  so  many  a  time 
experienced?  You  see,  on  the  present  conjuncture,  what 
thoughts  he  has  inspired  on  our  behalf  into  the  sacred  powers 
that  govern  us,  and  even  the  supreme  among  them  ;  what 
order  they  have  taken  for  our  safety  ;  and  what  care  they  de- 
clare themselves  resolved  to  take  of  it  for  the  future,  receiving 
us  under  the  protection  of  their  edicts.  Dear  brethren,  it  is. 
an  admirable  effect  of  the  love  with  which  the  Lord  regarda 
us.  Let  us  enjoy  it  with  perfect  thankfulness  both  towards 
him  and  towards  his  ministers,  the  princes  of  whom  he  is  the 
first-born  in  a  particular  manner.  Let  us  not  disturb  the  work 
of  his  grace  by  our  fears  and  diffidences,  but,  assured  of  his 
infinite  goodness  and  power,  let  us  rely  upon  the  truth  of  his 
promises,  and  rest  upon  his  favourable  providence,  quietly  and 
comfortably  finishing  this  short  journey  which  we  have  be- 
gun ;  waiting  till  this  holy  and  merciful  Lord,  after  having 
conducted  and  comforted  us  in  this  desert,  shall  raise  us  up  on 
high  to  the  mountain  of  his  holiness  ;  where,  far  from  evils,  and 
from  dangers,  and  from  fears,  we  shall  glorify  him  eternally, 
with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  true  and  only  God, 
blessed  for  ever.    Amen. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  105 

SERMON  VIII. 

VERSES   16,  17. 

For  hy  him  were  all  things  created,  that  are  in  heaven,  and  that 
are  in  earth,  visible  and  invisible,  ivhether  they  be  thrones,  or 
dominions,  or  principalities,  or  powers  :  all  things  ivere  created 
hy  him,  and  for  him  :  and  he  is  before  all  things,  and  by  him 
all  things  consist. 

Among  all  the  reasons  which  establish  our  right  to  the 
things  that  we  possess,  none  is  more  just  or  more  natural  than 
that  which  arises  from  the  production  of  them  ;  it  being  evi- 
dent that  what  issues  from  us  should  depend  upon  us,  and  that 
it  is  just  every  one  should  dispose  of  what  he  has  made.  Thus 
among  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  children  belong  to  the  pa- 
rents that  begat  them,  and  works  either  of  the  mind  or  body 
are  theirs  who  formed  them  and  set  them  forth.  This  right  ia 
the  first  and  the  most  ancient  foundation  of  all  human  posses- 
sions and  dominions  ;  the  power  which  men  have  to  give,  to 
sell,  or  exchange  things  proceeding  from  this,  that  they,  or 
those  of  whom  they  received  them,  gave  them,  or  preserved 
their  existence.  For  if  you  go  back  to  the  first  sources  of  hu- 
man laws  and  institutions,  you  will  find  that  men  assumed  not 
dominion  or  possession,  save  of  the  persons  whom  they  had 
either  naturally  begotten,  or  saved  in  war,  by  preserving  and 
giving  the  life  they  might  have  taken  from  them  ;  and  of 
things  which  they  had  either  made  and  composed,  as  buildings, 
or  at  least  improved  and  cultivated,  as  the  ground  they  cleared 
and  tilled.  It  is  from  thence  that  were  formed,  by  little  and 
little,  those  good  and  just  establishments  of  families,  of  cities, 
and  of  states,  and  of  laws  necessary  for  their  government, 
which  have  maintained  mankind  to  this  present  time.  You 
see  likewise  that  God  our  sovereign  Lord,  to  justify  the  right 
he  has  to  dispose  of  us  as  seemeth  him  good,  and  the  obliga- 
tion we  have  to  serve  him,  ordinarily  urges  this  reason,  that 
he  has  created  us.  "  It  is  he  that  hath  made  us,"  saith  his  pro- 
phet, "and  not  we  ourselves;  we  are  his  people,  and  the  sheep 
of  his  pasture,"  Psalm  c.  3.  By  the  same  consideration  he 
silences  the  refractory  and  profane,  who  have  the  insolence  to 
censure  his  disposals  :  "  Shall  the  thing  formed  say  to  him 
that  formed  it.  Why  hast  thou  made  me  thus  ?  Hath  not  the 
potter  power  over  the  clay,  of  the  same  lump  to  make  one 
vessel  unto  honour,  and  another  unto  dishonour  ?"  Romans  ix. 
20,  21. 

It  is  further  by  the  same  reason,  my  brethren,  the  apostle 
14 


106  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  VIH. 

proves  in  this  place  that  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  is  the 
Lord  of  all  things.  Having  said  that  he  is  "  the  first-born 
(that  is,  the  Master)  of  every  creature,"  he  now  alleges  the 
proof  of  it,  taken  from  his  being  the  Creator  of  all  things. 
"  For  by  him,"  says  he,  "  were  all  things  created,  that  are  in 
heaven,  and  that  are  in  earth,  visible  and  invisible,  whether 
they  be  thrones,  or  dominions,  or  principalities,  or  powers  :  all 
things  were  created  by  him,  and  for  him  :  and  he  is  before  all 
things,  and  by  him  all  things  consist."  This  reason  is  evident 
and  invincible.  For  if  man,  who  gives  to  the  things  he  makes 
only  the  form  of  their  being,  working  in  all  his  operations  on 
borrowed  matter,  does  yet  acquire  thereby  a  right  of  dominion 
over  them,  as  we  said  even  now,  so  that  he  may  dispose  of 
them  as  he  will,  how  much  more  justly  is  the  Son  of  God  the 
Master  and  Lord  of  all  the  creatures,  as  he  created  them,  that 
is,  gave  them  the  whole  of  their  being;  not  the  form  only,  but 
the  matter  also  of  which  they  consist  ;  having  brought  thera 
out  of  nothing,  having  entirely  made  and  formed  them  by  the 
sole  might  of  his  power,  without  any  subject  for  his  display- 
ing it  upon,  existent  when  he  first  created  them  !  And  this 
proof  clearly  determines  that  which  we  laid  down  in  the  pre- 
ceding sermon  ;  that  is,  that  when  the  apostle  calls  Jesus 
Christ  the  "  first-born  of  every  creature,"  he  means  simply 
that  he  is  the  Master  of  thera,  and  not  (as  heretics  assert)  that 
he  is  a  creature  as  they  are,  and  only  created  before  thera. 
For  the  reason  which  Paul  annexes,  taken  from  his  having 
created  them,  fully  evinces  that  he  is  Master  of  them,  but  not 
that  he  was  created  himself  Otherwise,  it  must,  from  the  same 
premises,  be  inferred  that  the  Father,  who  created  all  things, 
was  also  created  himself;  a  blasphemy  which  the  most  shame- 
less heretics  would  abhor.  For  if  the  apostle's  discourse  is 
good  and  pertinent,  (as  all  christians  confess,)  he  reasons  thus  : 
Whoever  has  created  all  things,  the  same  is  "  the  first-born  of 
every  creature  ;"  but  the  Lord  Jesus  has  created  all  things,  he 
is  therefore  "  the  first-born  of  every  creature."  You  see  clearly 
that  this  first  proposition,  Whoever  has  created  all  things  is 
"  the  first-born  of  every  creature,"  cannot  be  true  except  in 
this  sense,  that  he  is  the  master  ^of  every  creature  ;  but  it  is 
evidently  false  in  the  sense  that  the  heretics  take  of  the  words 
"first-born  of  every  creature,"  that  is,  created  before  every 
other  creature  ;  for  the  Father,  who  created  all  things,  is  eter- 
nal and  irarautable,  and  was  not  created.  It  must,  tlierefore, 
of  necessity  be  said  that  the  apostle,  by  "the  first-born  of 
every  creature,"  raeans  their  Lord  and  Master.  Otherwise  his 
discourse  would  not  be  pertinent. 

But  having  in  our  last  discourse  sufficiently  explained  and 
justified  this  conclusion  of  Paul,  that  the  Son  of  God  is  "the 
first-born  of  every  creature,"  let  us  consider  now  the  reason  he 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  107 

alleges,  drawn  from  hence,  viz  :  that  he  created  all  things,  and 
that  they  are  all  for  him,  and  all  subsist  by  him  ;  that  is  to 
say,  he  is  the  Author,  the  End,  and  the  Conserver  of  them.  It 
is  a  truth  of  infinite  importance  in  the  christian  religion,  both 
of  itself  and  for  its  own  merit,  as  also  for  the  great  contradic- 
tions it  has  suffered  at  all  times  from  the  enemies  of  the  divin- 
ity of  Jesus  Christ,  both  ancient  and  modern,  who  have  ap- 
plied all  their  force  either  to  overthrow,  or  at  least  to  shake  it. 
For  this  cause  we  are  obliged  to  examine  the  present  text, 
where  it  is  so  majestically  stated,  with  so  much  the  more  care  ; 
and  that  we  may  omit  nothing  which  is  necessary  for  clearing 
it,  we  will  consider,  in  the  first  place,  what  the  apostle  says 
of  the  Son  of  God  ;  that  "  all  things  were  created  by  him,  and 
for  him  ;"  and  that  "  he  is  before  all  things,"  and  that  they  "  all 
consist  by  him."  In  the  second  place,  the  division  that  he 
makes  of  all  these  things  which  the  Lord  created  ;  some,  they 
"that  are  in  heaven,"  others,  they  "that  are  in  earth;"  some, 
"  visible,"  others,  "  invisible,"  as  "  thrones,  dominions,  princi- 
palities, and  powers."  These  shall  be,  if  the  Lord  will,  the 
two  parts,  and,  as  it  were,  the  two  articles,  of  this  discourse. 
May  it  please  God  to  guide  our  meditations  by  his  Spirit  on 
this  sublime  subject,  and  to  enable  us  by  his  grace  to  aim  at 
his  glory  and  our  own  edification. 

I.  In  the  former  of  these  two  articles  the  apostle  says,  first, 
that  all  things  were  created  by  Jesus  Christ;  secondly,  that 
they  were  all  created  for  him  ;  in  the  third  place,  that  he  is 
before  all  things  ;  and  lastly,  that  they  all  consist  by  him.  For 
though  these  four  points  nearly  resemble  each  other,  and  are 
necessarily  combined,  yet  they  are  actually  distinct,  and  ought 
to  come  severally  under  consideration  ;  there  being  none  of 
them  but  contributes  something  particular  to  the  glory  of  our 
great  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

The  first  is  plain,  that  all  things  were  created  by  Jesus 
Christ.  For  where  is  the  christian  who  understands  not  this, 
and  knows  not  that  to  create  signifies,  in  the  use  of  Scripture, 
to  make  a  thing,  either  of  nothing,  or  of  a  matter  which  had 
no  disposeduess  to  the  form  that  it  receives?  And  as  there  is 
no  power  but  the  divine  that  is  capable  of  such  an  action  or 
operation,  this  word  is  never  attributed  to  any  but  God  only. 
No  one  but  he  creates  things.  For  this  cause,  among  the  other 
titles  which  are  given  him  for  marks  of  his  glory,  he  is 
styled,  The  Creator,  this  title  pertaining  to  him  alone.  When 
the  apostle  then  says  here,  and  twice  repeats  it,  that  all  things 
were  created  by  the  Son,  he  means  that  from  him  they  received 
all  the  being  they  have;  that  it  is  he  who  by  this  noble  and 
divine  manner  of  working,  which  the  Scripture  calls  creation, 
brought  them  from  non-being  into  being,  who,  by  his  infinite 
power,  produced  the  matter  of  which  they  consist,  prepared 


WS  AN  EXPOSITION    OF  [SERM.   VIII. 

it  and  fitted  it  as  it  now  is,  investing  it  with  those  forms  and 
admirable  qualities  on  which  all  the  motions  of  their  nature 
depend  ;  that  is  to  say,  in  one  word,  the  Lord  Jesus  is  the 
Creator  of  the  universe. 

It  was  not  possible  to  express  more  clearly  this  truth.  And 
in  this  sense  all  christians  always  received  this  passage,  till 
those  new  enemies  of  the  divinity  of  our  Lord  appeared,  who 
blasphemously  say  that  he  had  no  actual  subsistence  in  the 
universe  prior  to  his  birth  of  the  holy  virgin.  Unable 
to  bear  so  resplendent  a  light,  they  have  endeavoured  to  ob- 
scure it  by  the  fumes  of  their  frivolous  and  false  glosses,  and 
say  therefore  that  the  word  create  signifies  in  this  place  merely 
to  reform  and  re-establish  things,  to  put  them  in  a  better  state 
than  they  were  in,  and  not  to  bring  them  out  of  nothing,  and 
give  them  their  whole  being.  They  insist  that  the  apostle,  by 
saying  all  things  were  created  by  Jesus,  intends  not  the  first 
creation  of  the  world,  when  arising  out  of  nothing  it  received 
its  natural  being  and  form  from  the  Creator  ;  but  the  renova- 
tion of  the  world,  wrought  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel, 
and  by  the  word  of  the  apostles,  whom  the  Lord  sent  to  re- 
form the  nations,  and  to  put  things  in  an  incomparably  better 
and  happier  state  than  they  were  before.  Enslaved  they  were 
to  the  empire  of  sin  and  Satan,  but  by  the  doctrine  and  power 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  they  have  now  been  consecrated  to  God  and 
sanctified  to  his  glory.  To  this  I  answer,  that  it  is  true  the 
world  was  renewed  by  the  gospel  ;  inasmuch  as  this  holy  doc- 
trine abolished  the  ceremonial  discipline  of  Moses,  and  the 
false  religions  of  the  heathen,  and  formed  in  the  whole  earth  a 
new  people  serving  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  being  created 
in  righteousness  and  holiness.  I  acknowledge  also  that  this 
renovation  is  the  work  of  divine  power,  and  could  not  have 
been  effected  by  any  human  or  angelic  strength,  and  on  this 
account  it  may  and  ought  to  be  called  a  creation  ;  it  being 
certain  that  no  less  virtue  was  needful  to  reform  the  world 
than  to  create  it.  And,  finally,  I  grant  too  that  Jesus,  the  Son 
of  God,  is  the  true  and  sole  author  of  this  second  creation. 

But  to  this  I  adjoin  two  things  :  first,  that  though  this  pas- 
sage might  be  understood  of  this  reformation  of  the  world, 
yet  it  would  of  necessity  infer  that  Jesus,  to  whom  it  is  attri- 
buted, is  the  true  eternal  God.  For  as  this  work  is  no  less,  nay, 
as  it  is  greater,  than  that  of  creation,  it  is  evident  that  none  but 
the  true  God  could  be  the  author  of  it,  for  creation  is  proposed 
to  us  in  Scripture  (a  point  to  which  we  shall  have  to  return) 
as  an  argument  of  true  and  eternal  divinity.  And  the  thing 
speaks  for  itself.  For  as  a  divine  and  infinite  power  is  requi- 
site to  regenerate  men  and  destroy  the  servitude  of  sin  and  Sa- 
tan, it  must  of  necessity  be  acknowledged  that  Jesus,  the  author 
of  this  great  work,  has  an  infinite  power,  that  is  to  say,  is  truly 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  109 

God;  no  finite  subject  being  capable  of  an  infinite  power,  and 
none  being  infinite  but  God  alone.  Thus  you  see  that  these  here- 
tics toil  in  vain  ;  their  own  interpretation  (if  it  were  admitted) 
necessarily  establishes  the  thing  which  they  oppose;  namely, 
that  Jesus  is  very  God,  infinite  and  eternal,  and  subsisting  be- 
fore all  ages.  But  I  say,  in  the  second  place,  that  this  text 
cannot  be  understood  of  the  reparation  or  second  creation  of 
the  world  :  first,  because  the  apostle  will  soon  speak  of  that 
in  the  three  verses  immediately  following;  where  he  sub- 
limely describes  it,  saying  that  Jesus  Christ  "  is  the  Head  of 
the  body,  the  church  ;  the  Beginning,  the  First-born  from  the 
dead  ;"  by  whom  the  Father  has  reconciled  all  things  unto 
himself,  as  well  celestial  as  terrestrial,  "  having  made  peace 
through  the  blood  of  his  cross."  Now  unless  we  render  Paul 
guilty  of  vain  babbling  and  useless  repetition,  we  must  con- 
fess that  as  in  this  second  place  he  speaks  of  the  reparation 
and  renovation  of  things,  so  in  the  former  he  spake  of  their 
first  creation.  Secondly,  this  is  further  evident  from  his  ex- 
pressly reckoning  the  angels  among  the  things  created  by 
Jesus  Christ  ;  yea,  he  insists  on  them  more  than  on  the  rest, 
(as  we  shall  see  hereafter,)  saying  that  "  by  him  were  created 
things  in  heaven,  thrones,  dominions,  principalities,  and  pow- 
ers." But  the  angels  were  not  renewed  nor  restored  by  Jesus 
Christ,  for  sin  did  not  ruin  their  nature,  nor  make  it  wax  old, 
nor  subject  it  to  vanity.  We  must  therefore  conclude  that  the 
apostle  speaks  here  not  of  the  reparation  of  things,  but  of  the 
first  creation  of  them  ;  it  being  most  certain  that  the  angels 
are  created  beings,  their  nature  yet  being  not  eternal  and  with- 
out beginning.  I  grant,  that  by  the  salvation  which  we  have 
received  from  Jesus  Christ  the  angels  have  been  reunited  to 
us,  and  settled  again  in  peace  and  amity  with  us,  from  whom 
our  sin  had  separated  and  estranged  them  ;  and  this  is  what 
the  apostle  means  when  he  says  here  beneath,  that  God  has  re- 
conciled things  in  heaven  and  things  in  earth  by  the  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ,  ver.  20;  and  elsewhere,  that  he  has  recapitulated 
or  gathered  "together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  both  which 
are  in  heaven,  and  which  are  on  earth,"  Eph.  i.  10.  But  this 
is  not  to  be  called  a  creating  of  the  angels,  nor  can  any  exam- 
ple of  such  extravagant  language  be  produced,  that  a  creating 
of  persons  was  employed  to  signify  a  reconciling  them  to 
those  whom  they  hated,  and  whose  communion  they  avoided  ; 
otherwise,  as  Jesus  Christ  reconciled  us  also  to  God  the  Fa- 
ther, incorporating  us  into  his  family,  so  as  he  is  thei'eby  be- 
come our  Father,  and  we  his  children,  in  the  same  manner  that 
we  are  brethren  with  the  angels  ;  it  might,  to  express  this,  be 
also  said  that  Jesus  Christ  created  God  the  Father,  which  no 
ear,  I  say  not  christian,  but  that  is  ever  so  little  rational,  could 
possibly  endure.     Finally,  the  context  itself  of  the  apostle's 


lîO  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  VIII. 

words  evidently  shows  that  they  must  be  necessarily  under- 
stood of  the  first,  and  not  of  the  second,  creation  of  things. 
I  confess  the  Holy  Ghost  sometimes  uses  the  word  create  to 
signify  the  production  of  the  second  work  of  God,  that  is,  the 
work  of  his  grace  in  Jesus  Christ.  But  he  never  does  this 
without  some  addition  and  restriction,  that  evidently  limits 
the  word  to  such  a  sense  ;  as,  for  example,  when  he  says  in 
Isaiah  that  he  is  about  to  "  create  new  heavens  and  a  new 
earth  ;"  and  that  he  is  about  to  create  Jerusalem  to  be  a  joy, 
and  her  people  gladness,  Isa.  Ixv.  17,  18  ;  the  very  form  of 
this  language,  put  in  the  future  tense,  as  you  see,  and  those 
new  heavens  and  that  Jerusalem,  which  he  says  he  is  about  to 
create,  evidently  showed  that  he  is  not  speaking  of  the  first 
creation  of  the  world.  So  when  the  apostle  says  that  God  has 
created  them  twain  (that  is,  the  Jews  and  the  Gentiles)  in  him- 
self into  one  new  man,  Eph.  ii.  15  ;  this  latter  word,  "  new," 
admits  no  doubt  that  he  means  here  the  second  operation  of 
God,  by  which  Jews  and  Gentiles  were  united  into  one  peo- 
ple ;  and  not  of  the  first,  by  which  they  were  brought  into 
their  natural  existence.  And  likewise,  when  he  says  in  the 
same  chapter,  that  "  we  are  created  in  Jesus  Christ  unto  good 
works,  which  God  hath  before  ordained  that  we  should  walk 
in  them."  The  persons  of  whom  he  speaks,  ws,  that  is,  be- 
lievers, distinguished  from  other  men  ;  and  the  end  of  this 
work  of  God,  good  works  ;  these  sufficiently  prove  that  the 
creation  there  meant  is  the  second,  and  not  the  first,  nor  can 
any  reasonable  man  doubt  it.  In  these  places,  and  others  like 
them,  if  there  are  any,  the  word  create  is  still  limited  and  cir- 
cumstantiated. When  it  is  used  simply  and  absolutely,  it  is 
to  be  taken  only  for  the  first  creation,  as  when  Isaiah  says 
that  "  God  created  the  heavens,"  Isa.  xlii.  5  ;  and  John,  in  the 
Revelation,  that  the  "  Lord  created  all  things,"  Rev.  iv.  11  ; 
and  in  a  multitude  of  similar  places  ;  neither  can  any  one 
be  adduced  to  the  contrary.  For  as  to  that  which  the  adver- 
saries allege  out  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  where  they 
insist  that  the  apostle's  words,  "  God  created  all  things  by 
Jesus  Christ,"  Eph.  iii.  9,  must  be  expounded  of  the  second, 
and  not  the  first  creation  ;  in  this  they  do  not  prove,  but  take 
for  granted,  the  thing  mooted  ;  nothing  obliging  us  to  depart 
in  this  place,  more  than  in  the  others,  from  the  common  sig- 
nification of  the  word. 

As  then  in  our  text  this  term  create  is  used  simply  and  in- 
definitely, without  any  limitation  or  restriction,  the  apostle 
saying  and  twice  repeating  that  all  things  were  created  by  the 
Son  of  God,  nay,  adding,  to  show  more  fully  the  extent  of 
this  subject,  "  both  things  which  are  in  heaven,  and  things 
which  are  in  earth,  visible  and  invisible,  thrones,  dominions, 
principalities,  and  powers,"  we  conclude  that  the  word  means, 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  Ill 

as  in  other  places  where  it  is  employed  in  the  same  manner, 
simply  and  absolutely,  that  is  to  say,  it  must  be  taken  for  the 
first,  and  not  the  second  creation.  If  we  are  at  liberty  to  do 
otherwise,  and  to  give  it  anywhere  the  sense  we  please,  with 
no  other  reason  than  that  of  our  caprice,  who  sees  not  but  that 
by  such  an  opening  there  would  no  longer  be  anything  fixed 
or  certain  left  in  Scripture  ?  For  as  these  heretics,  by  this 
frivolous  gloss,  would  deprive  the  Lord  Jesus  of  the  glory  of 
the  first  creation  ;  another  might,  by  the  same  expedient, 
wrest  it  from  the  Father;  interpreting  those  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture which  affirm  that  God  created  the  world,  not  of  its  first 
production,  by  which  it  issued  out  of  nothing  into  being,  but 
merely  of  a  reparation,  or  a  renovation  of  the  universe  ;  and 
in  consequence  hereof  pretend,  with  some  philosophers,  that 
it  was  assuredly  created  long  before,  but  not  in  the  condition 
and  the  form  it  afterwards  obtained. 

But  God  forbid  that  christians  should  ever  suifer  impiety  to 
have  such  a  power  over  the  word  of  God.  Let  us  sacredly 
keep  to  the  truths  which  the  Scriptures  teach  us,  and  receive 
their  language  with  a  candid  and  sincere  belief.  Let  heresy 
rise  in  commotion,  and  be  as  restless  as  it  will,  as  the  apostle, 
the  mouth  of  heaven  and  the  trumpet  of  God,  proclaims  that 
all  things  were  created  by  the  Lord  Jesus,  let  us  receive  this 
sacred  verity  ;  believe  it  and  confess  it  so  much  the  more,  be- 
cause not  only  here  does  Scripture  teach  us  this,  but  in  nume- 
rous other  places.  For,  not  to  repeat  what  has  been  already 
advanced  out  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  where  it  is  said 
that  the  Father  "  created  all  things  by  Jesus  Christ,"  what  can 
be  more  explicit  than  the  beginning  of  John,  where  this  divine 
author,  speaking  of  the  Word  which  was  made  flesh,  and  whose 
glory  he  and  his  fellow  brethren  had  seen,  and  who  was  in  the 
beginning  with  God,  proclaims,  "  All  things  were  made  by  him, 
and  without  him  was  not  anything  made  that  was  made.  And 
the  world  was  made  by  him,"  John  i.  3,  10.  What  more  can 
be  uttered  or  conceived  than  what  we  read  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,  where  the  apostle,  not  satisfied  with  having  said 
at  the  entrance  that  the  Father  made  the  worlds  by  his  Son, 
says  of  the  Son  a  little  after,  what  the  prophet  sings,  "  Thou, 
Lord,  in  the  beginning  hast  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth  ; 
and  the  heavens  are  the  works  of  thine  hands,"  Heb.  i.  10. 
Certainly  this  proof  is  so  firm  that  all  the  devils  of  hell  will 
never  be  able  to  pluck  it  from  us.  And  nothing  more  gross 
can  be  imagined  than  that  evasion  with  which  despair  has  here 
inspired  the  heretics:  Though,  say  they,  the  apostle  has 
alleged  these  words  of  the  Psalm,  yet  his  intention  was  not  to 
apply  them  to  Christ,  but  the  following  words  only,  "  Thou 
remainest,  and  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall  not  fail  :"  for 
is  not  this  a  plain  contradiction  of  the  apostle,  who  loudly 


112  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  YIU. 

affirms  that  it  is  to  the  Son  the  Holy  Spirit  says,  "  Lord,  in  the 
beginning  thou  hast  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth  ?"  Be- 
sides, if  this  quotation  from  the  Psalm  decides  nothing  more 
than  that  the  Son  is  permanent,  and  shall  not  fail,  it  is  inap- 
plicable, and  does  not  at  all  suffice  for  the  apostle's  design. 
For  his  aim  is  to  exalt  the  Son  above  the  angels;  but  if  the 
passage  he  brings  for  this  purpose  proves  only  that  the  Son  is 
immortal  and  immutable,  who  sees  not  that  by  this  procedure 
he  attributes  no  more  to  him  than  what  is  equally  true  of  the 
angels,  whose  nature  is  likewise  incorruptible  and  immutable  ? 

As  then  the  scope  of  the  apostle  is  to  show  that  Jesus  Christ 
has  excellences  which  do  not  belong  to  the  angels  ;  and  as,  on 
the  contrary,  the  passage  he  alleges  expresses  nothing  of  that 
kind,  but  the  creating  of  the  world  ;  it  must  of  necessity  be 
acknowledged  that  it  is  the  holy  apostle's  intention  to  apply 
particularly  to  the  Lord  this  first  part  of  the  quotation,  wherein 
it  is  said  that  he  has  founded  the  earth,  and  that  the  heavens 
are  the  work  of  his  hands.  And  so  you  see  that  the  supreme 
Wisdom,  begotten  of  the  Father  before  all  ages,  which  neither 
is  nor  can  be  any  other  than  the  Lord  Jesus,  protests  in  the 
book  of  Proverbs,  chap,  viii.,  that  it  was  with  God,  its  eternal 
Father,  when  he  created  the  world,  to  show  us  that  it  was  the 
Governor  and  Superintendent  of  that  great  work.  And  Moses, 
in  the  beginning  of  Genesis,  expresses  the  same  thing,  as  far 
as  the  nature  of  the  time  and  of  the  old  testament  would 
permit.  For  he  states  that  God  did  not  create  anything  but  by 
his  word.  He  represents  him  as  speaking  at  every  part  of  his 
•work  ;  "  God  said.  Let  there  be  light.  God  said.  Let  there  be 
a  firmament.  God  said,  Let  the  waters  be  divided,  and  let  the 
dry  land  appear  ;"  and  so  in  all  the  rest.  Why  does  so  sage  a 
•writer  make  this  supreme  and  unspeakable  nature  speak  thus 
for  the  creating  of  each  of  his  works?  Let  the  Jew  weary 
himself  to  the  utmost,  he  will  never  be  able  to  give  us  such  a 
good  and  pertinent  reason  of  it  as  can  satisfy  our  minds.  But 
John  calling  the  Son  of  God  the  Word,  chap.  i.  1,  unveils  this 
secret  to  us,  showing  us  that  it  is  by  this  his  Word  that  the 
Father  created  the  world.  And  Moses,  obscurely  intimating 
this,  and  in  a  manner  accordant  with  that  time,  represents  God 
as  not  creating  anything  except  by  speaking.  It  must  then 
be  concluded,  against  the  obstinate  fury  of  heretics,  that  the 
Lord  Jesus  is  the  Creator  of  all  things. 

And  this  is  so  evident,  that  a  majority  of  those  very  men 
who  deny  his  eternal  divinity  have  not  refused  to  acknowledge 
it  ;  and  they  in  particular  who,  after  the  name  of  their  old 
leader,  are  commonly  called  Arians,  who,  while  they  admit 
that  by  him  the  Father  created  the  universe  at  the  beginning, 
yet  pertinaciously  deny  that  he  is  eternal  God,  of  the  same  es- 
sence with  the  Father.     In  this,  as  I  confess,  they  show  more 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  113 

modesty  than  the  rest,  not  having  the  forehead  to  reject  what 
the  Scripture  so  clearly  exhibits  ;  at  the  same  time  I  must  say 
they  discover  less  common  sense  and  acuteness,  admitting  a 
truth  incompatible  with  their  own  error.  For  if  the  Lord 
Jesus  created  the  universe,  as  they,  in  concurrence  with  the 
Scripture,  confess,  it  must  of  necessity  be  granted  that  he  is 
very  Jehovah,  who  in  time  past  was  worshipped  by  the  Israel- 
ites, which,  notwithstanding,  is  the  thing  that  they  oppose. 

From  what  we  have  observed,  it  follows,  first,  that  the  Scrip- 
ture never  ascribes  the  creating  to  any  one  but  God,  Secondly, 
that  in  Isaiah  the  title  of  Creator  is  given  to  the  true  God  to 
distinguish  him  from  creatures,  as  being  incommunicable  to 
any  other  besides  him.  It  is  I,  says  he,  who  have  made  the 
earth,  and  who  have  stretched  out  the  heavens,  Isa.  xlii.  5  ; 
xlv.  12;  xlviii.  13  ;  li.  13.  Finally,  the  thing  speaks  for  itself. 
For  the  power  requisite  to  create  the  world  (that  is,  to  make 
it  of  nothing)  is  so  great  and  so  infinite,  that  the  philosophers, 
with  all  the  light  of  their  reason,  could  not  comprehend  it, 
but  were  so  far  from  attributing  it  to  any  creature,  that  they 
denied  it  unto  God  himself.  Whence  we  infer  that  if  there  is 
any  part  of  divine  glory  proper  and  essential  to  God,  it  is 
most  indubitably  this.  Seeing  then  it  is  found  in  the  Lord 
Jesus,  we  must  necessarily  confess  that  he  is  in  truth  the  great 
God,  most  high,  eternal,  and  blessed  for  ever  above  all  things. 
As  for  the  distinction  they  advance  to  cover  their  error,  al- 
leging that  the  Son  was  but  the  instrument  and  minister  of 
the  Father  in  the  work  of  creation,  not  the  first  and  principal 
cause,  it  is  vain  and  frivolous.  For  this  creative  power  being 
infinite,  it  cannot  be  but  in  an  infinite  subject,  and  in  a  sove- 
reign and  principal  agent.  It  cannot  be  communicated  to  an 
instrument,  for  every  instrument  being  finite,  is  consequently 
incapable  of  receiving  and  containing  an  infinite  power;  and 
as  it  is  in  the  person  of  the  Son,  it  unavoidably  follows  that 
he  is  not,  as  they  say,  the  instrumental,  but  the  first  and  the 
principal  cause  in  the  work  of  creation.  And  this  John  clearly 
shows  in  the  Revelation,  where  he  says  that  he  is  "  Alpha  and 
Omega,  the  first  and  the  last,"  Rev.  i.  11  ;  a  thing  that  cannot 
be  said  of  an  instrumental  cause,  which  has  necessarily  another 
and  superior  agent  of  a  different  nature.  The  apostle  also 
completely  refutes  this  interpretation,  when  he  appropriates 
that  to  Jesus  Christ  which  the  prophet  evidently  uttered  of  the 
first,  the  principal,  and  sovereign  cause  of  the  creation  ;  "Thou, 
Lord,  in  the  beginning  hast  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth  ; 
and  the  heavens  are  the  works  of  thine  hands  ;"  an  application 
which  would  be  evidently  false  and  incongruous  if  Jesus  Christ 
were  only  the  instrumental  cause  of  the  creation.  The  ob- 
servation on  which  they  pretend  to  ground  this  distinction  is 
equally  futile  ;  I  mean,  that  the  Scripture  says  indeed  the  world 


114  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  VIII. 

was  created  by  the  Son,  but  not  that  the  Son  created  the  world. 
For,  first,  Paul  says  in  express  terms  that  the  Son  "  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  earth  ;"  and  though  he  had  not  said  it,  who 
sees  not  that  the  one  expression  is  equivalent  to  the  other,  and 
that  his  words,  "  all  things  were  created  by  the  Son,"  are  tanta- 
mount to  his  saying  that  the  Son  created  all  things?  But  if 
this  form  of  speech  proves  that  the  Son  is  not  the  first  and 
principal  ef&cient  of  the  creation,  the  same  must  be  concluded 
also  of  the  Father,  as  Paul,  speaking  of  him,  says,  in  like 
manner,  all  things  are  of  him,  and  by  him,  and  for  him. 

But,  secondly,  what  he  says  here  oif  Jesus  Christ,  "  all  things 
were  created  for  him,"  further  demonstrates,  and  most  clearly, 
the  same  truth.  For  these  words  declare  that  the  Son  is  the 
last  and  supreme  end  of  the  creation  of  things,  a  matter  which 
pertains  only  to  the  principal  cause,  and  not  to  the  instrument 
it  uses  for  the  effecting  of  its  work.  It  is  indisputable  that 
the  true  God  is  the  ultimate  end  for  which  all  things  were 
created,  that  the  glory  of  his  divine  excellencies  might  be 
manifested,  so  that  he  might  be  known  and  worthily  served. 
This  cannot  be  contested.  As  therefore  it  is  for  the  Son  that 
all  things  were  created,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  he  is  the 
true  eternal  God,  as  it  is  not  possible  that  a  creature  should  be 
the  end  for  which  all  things  were  created. 

Thence  the  apostle  concludes,  in  the  third  place,  that  Jesus 
Christ  "  is  before  all  things."  For  as  he  created  them  all,  he 
must  necessarily  have  existed  before  they  existed.  And  he 
expressly  notices  this,  that  none  might  suspect  him  of  novelty, 
as  if  he  had  existed  only  since  Moses,  under  the  plea  of  his 
having  not  been  manifested  till  the  fulness  of  time.  He  is 
not  only  before  Moses  and  Abraham,  (as  he  speaks  of  himself 
in  John,  chap,  viii.,)  but  before  all  things,  from  the  beginning, 
before  there  was  any  thing  created,  "  before  the  mountains 
were  settled,  and  before  the  hills  was  I  brought  forth,"  as  says 
Wisdom,  that  is,  the  Son  himself,  in  the  book  of  Proverbs, 
chap.  viii.  25. 

But  the  apostle,  after  having  thus  given  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
the  glory  of  creating  all  things,  proceeds,  fourthly,  to  attribute 
to  him  their  preservation:  "  All  things  consist  by  him."  This 
he  elsewhere  expresses  in  other  terms,  when  he  says  that  he 
"  upholdeth  all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power,"  Heb.  i.  3  ; 
that  is,  he  preserves  them  by  his  providence,  as  he  created 
them  by  his  virtue  ;  their  being,  their  life,  and  their  motion, 
so  depending  on  him,  that  when  "  he  hides  his  face  they  are 
troubled,"  and  utterly  fail,  and  return  to  their  dust,  or  their 
original  nothingness,  Psal.  civ.  29.  Here  we  have  additional 
proof  that  he  is  the  true  God,  the  eterucil  One,  blessed  for  ever 
with  the  Father  ;  for  this  preservation  of  the  universe  is  one 
of  the  highest  and  most  incommunicable  glories  of  the 
Deity. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  115 

II.  Let  us  now  consider,  in  the  second  place,  what  are  those 
things  whose  creation  and  conservation  the  apostle  attributes 
to  the  Son  of  God  :  "  All  things  were  created  by  him,  that  are 
in  heaven,  and  that  are  in  earth,  visible  and  invisible,  whether 
they  be  thrones,  or  dominions,  or  principalities,  or  powers." 
He  leaves  not  any  creature,  of  the  highest,  or  lowest,  or  inter- 
medial rank,  without  the  reach  of  his  assertion  ;  and  for  the 
enclosing  of  them  all  within  it  he  makes  use,  first,  of  a  division 
taken  from  their  elements,  I  mean  the  places  where  their 
natural  abode  is,  saying,  "things  in  heaven,  and  things  in 
earth."  The  Scripture  often  speaks  of  them  in  the  same  man- 
ner. As  when  we  are  forbidden,  in  the  decalogue,  to  make 
a  religious  use  of  any  image,  or  the  likeness  of  anything  what- 
ever: "Thou  shalt  not  make  to  thyself,"  says  the  Lord,  "any 
image,  of  things  that  are  in  heaven  above,  or  in  the  earth  be- 
neath, or  in  the  waters  under  the  earth."  By  "  heaven,"  he 
means  not  only  the  vast  region  where  we  see  the  sun  and  the 
other  luminaries  ;  but  also  paradise,  the  habitation  of  angels, 
and  of  the  souls  of  men  made  perfect  ;  and  this  void  space, 
where  the  fowls  fly,  and  where  are  formed  the  showers,  and 
the  thunders,  and  the  other  meteors.  By  "  earth,"  he  means 
this  whole  globe  in  which  we  live,  with  the  waters  that  ebb 
and  flow.  As  there  is  then  no  creature  that  is  not  in  one  of 
these  two  places,  he  evidently  comprises  them  all  by  saying 
the  "  things  that  are  in  heaven,  and  that  are  in  earth."  But 
he  adds  yet  another  division  no  less  general,  taken  from  the 
quality  of  the  things  themselves,  which  all  are  either  visible,  as 
the  heavens,  the  elements,  the  plants,  and  the  animals  ;  or  in- 
visible, as  the  devils,  and  the  angels,  and  the  souls  of  men. 
And  that  none  might  imagine  the  good  angels,  by  reason  of 
the  excellency  of  their  admirable  nature,  were  excepted  from 
this  number,  the  apostle  makes  the  most  express  mention  of 
them,  reflecting  on  the  false  teachers  thereby,  who  taught  the 
worshipping  of  angels,  as  he  will  hereafter  show.  To  refute 
this  error,  he  ranks  them  by  name  among  the  things  that  were 
created  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  depend  on  him,  and  were 
made  for  him.  For  there  is  no  doubt  but  they  are  the  holy 
angels  whom  he  here  calls  "  thrones,  dominions,  principalities, 
and  powers  ;"  and  he  uses  these  words  so  often  in  this  sense  as 
Eom.  viii.  38  ;  Eph.  i.  21,  and  elsewhere,  that  I  wonder  not  a 
little  at  some  expositors  who  apply  them  to  another  subject. 
It  is  very  probable  that  this  diversity  of  names  expresses  a 
great  diversity  among  the  angels.  Indeed,  there  are  no  crea- 
tures of  this  kind,  in  the  whole  universe,  which  have  not 
amongst  them  an  admirable  variety  ;  that  sovereign  Wisdom 
which  formed  them  having  pleased  to  set  forth  the  infinite 
riches  of  his  power  and  understanding  in  the  diversity  of 
those  ranks,  qualities,  and  functions,  by  which  he  has  distin- 


116  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  VIII. 

guished  things  which  are  otherwise  of  a  like,  yea,  of  the  same 
nature.  To  pass  by  the  rest,  who  can  reckon  up  the  differ- 
ences of  states,  of  conditions,  of  temperaments  and  inclinations, 
which  are  observed  among  men  ?  All  of  them  have  the  same 
nature,  none  have  the  same  form  nor  the  same  countenance. 
Doubtless  there  is  something  similar  to  this  among  the  angels, 
and  in  their  intellectual  world  there  is  some  semblance 
of  that  variety  which  renders  our  visible  one  so  beautiful  and 
so  marvellous.  To  express  this  diversity  of  their  orders,  the 
apostle  uses  the  names  of  those  degrees  which  are  found  in 
the  states  and  polities  of  the  world  :  there  are  "thrones,"  that 
is,  monarchs  and  kings;  "dominions,"  that  is,  dignities,  which 
though  very  high,  yet  are  beneath  kings,  as  dukes  and  arch- 
dukes ;  then  "  principalities,"  as  the  governors  of  cities  and 
provinces  ;  and  lastly,  "  powers,"  such  as  inferior  magistrates 
are,  whom  the  Latins,  in  the  apostle's  time,  called  by  the  very 
name  that  we  read  here,  and  it  is  yet  in  use  among  the  people 
of  Italy.*  From  this,  in  my  opinion,  it  may  be  with  reason 
concluded  that  there  is  a  diversity  of  charges  and  ministries 
among  the  angels.  If  you  ask  me  what  are  their  orders,  and 
how  many,  and  what  is  the  difference  between  them,  and 
whether  it  consists  in  the  qualities  of  their  nature,  or  only  in 
the  employments  God  has  given  them,  I  am  not  ashamed 
freely  to  confess  to  you,  with  Augustine,t  that  I  cannot  tell  ; 
the  Scripture,  which  alone  could  inform  us,  having  declared 
nothing  about  it.  That  which  the  Eoman  schools  chatter  on 
this  matter,  of  nine  orders  of  the  celestial  hierarchy,  is  but  the 
fancyings  of  a  man  of  too  much  leisure,  who  amused  himself 
to  fashion  it,  as  skilfully  as  he  could,  in  imitation  of  some  fond 
Jewish  imaginations  of  like  nature  ;  and,  to  give  them  the 
more  weight,  set  them  forth  under  the  holy  and  venerable  name 
of  Dionysius  the  Areopagite.  The  impotent  frothiness  of  his 
tumid  style,  his  quirks,  and  his  vanity,  and  his  whole  air,  be- 
ing infinitely  far  from  the  gravity,  modesty,  and  simplicity  of 
a  scholar  of  the  apostles,  sufficiently  show  that  he  is  anything 
rather  than  what  he  affirms  of  himself;  and  indeed,  long  since, 
some  testimonies  urged  out  of  his  books  by  heretics  have  been 
rejected  by  the  orthodox  as  apocryphal  and  uncertain,  and 
such  as  were  not  written  by  St,  Denys  at  all.:}:  Laying  aside, 
therefore,  beloved  brethren,  the  empty  and  vain  authorities  of 
human  opinion,  let  us  be  satisfied  with  what  the  apostle  has  told 
us  on  this  subject,  and  diligently  seek  to  profit  by  his  divine 
instructions. 

Let  us  learn  from  them,  first,  to  adore  the  Lord  Jesus  as 
Creator  of  the  universe,  and  to  acknowledge  by  this  work  of  his, 

*  II  podesta.  f  Enchirid.  c.  58. 

X  Ooncil.  torn.  3,  p.  855.  Ep.  Joan.  Maronias  Episc.  A.  C.  532. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  117 

his  true  and  eternal  divinity.  Let  no  objection  or  carnal  diffi- 
culty, let  no  heretical  subtilty,  ever  pluck  up  this  sacred  truth 
out  of  our  hearts.  Let  us  oppose  the  apostle's  authority  against 
all  that  men  and  devils  can  say  or  invent  to  the  contrary.  And 
let  us  constantly  admire  the  goodness  and  the  wisdom  of  the 
Father,  who  gave  us  such  a  Saviour  as  our  necessitA'-  required. 
For  none  was  able  to  recover  us  but  he  who  first  made  us,  and 
the  hand  alone  which  created  us  could  restore  us  to  that 
blessed  state  whence  we  had  fallen  by  sin.  And  as  God  has 
given  us  him  for  Mediator  and  Prince  of  our  salvation,  whom 
this  great  frame  had  for  its  Creator,  let  us  embrace  him  with  a 
firm  belief.  Let  us  delight  in  his  fulness,  and  regard  none 
beside  him  in  heaven  or  in  earth.  However  sublime  their  na- 
ture and  their  dignity,  the  angels,  after  all,  are  but  creatures  ; 
not  to  speak  of  men,  who,  beside  the  infirmity  of  their  being, 
were  all  conceived  in  sin. 

But  it  is  not  enough  to  confess  that  the  Lord  Jesus  is  the 
Creator  of  all  things,  and  to  acknowledge  him  for  our  only 
Saviour  and  Mediator;  this  faith  must  work  and  bring  forth 
fruit  in  us  ;  it  must  spread  itself  into  all  parts  of  our  life, 
must  sanctify  our  affections  and  actions,  arm  us  against  all  the 
temptations  of  the  enemy,  comfort  us  in  affliction,  and  assure 
us  against  every  fear.  For  as  Jesus  created  this  grand  universe, 
as  thrones  and  dominions  are  the  work  of  his  hands,  as  it  is 
by  his  providence  that  this  all  subsists  in  its  present  state; 
who  sees  not  with  what  devotion  we  should  serve  so  puissant 
a  Monarch  ?  This  earth  that  bears  you,  this  air  that  you  breathe, 
these  heavens  that  shine  on  you,  these  plants  and  these  ani- 
mals that  nourish  or  refresh  you,  and  these  celestial  powers 
which  encamp  about  you  ;  all  these  things  are  productions  of 
his  power  and  presents  from  his  bounty.  In  like  manner, 
your  own  nature,  this  body  so  skilfully  composed,  and  that 
soul  which  enlivens  it,  are  works  of  his  providence,  which 
neither  were  created,  nor  do  now  subsist,  but  by  him.  Is  it 
not  reasonable  that  you  should  consecrate  to  his  glory  what 
you  hold  only  from  his  grace?  Remember  also  what  the 
apostle  adds,  that  as  all  things  were  created  by  him,  so  they 
were  made  for  him.  Do  not  frustrate  your  Creator  of  his 
intentions.  Live  for  his  glory,  as  it  was  for  that  you  were 
created.  For  if  the  heavens,  and  the  elements,  and  the  winds, 
and  the  meteors,  and  the  plants,  things  deaf,  and  dumb,  and 
inanimate,  preach  and  celebrate  the  wonders  of  their  Lord,  all 
of  them  obeying  his  voice,  and  faithfully  serving  his  designs  ; 
what  will  our  ingratitude  be,  if,  with  these  senses  and  this 
excellent  reason  he  has  given  us,  we  alone  of  all  his  creatures 
should  cross  his  counsels  and  dishonour  his  name,  instead  of 
glorifying  it  !  The  glory  he  requires  of  us  is  only  that  we 
walk  in  his  commandments  ;  that  we  abound  in  good  and  holy 


118  AN   EXPOSITION"   OF  [SERM.  IX. 

works  ;  that  we  depart  from  all  evil,  and  live  in  sucH  manner 
as  may  oblige  our  neighbours  to  acknowledge  that  this  Jesus 
whom  we  serve  is  truly  a  great  God.  Let  us  then  faithfully 
acquit  ourselves  of  these  duties,  and  assure  ourselves  that  if 
we  advance  his  glory,  he  will  provide  for  our  bliss,  and  guard 
us  from  all  that  opposes  it.  For  as  all  things,  celestial  and 
terrestrial,  visible  and  invisible,  were  created,  and  do  still  sub- 
sist, by  him,  nothing  in  the  whole  world  should  make  us 
afraid.  All  the  armies  of  heaven,  of  the  elements,  and  of  na- 
ture, are  in  our  Master's  pay,  and  neither  war  nor  work,  but 
for  his  interests  and  by  his  order.  These  very  thrones,  these 
principalities,  these  powers  and  these  dominions,  which  he 
has  exalted  above  all  his  other  creatures,  do  not  employ  the 
might  and  the  glory  of  their  nature  but  for  him  and  for  those 
who  fear  him.  They  are  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to 
serve  for  their  sakes  who  shall  receive  the  inheritance  of  salva- 
tion. They  keep  us  in  all  our  ways.  They  defend  us  in  life, 
they  assist  us  at  death,  and  convey  us  up  into  the  bosom  of 
our  true  Abraham.  Let  us  live  in  confidence  under  the  pro- 
tection of  so  good  and  so  great  a  Lord,  that  we  may  one  day 
receive  at  his  hand  a  most  blissful  immortality,  the  great  and 
last  donative  of  his  benignity.  To  him,  with  the  Father  and 
the  Holy  Spirit,  the  true  God,  blessed  over  all  things,  be  for 
ever  honour,  glory,  and  praise.     Amen 


SERMON  IX. 

VERSE  18. 


And  he  is  the  head  of  the  hody^  the  church  :  who  is  the  heginning, 
the  first-horn  from  the  dead  ;  that  in  all  things  he  might  have  the 
'pre-eminence. 

It  is  not  without  just  cause,  beloved  brethren,  that,  speaking 
of  the  union  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  church,  Avhich  was  re- 
presented at  the  beginning  of  the  world  by  the  marriage  of 
Adam  and  Eve,  the  apostle  Paul  affirms  it  to  be  a  great  secret, 
Eph.  V.  32.  For  truly  there  is  nothing  in  this  mystery,  what- 
ever view  you  take  of  it,  but  what  is  most  grand  and  worthy 
of  the  admiration  of  men  and  angels.  First,  if  you  regard  the 
thing  itself,  is  it  not  wonderful,  astonishing,  and  unheard  of 
in  the  world,  that  the  Creator  should  unite  himself  with  the 
creature — the  Lord  of  glory  with  worms — the  King  of  heaven 
with  dust  and  ashes — the  Saint  of  saints  with  sinners  ?     Then 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  119 

again  consider  the  foundation  of  this  union  ;  what  can  be  con- 
ceived of  more  ecstatic  than  the  birth  and  the  death  of  the  Son 
of  God,  on  which  this  divine  alliance  was  contracted  ?  this 
mystical  Spouse  having  had  so  vehement  a  passion  for  the 
church,  that  to  make  her  his  own  he  made  himself  a  man  like 
us,  and  poured  out  his  blood  upon  a  cross  !  Contemplate  the 
nature  of  this  union  ;  it  is  so  strict  and  intimate,  that  it  per- 
fectly commingles  the  parties  whom  it  unites,  and  makes  them 
only  one  body,  one  flesh,  and  one  spirit  ;  combining  their  per- 
sons and  their  affairs,  and  in  such  manner  identifying  their 
interests,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  wholly  his  church's,  and  the 
church  wholly  her  Christ's.  The  firmness  of  this  union  is  no 
less  admirable,  being  such  that  all  the  powers  of  earth,  of  hell, 
or  of  heaven,  are  not  able  to  dissolve  it  ;  and  while  nature  has 
bound  nothing  in  the  whole  universe,  that  time  does  not  in 
the  end  separate,  innumerable  ages  will  never  dissolve,  as  they 
roll  on,  the  sacred  ties  of  this  eternal  union  of  the  church 
with  her  Lord,  either  in  this  world  or  that  which  is  to  come. 
Finally,  behold  its  effects  ;  what  can  be  mentioned  more  glo- 
rious and  beneficial  than  the  fruits  which  it  produces  ?  It  fills 
our  understanding  with  light  ;  it  purifies  our  affections  ;  it 
sanctifies  our  hearts  ;  it  keeps  the  peace  of  God  in  them  ;  it 
changes  slaves  of  devils  into  children  of  the  Most  High;  it 
transforms  earth  into  heaven  ;  and  instead  of  that  death  and 
curse  which  we  deserved,  it  gives  us  eternity  and  glory.  From 
this  only  flow  all  those  divine  graces  which  we  enjoy  in  this 
world,  and  all  the  advantages  and  felicities  we  hope  for  in  the 
other.  No  wonder  therefore  that  the  Scripture  employs  so 
many  different  similitudes  to  figure  out  to  us  so  excellent  and 
so  rich  a  subject  ;  no  one  being  by  itself  suflSciently  perfect  to 
represent  us  all  the  wonders  of  it.  For  this  cause  it  borrows 
all  the  unions  that  nature,  or  art,  or  human  society  affords  us, 
to  express  this  one  union  :  comparing  it  sometimes  to  the 
union  of  a  vine  with  its  branches,  or  of  an  olive  with  the 
scions  that  are  grafted  on  its  stock  ;  sometimes  to  that  of  a 
foundation  with  the  building  which  it  sustains,  or  of  a  corner- 
stone with  the  two  walls  which  it  binds  together;  at  other 
times  to  the  conjunction  of  a  prince  with  his  subjects,  or  of  an 
elder  brother  with  the  younger,  or  of  a  husband  with  his 
wife. 

But,  my  brethren,  among  all  these  sacred  pictures  of  our 
union  with  the  Lord,  none  are  more  expressive,  or  more  simple 
and  beautiful,  than  the  two  similitudes  which  the  Lord  now 
sets  before  you  ;  the  one  in  those  words  of  his  apostle  which 
we  have  read  to  you,  and  the  other  on  that  sacred  table  whither 
you  are  invited  to  the  feast  of  his  Lamb.  The  first  is  drawn 
from  the  natural  union  of  the  head  with  its  members  ;  and  the 
second,  from  the  union  of  bread  and  drink  with  the  bodies 


120  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SEEM.    IX. 

which  they  nourish.  According  to  the  one,  Christ  is  our 
Head,  and  we  are  his  body.  According  to  the  other,  he  is 
called  our  bread,  our  meat,  and  our  drink,  and  we  the  creatures 
whom  he  feeds  and  quickens.  And  though  in  other  respects 
these  two  images  are  very  dissimilar,  yet  in  this  particular  they 
agree,  that  they  excellently  represent  to  us  both  our  union 
with  the  Lord,  and  the  life  which  is  thence  derived  to  us  ;  for 
it  is  evident  that  the  head  and  food  give  life,  though  in  dif- 
ferent manners,  to  the  bodies  with  which  they  are  united. 
This  has  induced  me  to  believe  that  the  meditation  of  this 
text  will  be  suitable  for  the  service  of  the  holy  supper,  for 
which  we  are  now  preparing  ;  since  for  the  main  it  sets  before 
our  eyes,  though  under  a  different  figure,  that  same  mystery 
of  our  union  with  the  Lord  which  is  represented  and  commu- 
nicated to  us  at  his  holy  table.  For  to  accomplish  his  design, 
and  fully  show  us  the  infinite  excellence  and  dignity  of 
Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour,  the  apostle,  after  he  has  told  us 
what  he  is  in  regard  of  the  Father,  namely,  "  the  image  of  the 
invisible  God,"  and  what  in  regard  of  the  works  of  the 
first  creation,  that  is,  "  the  first-born,"  or  the  Prince  and 
Master,  of  all  the  creatures,  as  having  created  them  all,  made 
and  formed  them,  from  the  very  lowest  of  them  to  the  highest, 
considers  him,  finally,  in  regard  of  the  new  creatures,  that  is 
to  say,  the  church  ;  and  informs  us  that  he  is  the  Head  thereof, 
and  the  church  is  his  body  ;  and,  for  the  greater  illustration 
of  it,  adds,  that  he  is  "  the  beginning,  and  the  first-born  from 
the  dead,"  whence  he  deduces  this  conclusion,  that  so  he  has 
"the  pre-eminence  in  all  things."  These  are  the  three  points 
which  we  purpose,  the  grace  of  God  assisting,  to  treat  of  in 
this  discourse,  for  the  exposition  of  this  text  and  your  edifi- 
cation. The  first,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  "  the  head  of  the  body, 
the  church  ;"  the  second,  that  he  is  "  the  beginning  and  the 
first-born  from  the  dead  ;"  and  the  third  and  last,  that  he  has 
"in  all  things  the  pre-eminence." 

I.  As  for  the  first  of  these  three  points,  it  is  not  only  here 
that  the  apostle  calls  Jesus  Christ  the  "  head  of  the  church." 
He  uses  the  same  language  in  divers  other  places  of  his  Epistles, 
as  in  that  addressed  to  the  Ephesians,  where  he  says  that  the 
Father  hath  set  his  Son  above  all  things,  "to  be  head  of  the 
church,  which  is  his  body,  the  fulness  of  Him  that  filleth  all  in 
all,"  Eph.  i.  22,  23  ;  and  again,  that  "  Christ  is  the  head,  from 
whom  the  whole  body  fitly  joined  together  and  compacted  by 
that  which  every  joint  supplieth,  according  to  the  effectual 
working  in  the  measure  of  every  part,  maketh  increase  of  the 
body  unto  the  edifying  of  itself  in  love,"  Eph.  iv.  15,  16.  And 
a  few  verses  after  our  text,  we  find  him  repeating  that  "  the 
church  is  the  body  of  Christ;"  and  in  the  First  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  speaking  to  believers,  "  ye  are,"  says  he,   "  the 


CHAP.  I,]  THE   EPISTLE   TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  121 

body  of  Christ,  and  members  in  particular,"  1  Cor.  xii.  27.  In- 
deed, it  is  a  figure  very  common  in  all  languages,  to  call  him 
the  head  of  a  society  who  guides  and  governs  it,  or  who,  at 
least,  possesses  the  first  place  in  it  ;  as  you  see  that  every  one 
calls  a  king  the  head  of  his  estate,  and  a  general  the  head  of 
the  army  that  he  commands,  and  those  the  heads  of  their  regi- 
ments or  companies  who  conduct  them.  Hence  is  derived  our 
common  word  captain,  which  signifies  nothing  else  but  the 
head.  The  master  of  a  household  is  in  like  manner  termed  the 
head  of  it,  and  so  in  all  other  societies  of  whatever  nature.  But 
this  manner  of  speaking  is  exceedingly  familiar  with  the  He- 
brews, as  you  may  see  in  very  many  places  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, where  everything  that  has  the  first  place,  whether  for  its 
authority  or  for  its  excellence,  or  even  for  its  birth,  and  mere 
precedency  in  time,  is  called  the  head  of  other  things  of  the 
same  kind.  And  the  reason  of  this  figure  is  evident.  For  the 
head  standing  highest  of  all  the  parts  of  the  body  of  man,  and 
having  the  conduct  of  it,  because  it  is  the  seat  of  the  eyes,  and 
other  senses,  on  which  depends  the  directing  of  our  life  ;  the 
word  is  very  justly  used  to  express,  by  way  of  similitude,  what- 
ever holds  the  first  place  in  any  society,  and  consequently  has, 
in  this  respect,  a  manifest  resemblance  to  the  head,  properly  so 
called.  It  is  not  therefore  strange  that  this  holy  apostle  makes 
use  of  this  figure  to  express  the  superiority,  the  dignity,  and 
imperial  power  which  Jesus  Christ  has  over  the  church,  saying 
that  he  is  its  Head.  And  certainly,  if  there  is  a  superior  in 
the  whole  universe,  who  may  and  ought  to  be  called  head 
of  the  society  which  is  under  him,  Jesus  Christ  merits  it  in- 
finitely beyond  any  other,  for  in  no  other  do  there  conspire  the 
same  abundant  reasons  and  respects  which  are  necessary  to 
confirm  this  appellation  as  in  him.  For  all  the  qualities,  ac- 
tions, and  functions  proper  to  the  head  of  the  body  of  man, 
which  give  it  its  name  and  dignity,  Jesus  Christ  possesses  and 
exercises  much  more  nobly  and  magnificently  than  any  general 
does  in  reference  to  his  army,  or  any  monarch  in  reference  to 
his  state. 

The  first  and  most  known  service  which  the  head  performs 
for  the  members,  is  to  direct  and  guide  them  in  their  operations, 
and  govern  their  motion  and  their  rest  by  the  light  of  its  eyes, 
and  the  perceptions  of  its  other  senses.  Now  princes  and  cap- 
tains have  some  shadow  of  this  perfection,  in  that  they  observe 
and  reconnoitre  those  things  that  concern  the  communities 
they  govern,  watching,  and  viewing,  and  scenting  afar  off  what- 
ever respects  their  interests;  their  people,  in  mean  time,  quietly 
labouring  each  of  them  in  his  own  employment.  But  Jesus 
Christ  doth  these  offices  to  his  church  much  better,  and  more 
perfectly.  For  all  the  light  of  this  mystical  body  resides  in 
him.  He  considers  not  only  its  interests  in  general,  but  knows 
16 


122  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  IX. 

all  that  concerns  the  least  of  his  members.  "  He  never  slum- 
bereth  nor  sleepeth."  His  eyes  and  senses  are  always  open. 
He  sees  all  the  parts  of  this  his  state,  and  discerns  the  posture 
and  disposition  of  all,  whether  its  friends  or  foes,  whether  nearer 
hand  or  further  off.  He  carefully  preserves  it  by  his  provi- 
dence, and  so  prudently  governs  it,  that  there  is  no  danger 
from  which  he  does  not  deliver  it,  nor  any  dif&culty  but  he 
surmounts  it.  It  is  he  who  conducts  his  people's  wars,  over- 
rules their  battles,  dispenses  their  truces,  and  will  one  day  give 
them  an  entire  and  eternal  peace. 

The  second  duty  which  the  head  performs  to  the  body,  is 
that  of  infusing  into  all  its  members  impulse  and  sensation  by 
means  of  the  animal  spirits,  which,  issuing  thence,  spread  them- 
selves through  the  whole  body,  flowing  in  the  nerves  as  in  so 
many  channels  which  nature  has  cut  out  and  laid  forth  for  the 
maintenance  of  this  communication.  And  I  acknowledge  that 
the  authority  and  privileges  which  a  prince  distributes  into  all 
the  parts  of  his  state,  causing  his  subjects,  according  to  what 
they  individually  receive,  to  pursue  various  occupations  ;  I 
say,  this  very  strongly  resembles  the  way  in  which  the  head 
governs  the  body.  But  it  is  far  inferior  to  what  we  find  in 
the  conduct  of  the  Lord  Jesus  towards  his  church.  For  he  en- 
livens all  its  members,  from  the  greatest  even  to  the  least  ;  and 
gives  them  not  power  and  authority  only  as  princes  give  their 
subjects,  but  the  very  strength  and  ability  to  act,  communicating 
to  each  of  his  faithful  ones  such  a  measure  of  his  Spirit  as  is 
necessary  for  sensation  and  motion,  and  all  the  other  functions 
of  heavenly  life,  as  Paul  teaches  us  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephe- 
sians,  chap,  iv.,  and  more  at  large  in  the  First  to  the  Corinth- 
ians, chap.  xii. 

Moreover,  the  head  hath  this  advantage  above  the  rest  of  the 
body,  that  it  is  more  exquisitely  constituted  and  attempered 
than  the  other  members,  according  to  the  rule  which  nature 
prudently  observes  in  general,  that  is,  to  frame  those  things 
best  which  are  designed  for  the  most  eminent  purposes.  Kings 
and  captains  deserve  also  the  name  of  heads  in  this  respect, 
their  dignity  being  very  elevated  above  their  subjects.  But 
their  advantage  in  this  particular  is  nothing  in  comparison  of 
that  which  Jesus  Christ  has  above  his  church;  not  only  by  his 
being  incomparably  more  holy,  more  wise,  and  more  powerful 
than  any  of  all  the  faithful  ;  but  especially,  in  that  he  is  God 
blessed  for  ever. 

Finally,  as  you  see  the  head  is  placed  highest  in  the  body  of 
man,  this  situation  being  necessary  for  its  commodious  exer- 
cise of  the  functions  of  its  government  ;  a  thing  that  kings 
and  princes  imitate,  dwelling  ordinarily  in  palaces,  sitting  on 
thrones,  raised  above  the  houses  and  seats  of  their  subjects  :  so 
Jesus  Christ  has  this  advantage,  but  in  a  far  greater  degree  ; 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  123' 

for  lie  sits  on  high  in  the  heavens,  on  the  throne  of  God,  above 
the  whole  church,  both  militant  and  triumphant.  And  if  he 
conversed  of  old  on  the  earth,  that  was  only  for  awhile,  and  by 
dispensation  for  the  good  of  his  body,  which  obliged  him  to  do 
it  ;  even  as  the  head  sometimes  bows  down  itself,  when  the  ne- 
cessity of  any  of  its  members  requires  it.  But  the  proper  and 
natural  place  of  Jesus  Christ  is  that  lofty  sanctuary  of  immor- 
tality, where  he  now  appears  in  highest  glory  ;  thence  govern- 
ing by  his  Spirit  all  the  parts  of  this  mystical  body,  the  church, 
both  those  which  are  in  heaven,  and  those  which  are  yet  on 
earth. 

Thus,  my  brethren,  you  see  wherein  this  dignity  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  consists,  and  with  how  much  reason  Paul  expresses  it 
here  and  elsewhere,  by  saying  that  "he  is  the  head  of  the  church." 
Whence  evidently  follows  what  the  apostle  expressly  says,  that 
the  church  is  the  body  of  Christ.  For  if  Jesus  Christ  is  called 
the  Head  thereof,  for  having  and  exercising  towards  it  all  the 
functions  and  prerogatives  of  a  natural  head  towards  its  mem- 
bers, then  certainly  the  church  must  also  be  called  his  body  ; 
as  this  whole  divine  society  depends  on  Jesus  Christ,  and  re- 
ceives of  him  all  the  light,  all  the  aptitude,  all  the  sense  and 
motion,  that  it  possesses. 

This  doctrine  of  the  apostle  leads  us  to  the  consideration  of 
various  things  before  we  pass  any  further.  First,  by  laying 
down  this  proposition,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Head  of  the 
church,  he  opportunely  fortifies  the  Colossians  against  that 
error  which  hereafter  we  shall  find  him  expressly  opposing, 
the  error  of  those  that  would  subject  believers  to  angels  and 
to  Moses,  introducing  into  the  church  the  worshipping  of  the 
one,  and  the  pedagogy  of  the  other.  For  as  the  Son  of  God 
is  the  head  of  this  sacred  society,  who  sees  not  that  it  ought 
to  depend  on  him  alone  ?  that  it  is  to  him  it  owes  its  obedi- 
ence and  service,  and  from  him  it  ought  to  receive  its  disci- 
pline and  guidance  ?  But  it  must  also  be  observed,  that  the 
apostle  gives  this  title  to  Jesus  Christ  with  a  design  to  glorify 
him,  enrolling  it  among  the  other  praises  of  his  sovereign 
dignity.  Indeed,  as  the  church  is  the  most  divine  society  in 
the  world,  as  it  is  a  company  of  kings,  of  priests,  and  of 
prophets,  the  assembly  of  the  first-fruits  of  the  creatures,  and 
a  new  world,  much  more  excellent  than  the  old,  a  world  im- 
mortal and  incorruptible,  it  is  evident  that  to  be  its  Head  is  a 
dignity  more  sublime  than  to  have  been  the  Creator  and 
Prince  of  the  original  universe.  Whereby  you  see,  moreover, 
how  unjust  (to  say  no  more)  is  the  temerity  of  those  who  give 
this  name  to  another  beside  Jesus  Christ,  acknowledging  a 
mortal  man  for  the  true  head  of  the  universal  church.  Let 
them  colour  this  outrage  as  they  please,  they  will  not  be  able 
to  justify  it.     This  is  evidently  to  despoil  Jesus  Christ  of  his 


124  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  IX. 

royal  robe,  and  to  take  the  diadem  from  him,  which  none  but 
he  can  bear.  They  allege  that  the  Scripture  communicates  to 
others,  as  well  as  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  names  of  pastor,  of 
priest,  and  of  teacher,  and  of  light,  and  various  others.  It  is 
true  ;  but  it  never  gives  that  of  "  head  of  the  church"  to  any 
but  him.  And  the  difference  of  these  titles  is  evident,  the 
former  signifying  charges  whereof  the  faithful  exercise  some 
portion  and  some  shadow,  whereas  that  of  "  head  of  the  church" 
signifies  the  supremacy  which  is  incommunicable  to  any  other 
but  the  Son  of  God.  As  you  see  that  in  a  state  the  names  of 
prince,  and  of  governor,  and  captain,  and  others  of  like  sort, 
are  not  given  to  the  king  only,  they  pertain  to  others  also  ; 
but  no  other  may  be  called  the  sovereign,  or  the  head  of  the 
state,  besides  him,  without  incurring  the  guilt  of  sacrilege  or 
treason.  Yet  they  endeavour  to  excuse  themselves,  and  say 
they  make  the  pope  only  the  ministerial  and  subordinate  head, 
not  an  essential  and  sovereign  one.  But  this  is  nothing  but 
words  arising  from  their  interest,  and  not  founded  in  the  truth 
of  things.  There  is  no  prince  wlio  would  be  satisfied  with 
such  language,  if  any  one  of  his  subjects,  making  himself  the 
head  and  monarch  of  his  state,  were  to  allege  in  excuse  that 
he  had  no  other  intention  than  to  pass  for  a  ministerial  head. 
In  the  nature  of  men,  whence  this  similitude  is  taken,  we  see 
no  bodies  that  have  two  heads  of  a  different  rank  ;  and  if  any 
such  be  found  at  any  time,  they  are  accounted  monsters,  which 
cannot  be  said  of  the  church,  the  most  perfect  master-piece  of 
all  the  works  of  God.  In  a  word,  it  is  not  enough  to  say  that 
the  pope  is  the  ministerial  head  of  the  church,  it  must  be 
proved.  We  plainly  read  in  Scripture  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
"  head  of  the  church."  Let  us  believe  it,  and  adore  him  under 
that  title.  But  that  there  is  another  head  in  the  church, 
whether  visible  or  invisible,  whether  ministerial  or  sovereign, 
of  this  we  meet  with  nothing  whatever  in  the  writings  of  the 
apostles,  not  to  say  that  we  meet  there  with  many  things  in- 
compatible with  such  a  doctrine.  "  Faith  cometh  by  hear- 
ing, and  hearing  by  the  word  of  God."  Permit  us  then  to 
suspend  our  believing  this  other  pretended  head  of  the  church, 
as  we  hear  nothing  of  it  in  the  word  of  God.  But  that  which 
the  apostle  adds,  namely,  that  the  church  is  the  body  of  Christ, 
demonstrates  that  none  but  Christ  is  the  Head  of  it.  For  if  the 
pope,  for  example,  were  head  of  it,  the  universal  church  would 
be  the  pope's  body,  as  it  is  the  Lord's.  But  where  is  the 
christian  ear  that  that  doth  not  tingle  at  language  so  strange, 
so  unheard  of,  and  so  profane  ?  And  so  we  see,  however  ve- 
hement and  inordinate  has  been  the  desire  of  men  for  this 
title  of  "  head  of  the  church,"  no  man  has  ever  hitherto  called 
the  church  his  "  body  ;"  every  one  confessing  that  it  is  not  the 
body  of  any  one  except  Jesus  Christ.     On  a  similar  principle, 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  125 

thej  should  grant  that  no  one  is  its  head  but  he,  for  it  cannot 
have  any  one  for  its  head  but  him  whose  body  it  is. 

I  request  you  to  observe,  in  the  next  place,  in  opposition 
to  another  error  of  our  adversaries,  that  Christ's  being  "  head 
of  the  church"  does  not  at  all  prove  that  there  is  a  corporal 
connection  between  the  church  and  him,  or  that  the  bodies  of 
the  faithful  are  properly  and  substantially  joined  to  him,  as 
the  members  of  a  natural  body  are  joined  to  their  head. 
Every  one  admits  that  this  must  be  understood  figuratively 
and  spiritually,  and  as  all  men  usually  take  other  expressions 
by  which  our  union  with  the  Lord  is  represented  ;  as  when  he 
is  called  the  foundation  of  the  church,  the  corner-stone,  the 
vine-stock  of  believers,  and  their  raiment.  No  one  concludes 
from  these  passages,  that  our  bodies  must  really  touch  his 
substance.  Why  then  will  they  infer  it  from  other  places 
where,  to  set  forth  the  same  mystery,  it  is  said  that  he  is  our 
bread,  our  meat,  and  our  drink  ?  If  he  is  our  head,  if  he  is 
our  raiment,  if  he  governs  and  clothes  us,  without  touching 
our  bodies  with  his,  why  may  not  he  be  our  bread,  and 
nourish  us,  without  actually  entering  into  our  bodily  throat 
and  stomach  ?  If  the  one  is  spiritually  and  figuratively 
understood,  why  will  you  force  me  to  understand  the  other 
corporally  and  literally  ?  I  say  the  same  on  the  apostle's  ex- 
press declaration,  that  the  church  is  the  body  of  Christ.  Our 
adversaries  do  not  deduce  from  this  any  transubstantiation  ; 
and  they  confess  that  to  maintain  the  truth  of  these  words 
there  is  no  need  that  either  the  church  should  lose  its  own  sub- 
stance and  nature,  or  be  really  changed  into  the  substance  of 
the  body  of  Christ.  Nevertheless,  they  pertinaciously  insist 
that  where  the  gospel  calls  the  bread  which  our  Lord  took,  his 
body,  there  a  real  and  literal  transubstantiation  of  the  nature 
of  the  bread  into  that  of  the  body  of  Christ  is  implied.  As 
if  it  were  not  rational  and  easy  to  say  that  the  bread,  as  well 
as  the  church,  is  figuratively  and  spiritually  the  body  of 
Christ.  If  they  admit  this  sense  in  one  of  these  places,  why  do 
they  reject  it  in  the  other,  where  the  nature  of  things  them- 
selves and  the  truth  of  heavenly  doctrine  no  less  necessarily 
require  it. 

In  fine,  not  to  make  any  longer  stay  here,  Paul  clears  up  to 
us,  in  two  words,  another  question  which  Eoman  zeal  has  so 
horribly  perplexed  in  these  latter  times,  namely,  What  is  the 
nature  and  the  true  definition  of  the  church  ?  The  church  is, 
saith  he,  the  body  of  Christ.  These  two  words  overthrow  all 
the  philosophizing  of  our  adversaries  on  this  subject,  in  order 
to  contract  or  enlarge  the  communion  of  the  church  beyond 
what  is  proper.  I  say  contracting,  for  they  permit  none  to 
possess  this  name  but  those  who  acknowledge  the  bishop 
of  Rome  ;  whereas  Paul  gives  it  to  all  who  belong  to  Jesus 


126  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SEEM.    IX. 

Christ,  and  have  his  Spirit,  for  of  such  there  is  no  one 
who  does  not  belong  to  his  body,  and  consequently  to  his 
church,  wherever  he  lives,  and  whoever  are  his  pastors.  I 
say  also  enlarging  it  ;  for  these  doctors,  who  are  so  severe  on 
the  one  hand,  that  they  give  the  name  of  the  church  only  to 
the  Koman  communion,  are  so  lax  and  so  very  indulgent  on 
the  other,  that  they  freely  impart  it  to  the  most  debauched  and 
profane  hypocrites,  provided  they  attach  themselves  to  their 
pope;  not  requiring,  as  they  affirm,*  any  interior  virtue  in 
them  to  be  members  of  the  true  church,  but  only  an  exterior 
profession  of  the  Koman  belief  and  communion.  But  Paul 
anathematizes  this  no  less  impious  than  extravagant  doctrine, 
by  saying  that  the  church  is  the  body  of  Christ.  For  no  one 
can  be  of  his  body  without  being  quickened  by  his  Spirit. 
"  He  that  hath  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,"  says  the  same  apostle 
elsewhere,  "  is  none  of  his."  Eom.  viii.  9.  Certainly  then  it  is 
not  that  the  profane  or  hypocritical  are  parts  of  the  church. 
There  is  no  communion  between  Christ  and  Belial.  The  body 
and  the  members  of  the  one  cannot  be  the  body  and  members 
of  the  other.  Because  the  church  is  the  body  of  Christ,  it 
must  of  necessity  be  concluded  that  these  people,  of  whom 
our  adversaries  compose  their  church,  which  on  their  own  ad- 
mission have  not  any  piety  or  internal  virtue,  and  consequently 
are  members  of  Belial,  may  very  well  be,  since  they  will  have 
it  so,  true  members  of  the  Eoman,  but  assuredly  not  of  the 
christian  church  ;  and  if  the  pope  owns  them  for  his  sheep, 
we  are  very  certain  that  the  Lord  Jesus  will  never  avouch 
them  for  his. 

II,  But  it  is  time  to  notice,  in  the  second  place,  the  two 
other  titles  which  the  apostle  here  gives  to  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  namely,  that  he  is  "the  beginning,"  or  the  principle, 
and  "  the  first-born  from  the  dead."  Even  as  when  he  had 
said  before  that  Jesus  Christ  is  "  the  first-born,"  that  is,  the 
Lord  "  of  every  creature,"  he  at  once  assigned  this  reason  for 
it,  that  all  things  were  created  by  him.  In  like  manner  now, 
having  said  that  he  is  "  the  head  of  the  church,"  he  establishes 
this  truth  on  his  being  the  author  of  the  church,  he  that  formed 
and  constituted  it  ;  and  the  Prince  of  this  new  generation,  he 
that  will  give  it  its  true  and  utmost  perfection  of  being.  For 
the  word  which  we  have  rendered  "the  beginning,"  signifies 
also  the  principle,  that  is  to  say,  the  cause  and  origin  of  a 
thing;  and  "first-born"  denotes  both  him  who  is  born  before 
the  rest,  and  him  who  is  the  master  or  the  prince  of  the  rest  ;  he 
says  therefore,  first,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  is  "  the  begin- 
ning," or  the  principle.  Certainly  this  belongs  to  him  on 
account  of  the  first  creation,  as  he  is  the  author  of  it,  the  Word 

*  Bellarm.  3.  de  Eccles.  milit.  c.  2. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  127 

and  Wisdom  which  produced  the  universe  ;  and  it  may  be  in 
this  sense  that  he  calls  himself,  in  the  Apocalypse,  "  the  begin- 
ning of  the  creation  of  God,"  Eev.  iii.  14  ;  and  elsewhere  in 
the  same  book,  "  Alpha  and  Om.ega,  the  beginning  and  the 
end,"  Eev.  i.  8  ;  xxi.  6  ;  xxii.  13,  But  as  these  words  relate 
to  the  church  and  the  resurrection,  the  word  "  beginning"  must 
be  restrained  to  them,  and  we  are  here  precisely  to  understand 
by  it  that  he  is  the  beginning  of  this  second  work  of  God. 
Jesus  Christ,  the  eternal  Wisdom,  may  say  in  respect  of  this 
second  creation,  as  of  the  first,  that  the  Father  "  possessed  him 
in  the  beginning  of  his  ways  ;"  and  that  it  is  the  same  wisdom 
that  projected,  prepared,  and  executed  all  this  great  design  of 
the  renovation  of  the  world. 

First,  then,  it  is  the  Son  of  God,  who,  interposing  at  the  be- 
ginning in  the  counsel  of  the  Father,  took  upon  him  the  ex- 
piating of  sin,  without  which  it  was  not  possible  to  found  this 
second  universe;  and  though  he  actually  did  it  not,  till  the 
fulness  of  time,  yet  his  engaging  his  word  for  it  being  then 
accepted  of  the  Father,  it  had  as  much  efficacy  as  if  the  thing 
itself  had  been  immediately  executed  ;  which  makes  the  apos- 
tle elsewhere  say  that  "  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  yesterday,  to- 
day, and  for  ever."  He  has  always  the  same  efficacy,  as  well 
before  as  after  his  manifestation.  Without  this,  not  a  man 
could  have  been  called  into  the  state  of  grace.  Therefore  Paul 
says,  in  another  place,  that  God  hath  chosen  us  in  Christ, 
Eph.  i.  4  ;  considering  him  as  the  foundation  of  our  election, 
because  out  of  him  there  could  not  be  salvation  or  happiness 
for  any  one  of  us.  He  is  therefore  truly  the  beginning  of  this 
work,  as  his  merit  is  the  foundation  of  the  counsel  God  has 
taken  to  plan  and  form  it  ;  as  Peter  also  observes,  when  speak- 
ing of  the  redemption  wrought  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  he 
says  expressly  that  he  "  was  fore-ordained  before  the  foundation 
of  the  world,"  1  Pet,  i.  20.  But  beside  the  merit  of  his  cross, 
which  was  ever  present  in  the  counsel  of  God,  he  is  also  "  the 
beginning,"  or  the  principle,  of  the  church  another  way,  for, 
by  the  operation  and  efficacy  of  his  power  he  has  called  to 
God  all  believers  that  ever  were.  It  is  he  who  brought  Abra- 
ham out  of  Chaldea  ;  it  is  he  who  appeared  to  the  patriarchs, 
and  who  led  Israel  in  the  desert,  and  who  inspired  the  pro- 
phets. Whence  it  is  that  David  calls  him  his  Lord,  Psal.  ex. 
1,  He  builded  and  kept  up  that  whole  ancient  church,  as  well 
as  the  latter,  by  the  virtue  of  his  word  and  Spirit.  But  he  is 
again  the  beginning  of  the  church,  in  the  quality  of  an  exem- 
plar and  causal  pattern  ;  all  the  faithful  of  every  age  having 
been,  as  it  were,  cast  into  his  mould,  as  the  apostle  teaches  in 
the  eighth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans  ;  "  Whom  he 
did  foreknow,  he  also  did  predestinate  to  be  conformed  to  the 
image  of  his  Son."    And  it  is  to  no  purpose  to  object,  that  this 


128  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  IX. 

cannot  be  said  of  that  time,  when  lie  had  not  yet  assumed  that 
human  nature,  tempted  on  earth  and  crowned  in  heaven,  unto 
which  we  are  conformed.  For  to  this  I  answer,  first,  that 
though  that  nature  was  not  really  yet  in  being,  it  is  enough 
that  its  idea  and  image  were  in  the  mind  of  God,  for  the  assim- 
ilating and  conforming  his  work  to  it.  This  suffices  to  show 
that  he  is  the  beginning  and  principle  of  it. 

But  I  adjoin,  in  the  second  place,  that  this  work  of  the 
church  may  be  considered  two  ways  :  either  in  its  beginnings, 
while  being  formed  ;  or  in  its  perfection,  as  finished,  when  it 
shall  have  received  all  the  touches  requisite  to  give  it  the  high- 
est degree  of  excellence,  in  which  it  must  abide.  I  avow  that 
the  church,  under  the  first  consideration,  had  its  being  before 
the  Son  of  God  was  made  man  and  raised  up  to  heaven.  But 
if  you  take  it  under  the  second,  it  is  evident  that  in  this 
respect  he  is  truly  the  beginning  of  this  divine  work;  for  no 
one  was  perfect  before  him.  He  is,  if  I  may  so  say,  the  first 
piece  fully  ended  that  ever  came  out  of  the  Father's  hand  and 
his  own.  No  one  of  the  rest  is  absolutely  completed.  Their 
bodies  are  yet  under  the  power  of  death,  the  last  of  our  ene- 
mies. Christ  is  the  only  one  that  has  altogether  broken  its 
bonds,  and  raised  up  his  body  from  the  grave,  and  clothed  it 
with  a  glorious  immortality.  He  is  the  first  man  of  the  new 
world  that  the  universe  ever  saw,  and  in  him  has  been  shown 
us  the  true  form  of  that  second  nature  which  we  hope  for  in 
the  time  to  come,  but  which  no  one  has,  or  shall  have  at  the 
present,  save  Jesus  Christ.  This  seems  to  be  the  strict  mean- 
ing of  the  apostle  here,  when  he  calls  him  "the  beginning,"  or 
principle,  because  he  adds,  "the  first-born  from  the  dead;" 
which  words,  as  you  see,  evidently  correspond  with  this  sense. 
John  also  gives  this  title  to  the  Lord  :  "  Grace  be  unto  you, 
and  peace  from  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  faithful  witness,  the 
first-begotten  of  the  dead,"  Eev.  i.  5.  And  Paul  illustrates 
this  expression  elsewhere,  saying  to  the  same  purpose,  that 
Jesus  Christ  being  raised  from  the  dead,  was  "become  the 
first-fruits  of  them  that  sleep."  And  a  little  after.  In  Jesus 
Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive;  "but  every  man  in  his  own 
order  :  Christ  the  first-fruits  ;  afterwards,  they  that  are  Christ's," 
1  Cor.  XV.  20,  22,  23.  And  in  the  Acts  he  saith,  it  was  neces- 
sary that  Christ  should  be  the  first  to  rise  from  the  dead,  that 
he  might  show  light  to  the  people.  Acts  xxvi.  23.  From  all 
these  places  it  sufficiently  appears  what  the  apostle  signifies 
when  he  saith  that  Jesus  Christ  is  "  the  beginning,  and  the 
first-born  from  the  dead,"  namely,  that  he  is  the  first  of  all 
mankind  who  was  raised  from  the  state  of  the  dead,  and  set- 
tled in  glorious  immortality,  that  he  is  the  first  ear  of  this 
blessed  harvest,  that  was  carried  up  into  the  sanctuary,  and 
offered  in  due  season  to  the  eternal  Father,  until  the  rest  bo- 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  129 

come  ripe.  This  truth  is  thoroughly  evident.  For  of  what 
other  man  but  the  Lord  Jesus  was  it  ever  heard  say  that  he 
arose  from  the  dead,  and  ascended  into  heaven  ?  I  know  the 
Scriptures  tell  us  of  some  dead  who  were  raised  before  the  re- 
surrection of  the  Lord,  but  this  does  not  at  all  deprive  him  of 
the  glory  which  the  apostle  here  gives  him.  For  though  I 
might  allege  that  those  persons  were  raised  from  the  grave,  not 
by  their  own  power  and  virtue,  as  Jesus  Christ,  but  by  the 
touching  or  prayer  of  Elijah  and  Elisha,  and  by  God's  com- 
mand, I  say  that  the  resurrection  which  Paul  understands  is 
the  rising  again  to  glory  and  immortality.  It  is  a  being  born 
again,  not  to  the  former  life,  which  is  terrene  and  fading,  but 
to  the  other,  which  is  celestial  and  incorruptible.  Who  seeth 
not  that  in  this  respect  there  never  was  any  one  raised  again, 
except  the  Lord  Jesus  alone  ?  For  the  son  of  the  Shunam- 
mite,  Lazarus,  and  others  of  similar  constitution,  at  their  com- 
ing forth  from  the  grave,  reassumed  the  same  natural  and 
perishing  life  which  they  had  laid  down,  a  life  subject  to  the 
same  infirmities,  and  to  the  same  necessity  of  dying  ;  and,  in- 
deed, they  died  after  they  had  lived  again  awhile.  Their  death 
was  rather  deferred  than  abolished.  Their  bodies  corrupted 
and,  in  the  end,  returned  to  that  dust  from  which  they  were 
preserved  for  some  years.  But  with  Jesus  Christ  it  was  not 
so.  He,  in  coming  forth  from  the  dead,  retook  not  the  life  he 
had  quitted,  that  is,  the  life  of  the  first  Adam,  that  infirm,  na- 
tural, and  earthly  life,  a  life  still  subject  to  death.  He  left  it 
in  the  sepulchre,  where  it  must  remain,  as  in  eternal  oblivion. 
He  put  on  a  new  life  and  nature,  such  as  is  spiritual  and  celes- 
tial, as  the  apostle  elsewhere  describes  it  ;  a  life  full  of  strength 
and  glory  ;  not  subject  either  to  the  use  of  meat  or  sleep  ; 
not  subject  to  dolour  or  death  ;  a  life  appropriate  to  the 
second  world,  and  not  to  the  first  ;  a  nature  peculiar  to  the 
future  age,  not  to  the  present.  Accordingly,  you  see,  that 
being  invested  therewith,  he  remained  not  on  the  earth  ;  this 
is  the  old  Adam's  element,  the  habitation  of  corruption  and 
death  ;  but  having  only  sojourned  there  forty  days,  as  long  as 
was  needful  to  assure  his  apostles  of  the  truth  of  his  resurrec- 
tion, and  to  show  them,  in  his  own  person,  the  first-fruits  of 
the  mystical  Canaan,  he  ascended  up  above  the  heavens,  to  the 
true  element  of  the  new  man,  and  the  sanctuary  of  eternity. 
We  conclude,  then,  that  he  is  truly  "  the  beginning,  and  the 
first-born  from  the  dead,"  since  he  is  the  first  of  all  the  dead 
that  was  born  and  raised  again  in  incorruption.  But  these  ti- 
tles signify  yet  another  thing,  namely,  that  it  is  he  who  shall 
raise  again  all  the  members  of  the  church  in  like  glory  ;  that 
he  is  the  Master  and  the  Lord  of  the  dead,  for  investing  them 
one  day  in  their  order  with  a  nature  resembling  his  own,  ac- 
cording to  what  Paul  says,  that  he  will  fashion  our  vile  body 
17 


130  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   IS. 

"like  unto  his  own  glorious  body,"  Phil.  iii.  21.  For  he 
would  not  be  "  the  first-born  from  the  dead,"  if  he  did  not  com- 
municate the  privilege  and  the  possession  of  this  second  birth 
to  all  his  brethren,  that  is  to  say,  to  all  the  faithful. 

The  apostle  adds,  in  the  third  place,  "  that  in  all  things  he 
might  have  the  pre-eminence."  Those  who  are  well  versed  in 
the  reading  of  these  divine  books,  know  the  word  "  that  "  is 
often  put  in  them  for  "  so  as  that,"  or  "  in  such  a  manner  as  ;"  to 
signify  the  event  and  consequence  of  an  action,  rather  than 
the  intention  or  design  of  the  agent:  I  presume  it  must  be  so 
taken  in  this  place.  For  the  intention  of  our  Lord  in  being 
made  Head  of  the  church,  and  the  beginning  of  the  new  life, 
was  rather  to  save  us  and  glorify  his  Father,  than  to  obtain  for 
himself  the  pre-eminence.  Yet  true  it  is  that  such  was  the 
success  of  his  undertaking,  that  he  actually  has  the  pre-emi- 
nence in  all  things.  For  there  are  but  two  sorts  of  things,  one 
of  those  which  pertain  to  the  first  world  and  its  creation,  the 
other  of  those  which  are  of  the  second  world  and  of  the  re- 
generation. Christ,  therefore,  being  already  the  Master  and 
Creator  of  the  former,  it  is  evident  that,  having  been  also 
established  Head  of  the  church,  (which  is  the  state  that  con- 
sists of  the  latter,)  and  the  beginning,  and  first-born  of  the  re- 
surrection of  the  dead,  he  obtains,  by  this  means,  the  pre-emi- 
nence in  all  things  ;  that  is  to  say,  both  in  those  of  the  first 
creation,  of  which  he  is  the  Author,  and  in  those  of  the  second, 
of  which  he  is  the  Head.  This  is  the  conclusion  which  the 
apostle  deduces  from  his  whole  preceding  discourse:  there  he 
said  that  the  Lord  is  "  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  first- 
born of  every  creature,"  the  Creator  of  the  elements  and  the 
angels  ;  and  moreover  the  Head  of  the  church,  the  principle 
and  the  first-fruits  of  the  new  creation  ;  now  he  adds,  "that  in 
all  things  he  might  have  the  pre-eminence."  This,  as  it  ap- 
pears to  me  from  hence,  being  clear  enough,  there  is  no  neces- 
sity that  we  should  dwell  any  longer  upon  the  exposition  of 
this  text. 

To  conclude,  it  remains  that  we  briefly  touch  upon  the  duties 
to  which  the  doctrine  of  the  apostle  obliges  us,  and  the  com- 
forts which  it  affords  us.  Jesus  Christ  "is  the  head  of  the 
body,  the  church."  These  few  words,  if  we  meditate  on  them 
as  we  ought,  will  teach  us  all  what  we  owe  of  obedience  to  the 
Lord,  of  charity  to  our  brethren,  and  of  care  and  respect  to 
ourselves.  As  for  the  Lord,  since  he  has  vouchsafed  to  be- 
come our  Head,  it  is  evident  we  ought  to  honour  him  with  the 
utmost  devotion  and  submit  all  the  actions  of  our  life  to  his 
direction.  See  with  what  promptitude  the  body  obeys  the 
head,  and  with  how  absolute  a  submission  it  follows  all  its  vo- 
litions. The  body  neither  stirs  nor  rests  but  as  the  head  orders. 
It  depends  entirely  on  its  guidance,  and  never  crosses  its  orders 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSI  ANS.  131 

or  resists  its  commands.  The  head  has  no  sooner  conceived  a 
thing,  but  the  spirits  immediately  present  themselves  at  the 
place  it  desires,  and  each  of  the  members  employs  all  its  vigour 
and  strength  to  execute  its  will.  This  is  an  image  of  that 
obedience  which  the  Lord,  our  mystical  head,  demands  of  us; 
and  this  is  that  which  the  apostle  means  when  he  saith  that  the 
church  is  subject  to  him,  Eph.  v.  24.  In  vain  therefore  they 
boast  themselves  to  be  the  church,  who  act  contrary  to  what 
the  Lord  ordains,  who  are  subject  to  another  beside  him,  and 
instead  of  his  orders  follow  the  will  of  a  mortal  man  ;  owning 
another  head,  adoring  another  oracle,  and  keeping  what  he  has 
forbidden.  Blessed  be  his  name  that  he  has  taught  us  to  dis- 
claim their  error,  and  to  hang  all  our  religion  upon  his  sacred 
lips;  believing  only  that  truth  which  he  has  revealed  to  us  in 
his  gospel,  and  engraven  in  our  hearts  by  his  Spirit.  But 
what  will  it  profit  us  to  follow  him  in  our  faith,  if  we  resist 
him  in  our  manners  ?  How  can  he  avouch  for  his  church  a 
body  subject  to  mammon,  to  pleasure,  to  ambition,  and  other 
idols  of  the  world — a  body  wholly  bended  down  to  the  earth, 
whereas  this  Divine  Head  is  exalted  above  the  heavens  ?  Dear 
brethren,  let  us  not  deceive  ourselves.  We  cannot  be  the 
church  of  Christ  except  we  are  his  body,  and  we  cannot  be  his 
body  except  we  depend  absolutely  on  him;  except  we  cast  out 
of  our  members  the  spirit  of  the  flesh  and  of  the  world,  and  take 
in  his  Spirit,  to  follow  its  light,  and  obey  its  movings.  Hence- 
forth then  let  us  so  regulate  our  life  that  it  does  not  contradict 
our  profession.  Let  the  Lord  Jesus  be  truly  our  Head  ;  let 
him  be  still  above  us;  let  him  preside  in  all  our  designs,  let 
him  conduct  our  steps,  let  him  govern  our  actions,  and  inspire 
all  the  sentiments  we  have.  Let  there  appear  nothing  in  our 
words,  in  our  affections,  or  our  works,  but  what  is  his. 

But  this  lesson  of  the  apostle  no  less  recommends  to  us 
charity  towards  our  neighbour  than  submission  towards  Jesus 
Christ.  For  since  the  church  is  a  body,  and  even  the  body  of 
Christ,  that  is,  the  fairest  and  most  perfect  body  in  the  world, 
judge  ye,  what  ought  to  be  the  union  and  the  love  of  all  the 
faithful  who  compose  it  ?  Look  upon  the  body  of  man,  from 
which  this  resemblance  is  taken  ;  how  great  is  the  zeal  of  all 
the  parts  for  the  conservation  of  the  whole!  how  they  love  it, 
and  conspire  for  its  good  !  how  they  act  and  suffer  all  things, 
and  each  in  its  rank  exposes  his  life  and  being  for  it!  Such, 
ye  faithful,  ought  to  be  your  affection  for  the  church,  this  di- 
vine body  of  the  Lord,  whereof  you  are  members.  Its  peace, 
its  preservation,  and  its  glory,  should  be  the  object  of  your 
highest  and  most  urgent  desires.  There  is  nothing  that  should 
not  be  cheerfully  employed  in  so  noble  a  design.  \Voe  to  them 
that  feel  not  the  wounds  of  this  sacred  body,  that  are  not  affected 
with  its  bruises,  and  look  upon  the  breaches  of  it  unmoved; 


132  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  IX. 

who  are  so  far  from  groaning  at  them,  and  endeavouring  to  re- 
pair them,  that  they  inflict  more,  rending  with  extreme  impiety 
and  inhumanity  the  most  innocent  body  in  the  world,  and  most 
beloved  of  God,  the  body  of  his  Son,  which  he  hath  redeemed 
at  the  price  of  his  own  blood  I 

But  besides  the  affection  we  ought  to  have  for  the  church  in 
general,  this  similitude  teaches  us  also  to  love  ardently  each  of 
the  faithful  in  particular.  Paul  treats  of  this  expressly  in  1 
Cor.  xii.  25 — 27:  There  is  no  division  in  the  body  ;  the  mem- 
bers have  a  mutual  care  one  for  another  ;  and  if  one  of  the 
members  suffer  anything,  all  the  members  suffer  with  it  ;  or  if 
one  of  the  members  be  honoured,  all  the  members  rejoice  to- 
gether in  it.  Now  ye  are  the  body  of  Christ,  and  his  members, 
each  one  on  his  part.  0  God  !  how  great  would  be  our  happi- 
ness and  our  glory,  if  the  union  and  concord  of  our  flock  an- 
swered this  beautiful  and  glowing  picture;  if,  knit  together  by 
a  holy  and  inviolable  love,  and  having  but  one  heart  and  one 
soul,  as  we  have  but  one  Head,  we  amiably  conversed  together, 
tenderly  resenting  the  good  and  evil  of  each  other,  and  each  of 
us  exerting  his  power  to  preserve  and  increase  the  good  of  our 
brethren  and  to  comfort  and  cure  their  evils!  But,  alas!  in- 
stead of  this  sweet  and  grateful  spectacle,  which  would  ravish 
heaven  and  earth,  we  behold  little  among  us  but  quarrels,  and 
coldness,  and  hatred,  and  animosities.  The  welfare  of  our  bre- 
thren displeases  us,  and  their  adversity  does  not  afflict  us.  The 
former  raises  our  envy,  and  the  latter  stirs  not  our  compassion. 
Vanity  and  self-love  make  us  either  disdain  or  hate  all  others. 
There  are  no  bonds  which  our  fierceness  does  not  break,  it 
equally  violates  both  those  of  nature  and  those  of  grace.  Is 
this  that  great  name,  the  body  of  Christ,  by  which  we  glory  to 
be  called?  Christ  is  nothing  but  sweetness  and  love.  He  has 
laid  down  his  life  for  his  enemies.  How  are  we  his,  ive  that 
hate  and  persecute  our  brethren  ?  And  how  are  we  his  body, 
since  we  rend  one  another?  Were  ever  the  members  of  the 
same  body  seen  at  war  together,  the  hand  assaulting  the  foot, 
and  the  teeth  falling  on  the  hand?  If  such  a  thing  appear,  is 
it  not  regarded  as  the  effect  of  extreme  rage,  or  as  a  horrible 
prodigy?  Oh!  how  ordinary  is  this  rage  and  this  prodigy 
among  us,  who,  being  members  of  the  same  body,  and  (which 
infinitely  augments  our  shame)  of  the  body  of  Christ,  the 
Saviour  of  the  world,  have  yet  no  horror  at  biting  and  con- 
suming one  another,  as  if  we  were  a  herd  of  cannibals,  and  not 
the  flock  of  the  Lord  Jesus  !  I  well  know  that  none  of  us  want 
plausible  reasons  to  palliate  our  faults,  passion  itself  making 
us  witty  in  the  defence  of  this  bad  cause.  But  let  our  own 
conscience  be  our  judge,  let  it  remember  it  has  to  do  with  Jesus 
Christ  and  not  with  men  ;  if  it  beguile  us,  it  cannot  deceive 
God.     Renounce  we  then  unfeignedly  all  this  kind  of  vices, 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  ANS.  133 

and  cordially  loving  our  brethren,  succouring  the  afflicted, 
assisting  the  poor,  comforting  the  sick,  and  living  in  concord 
with  all,  let  us  truly  be,  as  we  say  we  are,  the  body  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  This  peculiarly  the  bread  and  the  wine  of  our 
Lord,  the  sacred  emblems  of  our  mystical  union,  require  of  us  ; 
they  remind  us,  as  the  apostle  represents  it,  that  we  are  but 
one  bread  and  one  body,  1  Cor.  x. 

Finally,  this  doctrine  further  shows  us  with  what  purity  and 
sanctity  we  ought  to  keep  our  own  persons,  since  all  being  the 
body  of  Christ,  we  are  each  one  members  of  hira.  Against 
every  arrow  of  temptation  that  sin  shall  let  fly  at  us,  let  us  take 
up  this  consideration  for  our  succour  ;  say,  Shall  I  take  the 
members  of  Christ  to  make  them  members  of  Satan  ?  Shall  I 
defile  that  body  in  the  filth  of  incontinency,  drunkenness,  or 
any  other  kind  of  debauch,  which  the  Son  of  God  has  cleansed 
with  his  blood,  which  he  has  united  and  joined  to  himself,  and 
of  which  he  is  become  the  Head  ?  Far  be  it  from  me  to  com- 
mit so  vile  a  deed.  It  is  thus,  my  brethren,  that  we  ought  to 
regulate  our  whole  life,  that  we  may  be  truly  the  body  of 
Christ.  And  doubt  not,  if  we  be  so,  this  Divine  Head  will  love 
us  and  tenderly  preserve  us.  For  no  one  ever  yet  hated  his 
own  flesh.  He  will  feed  us,  and  set  us  at  his  own  table,  and 
give  us  the  bread  and  wine  of  heaven  ;  and  after  the  combats 
and  trials  of  this  life,  will  clothe  us  with  his  own  glory  and 
immortality,  as  being  "the  first-born  from  the  dead."  To  him, 
with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  true  God,  blessed  for 
ever,  be  honour  and  glory  to  ages  of  ages.     Amen. 


SERMON  X, 

VEESES   19,  20. 


For  it  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  should  all  fulness  divell;  and, 
having  made  peace  through  the  blood  of  his  cross,  by  him  to  re- 
concile all  things  unto  himself  ;  by  him,  I  say,  whether  they  be 
things  in  earth,  or  things  in  heaven. 

As  in  the  frame  of  nature  God  has  appointed  only  one  great 
light,  namely,  the  sun,  and  has  united  in  the  body  of  this  ad- 
mirable luminary  all  the  brightness  spread  through  the  uni- 
verse, that  it  might  enlighten  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and 
that  from  it,  as  from  a  common  source,  all  the  light  and  warmth 
which  all  things  receive  might  stream  forth  ;  so  likewise  in 
the  kingdom  of  grace,  the  same  God  has  given  us  only  one 
Jesus  Christ,  the  true  Sun  of  righteousness,  whom  he  has  filled 


134  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  X. 

witli  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  life,  that  he  might  be  an 
exceeding,  abundant  and  inexhaustible  fountain  of  joy  and  im- 
mortality ;  whence  are  diffused  upon  all  the  parts  of  the  new 
world,  which  is  created  in  righteousness  and  in  holiness,  all 
the  spiritual  perfections  and  blessings  it  possesses.  This  is 
that  heavenly  doctrine,  dear  brethren,  which  the  apostle  teaches 
us  in  the  text  you  have  now  heard  ;  where,  speaking  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  he  saith,  "  it  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  should 
all  fulness  dwell."  He  represented  to  us  in  the  former  words 
the  excellency  of  the  person  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  he  is  "the 
image  of  God,"  the  Lord  and  the  Creator  of  all  things,  visible 
and  invisible;  then  next  his  dignity,  that  he  is  "the  Head  of 
the  church,  the  beginning,  and  the  first-born  from  the  dead;" 
concluding  that  he  has  the  pre-eminence  in  all  things.  The 
apostle  now  produces  the  reason  of  it,  taken  from  the  decree 
and  will  of  the  eternal  Father  :  "  For  it  pleased  the  Father  that 
in  him  should  all  fulness  dwell."  And  that  we  might  discern 
the  wisdom  of  the  Father  in  the  disposal  of  this  fulness,  he  sets 
before  us,  in  the  words  following,  the  work,  to  accomplish  which 
he  designed  and  sent  his  Son  ;  a  work  so  great  and  so  wonder- 
ful, that  it  is  evident  without  this  fulness,  which  he  caused  to 
dwell  in  him,  it  was  not  possible  it  should  be  perfected.  For 
by  him  he  purposed  to  reconcile,  and  actually  did  reconcile, 
all  things  to  himself,  those  that  are  in  heaven,  as  well  as  those 
that  are  in  earth.  And  for  the  more  full  discovery  of  the 
greatness  of  this  divine  master-piece,  he  touches  also  the  means 
by  which  it  was  accomplished,  namely,  peace,  which  he  made 
by  the  blood  of  his  Son's  cross.  It  was  not  possible  to  reunite 
heaven  and  earth,  and  reconcile  these  parts  of  the  universe, 
that  were  divided  each  from  other,  but  by  making  peace,  by 
extinguishing  their  hate,  and  removing  the  cause  of  their  en- 
mities. Neither  was  it  possible  to  procure  this  peace  other- 
wise than  by  the  shedding  of  divine  blood,  and  the  offering  up 
a  sacrifice  of  infinite  worth,  and  by  the  intervention  of  a  Medi- 
ator, who  should  have  in  him  all  the  perfections  and  excellences 
of  the  parties  who  were  to  be  reconciled.  The  greatness  of  the 
work  shows  us  the  quality  of  the  means  requisite  to  finish  it  ; 
and  the  quality  of  the  means  regulates  the  faculties  and  nature 
of  the  person  necessary  to  perform  it.  To  reconcile  earthly  and 
heavenly  things  in  God,  there  was  need  to  make  peace  ;  to  make 
peace,  there  was  need  of  a  blood  and  a  sacrifice  of  infinite 
value;  to  offer  such  a  sacrifice,  there  was  need  of  a  person  in 
whom  all  fulness  dwelt;  that  is,  who  had  in  him  fully  and 
perfectly  all  the  graces  and  excellences  of  heaven  and  earth. 
Certainly,  then,  it  was  an  order  highly  reasonable,  and  most 
worthy  of  the  divine  wisdom  of  the  Father,  to  make  all  fulness 
dwell  in  his  Christ  for  the  reconciling  of  heaven  and  earth,  by 
making  peace  through  the  blood  of  liis  cross.     That  we  may 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  135 

have  a  fuller  view  of  it,  for  his  glory  and  our  own  consolation, 
we  will  consider,  by  his  grace,  in  this  sermon,  those  three 
points  which  are  distinctly  proposed  us  in  the  text.  First, 
the  good  pleasure  of  the  Father,  that  all  fulness  should  dwell 
in  Christ.  Secondly,  the  work  he  has  wrought  by  the  hand 
of  his  Christ  thus  qualified;  namely,  the  reconciling  of  all 
things  to  himself,  both  which  are  in  earth  and  in  heaven.  And 
finally,  the  means  by  which  he  has  executed  this  great  design, 
namely,  making  peace  by  the  blood  of  the  cross  of  his  well- 
beloved  Son. 

For  a  right  understanding  of  the  first  of  these  three  points, 
we  must  inquire,  at  the  entrance,  what  this  "  fulness"  is  which 
the  good  pleasure  of  the  Father  has  made  to  dwell  wholly  in 
Christ,  especially  seeing  that  interpreters  do  not  agree  about 
it  ;  some  referring  it  to  the  divinity  of  our  Lord,  others  to  the 
graces  which  were  accumulated  on  him  after  his  manifestation 
in  our  flesh.  It  is  certain  that  the  word  fulness  is  variously 
understood  in  the  Scripture  ;  and,  not  to  speak  of  other  senses, 
which  are  beside  our  purpose,  it  is  sometimes  referred  to  the 
greatness  of  things,  and  signifies  their  just,  their  whole  and 
due  measure.  As  when  it  is  said  that  Saul  "  fell  on  the  earth" 
to  the  fulness  of  his  stature,  1  Sam.  xxviii.  20  ;  that  is,  all 
along,  so  as  his  whole  body  lay  stretched  out  on  the  ground  : 
and  it  is  very  likely  that  thus  Paul  calls  the  church  the  "ful- 
ness," or  the  completeness,  of  Christ,  Eph.  i.  23  ;  forasmuch  as 
being  his  body,  in  it  his  just  and  due  magnitude  consists. 
Without  the  church,  he  would  be  a  Head  without  a  body, 
that  is,  without  a  magnitude  and  a  stature  proportionate  to 
his  pre-eminent  majesty.  It  seems  we  might  so  take  the  "  ful- 
ness" mentioned  in  this  text,  as  signifying  all  the  graces  and 
excellences  requisite  to  the  full  and  entire  greatness  that  be- 
comes the  Christ  of  God;  but  the  word  "dwell"  which  is  an- 
nexed to  it  does  not  comport  with  it  ;  for  it  would  be  a  harsh 
phrase,  and  without  example  in  any  language,  to  say  that  a 
man's  stature  dwells  in  him.  For  the  same  reason,  I  exclude 
another  sense,  which  else  would  not  ill  comport  with  the  mat- 
ter ;  I  mean  that  which  the  term  fulness  has,  when  it  is  put  for 
a  full  and  whole  measure,  and  such  as  wants  nothing.  We 
are  to  observe  therefore,  beside  what  has  been  said,  that  the 
word  fulness  very  commonly  in  Scripture  sets  forth  that  which 
fills  anything;  as  when  one  prophet  styles  men,  and  other 
creatures  of  which  the  earth  is  full,  the  fulness  of  the  earth, 
Psal.  xxiv.  1  ;  and  another,  the  fulness  of  a  city,  Amos  vi.  8, 
all  the  people  that  dwell  in  it  ;  and  again  another,  the  fulness 
of  the  sea,  the  isles,  of  which  the  sea  is  full,  with  all  their 
inhabitants,  Isa.  xlii.  10.  And,  as  philosophers  speak,  because 
the  contents,  perfections,  and  qualities  of  things  fill  up  their 
forms  and  give  them  all  their  beauty,  as  plants  and  living 


136  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  X. 

creatures  are  the  ornament  of  the  earth,  people  the  glory  of 
cities,  and  isles  so  many  crowns  of  the  sea,  it  is  common  by  a 
very  elegant  ligure,  to  term  the  graces  and  perfections  of  such 
or  such  a  subject  its  fulness  ;  for  without  them  it  would  be 
empty,  and  in  such  a  condition  as  that  rude  and  uncouth  mass 
whicli  Moses  describes  in  the  beginning  of  Genesis,  "the  earth 
was  without  form  and  void,"  Gen.  i.  2,  before  the  Lord  clothed 
it  with  the  stately  ornaments,  and  filled  it  with  that  rich  abun- 
dance, which  we  now  behold  upon  it.  In  this  sense,  the  apos- 
tle John  gives  the  name  of  the  fulness  of  Christ  to  that  total 
abundance  of  perfections  and  divine  graces  which  dwelt  in  him, 
his  wisdom,  his  righteousness,  his  sanctification,  and  his  re- 
demption, when  he  saith  that  "  of  his  fulness  have  all  we  re- 
ceived," John  i.  16.  And  it  is  after  the  same  manner  that  Paul, 
by  "  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead,"  means  all  the  qualities  or 
properties  of  the  divine  nature  ;  its  understanding,  its  wisdom, 
its  omnipotence,  its  goodness,  and  infinite  justice,  saying,  that 
"  in  Jesus  Christ  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily,"  Col.  ii.  9.  It  is  therefore  in  this  sense  also,  as  it  ap- 
pears to  me,  that  we  must  take  the  word  fulness  in  this  text  ; 
referring  it  to  the  things  of  which  the  apostle  had  just  spoken, 
when  he  affirmed  Jesus  Christ  to  be  "  the  image  of  the  invisible 
God,  the  first-born  of  every  creature,"  by  whom  all  things 
were  created  and  subsist  ;  "  the  head  of  the  church,  the  begin- 
ning, and  the  first-born  from  the  dead,"  having  the  pre-emin- 
ence in  all  things.  For  you  perceive  these  qualities  are  the 
perfections  and  excellences,  partly  of  the  divine  nature,  and 
partly  of  the  human  ;  the  former,  namely,  his  being  "  the  im- 
age of  God,"  and  the  Author  and  Governor  of  the  creatures, 
pertaining  to  the  divine;  the  latter,  namely,  his  being  "the 
head  of  the  church,"  and  "the  first  born  from  the  dead,"  to  the 
human  :  so  after  these  things,  when  the  apostle  now  adds,  "For 
it  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  should  all  fulness  dwell,"  it 
is  as  much  as  if  he  had  said  it  was  the  Father's  will  that  there 
should  appear  in  his  Christ  a  rich  and  a  complete  abundance 
of  all  divine  and  human  perfections  ;  all  the  beauty,  dignity, 
and  excellency  that  replenish  heaven  and  earth,  that  adorn 
the  nature  of  God  and  of  men.  Thus  the  question  which  inter- 
preters debate,  whether  this  fulness  should  be  referred  to  the 
divinity  or  to  the  humanity  of  our  Lord,  is  answered  ;  for  this 
exposition  comprises  them  both  ;  the  eternal  wisdom  and 
power  of  the  one,  with  all  its  attributes  ;  the  sanctity  and  love 
of  the  other,  with  all  the  graces  which  were  given  to  it  with- 
out measure.  This  is  the  all-fulness  that  dwells  in  Jesus 
Christ. 

And  the  word  dwell  has  here  a  vast  emphasis.  For  in  the 
style  of  Scripture,  it  signifies  an  abode,  not  transient,  and  for 
a  time  only,  but  such  as  is  firm,  constant,  and  durable  ;  so  that 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS,  137 

the  apostle  saying  that  all  fulness  dwells  in  Christ,  thereby 
shows  us  that  this  rich  abundance  of  all  divine  and  human 
perfections  shall  eternally  be  in  him  ;  not  as  the  divine  glory 
and  majesty  was  formerly  in  the  tabernacle  of  Moses,  and  in 
the  temple  of  Solomon,  where  it  lodged  but  for  a  space  ;  not  as 
the  irradiations  of  the  Deity  in  the  souls  of  the  prophets,  which 
they  filled  but  for  some  hours  ;  finally,  not  as  the  graces  and 
perfections  which,  for  some  years  only,  enrich  the  bodies  and 
spirits  of  mortal  men,  of  which  old  age,  and  a  thousand  other 
accidents,  and  in  the  end  death  itself,  quickly  despoils  them, 
which  makes  the  sacred  writers  say  that  the  comeliness  of 
flesh  and  the  fashion  of  this  world  pass  away  ;  that  they  are 
like  flowers  and  herbs,  in  whom  beauty  tarries  but  a  few  days  ; 
time,  without  delay,  plucking  it  from  them,  and  defacing  all 
its  lineaments.  Our  Christ  is  an  eternal  temple,  which  the 
glory  of  God  fills  both  continually  and  for  ever.  It  does  not 
merely  lodge  there,  it  dwells  there  as  in  its  true  and  incor- 
ruptible sanctuary.  Never  shall  that  sanctuary  lose  it.  This 
fulness  shall  abide  eternally  in  him. 

But  the  apostle  saith  that  "  it  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him 
should  all  fulness  dwell,"  By  the  pleasure  of  the  Father,  he 
means,  according  to  the  ordinary  style  of  Scripture,  the  deter- 
mination and  order  of  the  eternal  wisdom  of  God.  For  Christ 
did  not  violently  snatch  up  this  glory,  nor  reassume  it  of  him- 
self He  received  it  by  the  will  of  the  Father,  who  gave  him 
to  man,  and  sent  him  into  the  world,  pouring  into  him  all  the 
treasures  of  his  graces,  that  we  might  draw  from  his  fulness 
all  the  good  we  need  for  our  happiness.  But  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  apostle  considers  the  Lord  Jesus  here  as 
Christ  and  Mediator,  and  not  simply  as  the  Son  of  God  ;  he 
considers  him  in  regard  of  his  ofîice,  and  not  in  respect  to  his 
first  and  original  nature  ;  for  if  you  look  upon  him  this  second 
way,  it  is  clear  that,  being  God  eternal  with  the  Father,  he  re- 
ceived of  him  his  divine  essence,  with  all  its  fulness,  not  by 
any  decree  of  his  will,  or  of  his  good  pleasure,  but  by  a  natu- 
ral communication,  that  is  to  say,  by  an  eternal,  ineflable,  and 
incomprehensible  generation.  The  creation  of  the  world  is  a 
work  of  the  good  pleasure  of  God  ;  the  generation  of  the  Son 
is  a  natural  act  of  the  person  of  the  Father.  The  first  was 
done  in  time,  the  other  is  before  all  time.  The  world,  which 
is  the  eflect  of  creation,  had  a  commencement  of  being;  the 
.  Son,  who  is  the  fruit  of  the  generation  of  the  Father,  is  eternal, 
without  beginning,  as  well  as  without  end  of  days.  But  this 
Son,  who  is  God  by  nature,  is  Christ  by  the  will  of  the  Father  ; 
for  the  name  Christ  signifies  an  office,  and  not  strictly  an  es- 
sence or  a  nature.  Originally  this  office  was  not  attached  to 
the  person  of  the  Son.  He  might  have  been  the  Son  without 
being  our  Mediator,  and  would  have  so  subsisted  if  the  sin  of 
18 


138  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  X. 

man  had  not  intervened,  or  if  the  justice  of  God  had  left  us  in 
the  misery  into  which  sin  had  precipitated  us.  But  this  good 
and  gracious  Lord  having  had  compassion  on  us,  and  resolved 
thereupon  to  bring  us  up  from  those  depths  of  death  in  which 
we  lay,  ordained  a  Mediator  who  might  effect  this  great  work, 
and  invested  him  with  all  the  qualities  and  perfections  that 
were  necessary  for  this  end.  It  is  therefore  precisely  in  this 
respect  that  the  apostle  considers  Jesus  Christ  here,  when  he 
saith  it  was  the  good  pleasure  of  "  the  Father  that  in  him 
should  all  fulness  dwell."  He  thereby  means  it  was  the  Father's 
will,  that  in  this  sacred  person  of  the  Mediator,  who  was  or- 
dained and  appointed  for  our  salvation,  all  perfection,  richness, 
grace,  and  excellency  should  meet  together.  Divinity  and  hu- 
manity, filled  with  the  infinite  abundance  of  all  the  qualities 
and  properties  which  pertain  to  them,  should  concur.  Such 
being  his  good  pleasure,  he  chose  his  Son,  God  co-eternal  and 
co-essential  with  himself,  who,  uniting  all  the  riches  of  his  Deity 
with  the  human  nature  which  he  assumed,  constitutes  one  only 
person,  in  the  bosom  of  which  dwells  all  this  fulness  that  is 
necessary  for  his  office  as  Mediator,  Whence  it  appears  how 
vain  is  the  cavil  of  heretics,  who  conclude  from  this  passage 
that  the  Deity  of  the  Son  is  not  eternal  and  co-essential  with 
the  Father's,*  but  created  and  made  by  the  will  and  good  plea- 
sure of  the  Father.  For  the  apostle  does  not  speak  here  of  the 
origin  of  the  perfections  which  are  found  in  Christ,  but  of  their 
being  united  and  met  together  in  one  and  the  same  subject.  I 
acknowledge,  it  is  by  the  good  pleasure  of  the  Father,  and  by 
the  order  of  his  will,  that  the  Godhead  of  the  Son  dwells  in 
the  Mediator.  But  it  thence  follows  that  this  Godhead  of  his 
is  an  effect  of  the  Father's  will.  It  was,  before  it  filled  the 
Mediator.  The  same  Father  who  by  his  will  united  it  to  our 
flesh,  for  the  making  up,  together  with  that  flesh,  the  person 
of  Christ,  had  communicated  it  to  his  Son  from  all  eternity  by 
a  natural  act  of  his  eternal  understanding,  that  is  to  say,  by  a 
divine  generation. 

Now  it  is  not  in  vain  that  the  apostle  here  advances  this  as- 
sertion, that  it  pleased  the  Father  all  fulness  should  dwell  in 
his  Christ.  He  does  it  with  design  to  confirm  our  consciences 
in  the  religion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  only.  For  these  Colossians 
(as  we  shall  see  hereafter)  were  tampered  with  by  seducers,  who 
mingled  the  Mosaical  ceremonies  with  the  gospel,  and  the  wor- 
shipping of  angels  with  the  service  of  the  Lord.  The  apostle, 
therefore,  here  seasonably  fortifies  these  believers  against  this 
error,  and  that  by  two  excellent  reasons  :  the  first  taken  from 
the  dwelling  of  all  fulness  in  Jesus  Christ.  Poor  men,  saith 
he,  what  seek  you  for,  either  in  Moses  or  in  angels  ?  we  huve 

*  As  the  whole  church  believes. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  139 

all  in  Jesus  Christ.  There  is  no  good,  no  perfection,  nor  ex- 
cellency, either  in  God  or  in  the  creature,  but  dwells  in  this 
sovereign  Lord.  Having  him,  we  have  no  need  to  go  to  others, 
since  in  him  we  find  all.  The  other  reason  is  taken  from  the 
will  of  God,  the  supreme  rule  of  religion,  the  only  thing  that 
is  sufficient  to  settle  the  agitation  and  natural  distrust  of  our 
consciences.  As  for  Jesus  Christ,  saith  he,  it  was  the  good 
pleasure  of  God  "that  in  him  should  all  fulness  dwell."  The 
Father  has  set  up  him  to  be  the  spring  of  our  salvation.  But 
as  for  Moses  and  angels,  we  do  not  see  that  ever  it  was  the  will 
of  the  Father  to  give  them  such  a  dignity.  Dear  brethren, 
now  that  our  faith  is  fought  against  with  similar  errors,  let  ua 
arm  it  also  with  the  same  reasons.  If  the  adversary  send  us 
to  angels  and  saints,  let  us  answer  him,  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
sufficeth  us  ;  that  having  him  we  can  want  nothing,  since  all 
fulness  dwells  in  him.  I  will  not  inquire  for  the  present  what 
these  angels  and  saints  are,  whom  you  recommend  to  me  ; 
whether  they  have  indeed  that  merit,  and  that  righteousness, 
and  that  authority  which  I  need  for  the  expiation  of  my  sin, 
and  for  the  opening  the  mansions  of  God  to  me.  How  rich 
and  how  abounding  soever  you  represent  them  to  me,  I  may 
dispense  with  their  store,  since  this  Christ  whom  I  embrace 
has  all  fulness  dwelling  in  him.  Let  them  be  all  that  you 
please,  they  will  want,  however,  some  part  of  that  infinite 
plentifulness  which  overflows  in  our  Christ.  And  how  zealous 
soever  you  are  for  their  glory,  yet  you  durst  not  presume  to 
say  that  all  fulness  dwells  in  them.  How  great  is  your  im- 
prudence, to  go  hither  and  thither  groping  in  pits  and  cisterns, 
while  you  have  near  you  such  a  living  and  inexhaustible  foun- 
tain !  Grant  that  the  worshipping  of  saints  is  not  criminal, 
(which  it  evidently  is,)  it  is  notwithstanding  superfluous,  for- 
asmuch as  it  has  nothing  in  it  but  we  find  it  surpassed  in  the 
fulness  of  Jesus  Christ.  But  the  other  consideration  which 
the  apostle  sets  before  us  here  is  of  no  less  force,  that  it  was 
the  good  pleasure  of  the  Father  all  fulness  should  dwell  in  his 
Christ.  My  faith  attends  on  the  will  of  God.  This  will  is  its 
object  and  its  rule.  I  cannot  relish  either  doctrine  or  service 
that  does  not  conform  thereto.  Tell  me  how  you  know  it  is 
the  good  pleasure  of  God,  that  this  fulness  of  merit  and  power, 
which  you  ascribe  sometimes  to  saints  departed,  sometimes  to 
your  pope  and  his  ministers,  does  indeed  dwell  in  them.  As 
for  the  Lord  Jesus,  whom  I  adore,  and  in  whom  I  seek  all  my 
bliss,  the  Father  has  proclaimed  from  heaven,  that  he  is  his 
well-beloved  Son  ;  his  Scriptures  declare,  that  he  has  committed 
all  judgment  to  him,  and  that  all  fulness  dwells  in  him.  But 
as  for  those  others,  whom  you  have  taken  for  objects  of  your 
devotion,  and  to  whom  you  have  recourse  for  your  salvation, 
you  cannot  show  me  anything  that  bears  a  resemblance  of  these 


140  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  X. 

statements.  Certainly,  then,  it  must  be  affirmed  that  all  your 
devotion  in  this  behalf  is  but  will-worship,  founded  only  on 
your  own  passion,  and  the  imagination  of  your  leaders,  not 
upon  the  good  pleasure  of  the  Father.  It  is  strange  fire  which 
has  issued  out  of  the  earth,  and  was  not  kindled  from  heaven  ; 
such  as  cannot,  without  guilt,  either  enter  into  or  be  used  in 
the  sanctuary  of  God. 

II.  But  I  return  to  the  apostle,  who,  having  said  that  it 
pleased  the  Father  all  fulness  should  dwell  in  Christ,  adds,  in 
the  second  place,  and  "  by  him  to  reconcile  all  things  unto 
himself;  by  him,  I  say,  whether  they  be  things  in  earth,  or 
things  in  heaven."  This  is  the  great  master-piece  of  the  good 
pleasure  of  God  ;  the  end  for  which  his  will  was,  that  the  ful- 
ness of  all  divine  and  human  perfections  should  be  seated  in 
Christ.  The  particle  "  and,"  used  by  the  apostle,  signifies  this. 
It  does  not  merely  connect  the  two  parts  of  his  discourse,  but 
imports  the  consecution  and  dependence  of  the  latter  on  the 
former  ;  as  if  he  had  said  it  was  the  good  pleasure  of  the  Father 
that  in  Jesus  Christ  should  all  fulness  dwell,  to  the  end  that  he 
might  reconcile  all  things  by  him.  For  all  this  fulness  which 
the  Father  would  that  his  Christ  should  have  dwelling  in  him 
was  necessary  for  his  effecting  this  reconciliation.  He  needed 
the  power,  and  the  holiness,  and  the  wisdom  of  the  Divinity  ; 
and  together  with  it  the  humility,  and  the  obedience,  and  the 
meritorious  sufferings  of  the  humanity,  that  he  might  finish 
this  design  :  he  could  not  have  been  able  to  reunite  heaven 
and  earth  with  less  preparations. 

Let  us  see  then  what  this  work  is,  this  reconciling,  of  which 
the  apostle  speaks,  of  all  things  terrestrial  and  celestial  in  God 
by  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  clear  by  the  Scriptures  that  Jesus  Christ 
has  by  his  death  reconciled  men  to  God,  has  appeased  his 
wrath,  and  opened  to  us  the  throne  of  his  grace,  as  the  apostle 
teaches  us  in  various  places,  and  particularly  in  Rom.  v.  10, 11, 
where  he  saith  that  we  have  been  "reconciled  to  God  by  the 
death  of  his  Son  ;"  and  in  2  Cor.  v.  18,  that  God  "  hath  recon- 
ciled us  to  himself  by  Jesus  Christ."  But  it  seems  that  this 
is  not  precisely  that  reconciliation  which  Paul  means  here  ; 
first,  because  the  things  in  heaven,  which  he  expressly  puts 
among  the  parties  reconciled,  have  no  part  therein  ;  the  an- 
gels that  dwell  in  the  heavens,  pure  and  holy  as  they  are, 
having  never  fallen  into  any  alienation  from  God.  Secondly, 
because  of  that  reconciliation  the  apostle  speaks  in  the  words 
immediately  following,  in  which  he  saith,  "  having  made  peace 
by  the  blood  of  his  cross  ;"  so  that  the  former  words  must  of 
necessity  be  referred  to  some  other  reconciliation,  except  we 
render  the  language  of  this  divine  writer  culpable  of  a  vain 
and  fruitless  repetition.  The  truth  is,  they  that  understand 
these  words  of  reconciliation  with  God  find  themselves  much  en- 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  141 

tangled  in  the  matter,  and  liave  recourse  to  divers  means  for 
clearing  them  of  this  difficulty.  Some  affirm,  that  though  the 
angels  are  holy  and  blessed,  yet  they  were  not  exempt  from 
needing  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ  to  merit  and  obtain  their 
confirmation  and  perseverance  in  that  state  ;  a  bold  doctrine, 
and  such  as  it  is  difficult  to  find  any  foundation  for  in  the 
Scripture.  For  by  this  reckoning  Jesus  Christ  should  also  be 
the  Mediator  of  angels  ;  a  thing  that  seems  to  oppose  the  end 
and  true  nature  of  this  office;  first,  because  a  Mediator  should 
partake  of  the  nature  of  the  parties  whom  he  reconciles,  as 
you  see  that  Jesus  Christ,  the  Mediator  between  God  and  men, 
is  God  and  man  ;  whereas  he  took  not  the  nature  of  angels. 
Secondly,  because  every  mediator  intervenes  between  parties 
who  are  at  difference  ;  whereas  the  angels  are,  and  ever  were, 
at  perfect  accord  with  God,  holily  obeying  his  will.  Lastly, 
because  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  was  shed  only  to  wash  away 
sin,  and  the  Scripture  everywhere  represents  the  people  of 
God's  covenant,  his  redeemed  ones,  and  those  whom  he  has 
saved,  as  justified  and  cleansed  from  their  filth  ;  for  which 
there  was  no  place  in  the  nature  of  angels,  they  being  pure 
and  free  from  all  sin.  As  to  that  passage  in  Job,  that  God 
putteth  "no  trust  in  his  servants,  and  his  angels  he  charged 
with  folly,"  Job  iv.  18,  it  is  evident,  and  acknowledged  by  all 
christians,  that  this  is  not  said  to  accuse  those  blessed  spirits, 
or  to  suggest  that  if  they  were  tried  by  the  ordinary  and  strict 
justice  of  God,  they  would  be  found  guilty,  and  have  need  of 
pardon  ;  but  rather  to  signify  either  that  the  authority  of  God 
over  his  creatures  is  so  great  and  so  absolute,  that  he  owes 
nothing  to  the  angels  themselves,  how  exquisite  soever  their 
sanctity,  the  light  of  glory  wherewith  he  crowns  them  being  a 
gift  from  his  own  bounty,  and  not  the  due  reward  of  their 
merit  ;  or  else  that  the  infinite  purity  of  this  supreme  Majesty 
is  so  splendid  and  so  glorious,  that  the  light  of  the  most  holy 
spirits  fades  before  him,  and  is  found  dusky  and  defective  in 
comparison  of  his  ;  as  the  shining  of  our  lights,  and  of  the  stars 
themselves,  disappears  at  the  brightness  of  the  sun.  Others, 
not  able  to  approve  of  this  interpretation,  (and  I  think  justly,) 
that  the  angels  were  reconciled  to  God  by  Jesus  Christ,  in 
order  to  exclude  them  from  this  passage,  restrain  the  apostle's 
words  to  men  only  ;  understanding  by  the  "  things  that  are 
in  heaven,"  the  already  hallowed  spirits  of  the  faithful,  which 
death  had  taken  out  of  this  world  ;  and  by  "  the  things  that 
are  on  earth,"  the  faithful  that  yet  live  here  in  flesh.  But,  not 
to  dissemble,  this  exposition  seems  both  forced  and  frigid. 
Forced,  because  the  Scripture,  by  "  things  in  heaven,"  ordi- 
narily means  the  angels,  whose  element  and  natural  habitation 
the  heavens  are  ;  whereas  souls  separated  from  their  bodies 
are  received  in  and  lodged  there  by  a  supernatural  grace  and 


142  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  X. 

dispensation.  Frigid,  because  the  sense  it  attributes  to  tbe 
apostle  no  way  answers  the  sublimity  and  dignity  of  his  words. 
For  if  his  aim  were  to  express  nothing  but  that  the  faithful 
are  reconciled  to  God,  what  need  was  there  to  divide  them  into 
two  ranks,  some  who  are  on  earth,  others  who  are  in  heaven? 
Who  doubts  but  he  reconciled  these  as  well  as  those?  But 
without  question  he  purposed  to  magnify  this  work  of  God 
by  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  this  end  saith  that  it  extends  not  to 
men  alone,  who  are  reconciled  to  the  Father  by  the  efficacy  of 
the  cross  of  the  Lord,  but  that  it  exerts  an  influence  in  heaven 
itself,  reuniting  and  reconciling  the  things  that  are  there. 

What  shall  we  say  then  to  these  difficulties,  and  in  what 
sense  shall  we  take  the  apostle's  words,  that  God  hath  recon- 
ciled all  things  in  himself,  both  those  that  are  on  earth,  and 
those  that  are  in  heaven  ?  Dear  brethren,  we  will  leave  them 
in  their  genuine  and  ordinary  sense,  and  say  that  these  ex- 
pressions signify  the  recomposing  and  reuniting  of  the  crea- 
tures, both  terrestrial  and  celestial  ;  not  with  God,  but  among 
themselves,  with  each  other.  For  as  in  a  state  the  subjects 
have  a  twofold  union;  one  with  their  prince,  on  whom  they 
all  depend;  another  among  themselves,  as  members  of  the 
same  political  body,  joined  together  by  the  bond  of  mutual 
concord,  amity,  and  correspondence  :  in  like  manner  is  it  with 
things  celestial  and  terrestrial,  the  two  principal  parties  of  this 
great  state  of  God,  which  we  call  the  universe.  Besides  the 
union  they  have  with  God  as  their  sovereign  Monarch,  from 
whose  bounty  they  receive  the  being  and  the  life  they  enjoy  ; 
they  have  another  alliance  and  conjunction  one  with  the  other, 
as  parts  of  one  corporation,  having  been  formed  and  qualified 
for  mutual  fellowship.  It  is  in  this  relation,  and  in  this  union, 
that  the  beauty  and  perfection  of  the  universe  consists,  when 
heaven  and  earth  have  amicable  intercourse,  and  conspire  to 
one  and  the  same  end,  with  a  holy  and  reciprocal  affection. 
Sin  having  broken  the  first  union,  and  separated  man  from  his 
Creator,  by  the  same  means  dissolved  the  second,  loosening  us 
from  the  creatures.  As  in  a  state,  when  some  of  the  subjects 
rise  against  the  sovereign,  those  who  remain  loyal  presently 
disunite  from  the  rebels,  and  instead  of  the  intercourse  they 
held  before  with  them,  make  implacable  war  upon  them,  while 
they  continue  in  their  disobedience.  Such  the  event  proved 
in  the  world.  Man  had  no  sooner  rebelled  against  God,  but 
heaven,  and  all  that  remained  in  obedience,  separated  from 
man.  All  nature  took  up  arms  against  this  rebel,  and  would 
even  then  have  utterly  ruined  him,  if  the  counsel  of  God,  who 
would  not  destroy  us,  had  not  hindered  it.  And  as  from  one 
disorder  there  never  fail  to  spring  up  many  others,  this  first 
rupture  of  man  with  God  and  the  good  creatures  brought 
forth  innumerable  others,  rending  mankind  itself  into  several 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  143 

pieces,  dividing  one  from  the  other  by  diversity  of  religions, 
and  the  aversions  and  animosities  that  attend  them.  Such 
was  the  sad  and  dismal  state  of  the  world,  the  end  of  which 
could  be  nothing  else  but  ruin  and  eternal  perdition  ;  there- 
fore God,  to  restore  its  primitive  beauty,  yea,  to  raise  it  to  a 
perfection  higher  than  that  of  its  first  original,  reconciled  all 
things  by  his  Christ,  both  terrestrial  and  celestial.  He  took 
away  the  wars,  hatreds,  and  aversions  that  divided  them,  and  re- 
duced them  all  into  that  union  which  they  ought  to  have  for  his 
glory  and  their  own  good.  As  to  things  on  earth,  you  know 
the  enmity  of  the  Jews  and  the  separation  of  the  Gentiles, 
whom  the  law,  as  a  partition  wall,  prohibited  from  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  people  of  God.  Christ  laid  this  enclosure  even 
with  the  ground,  and  recalling  the  Gentiles,  associated  and  re- 
allied  them  with  the  Jews,  to  make  them  thenceforth  one  and 
the  same  people.  He  did  as  much  to  the  distinctions  which 
separated  the  more  polite  nations  from  the  barbarous,  the 
Latins  from  the  Greeks,  the  east  from  the  west,  the  north  from 
the  south.  He  removed  all  these  marks  and  differences,  and 
united  all  nations,  sects,  and  conditions  into  one  only  people,  into 
one  body,  namely,  his  church.  Thus  "  things  on  earth"  were 
reconciled.  As  for  "  things  in  heaven,"  it  was  the  good  plea- 
sure of  the  Father  to  reconcile  them  also  by  his  Son.  For  after 
sin  entered,  the  angels,  the  true  citizens  of  heaven,  were  our 
foes  ;  whereas  they  are  henceforth  our  friends  and  allies, 
united  with  us  under  Jesus  Christ,  our  common  Head.  Afore- 
time they  were  armed  against  us  with  a  flaming  sword  ;  now 
they  fight  for  us,  and  encamp  about  us.  They  drove  us  away 
from  the  entrance  into  Paradise  ;  now  they  bear  our  souls 
thither,  at  their  departure  from  this  life.  They  take  part  in 
our  interests,  are  sad  at  our  disasters,  and  rejoice  at  our  re- 
pentance. And  to  testify  how  delightful  this  reconciliation  is 
to  them,  they  saluted  the  birth  of  our  Lord,  who  came  to  make 
it,  with  their  songs  and  melodies.  For  it  they  glorified  God, 
and  blessed  and  congratulated  men.  But  as  the  mischief  of 
our  sin  communicated  itself  to  all  parts  of  the  universe,  even 
to  those  which  are  without  life,  putting  them  all  in  disorder, 
and  subjecting  them  to  vanity  ;  so  1  account  that  this  blessed 
reconciliation  must  be  extended  also  to  them.  The  will  of 
God  was  to  comprehend  them  also  in  it  ;  reuniting  the  heavens 
with  our  earth,  and  all  the  elements  with  us.  For  heaven, 
which  had  nothing  but  lightnings  and  thunder  for  us,  and  that 
would  rather  have  reduced  us  to  nothing  than  receive  us  into 
its  courts,  is  now  liberal  towards  us  of  its  comfortable  light, 
and  opens  to  us  the  most  secret  sanctuaries  of  its  glory.  Life 
is  at  agreement  with  us,  immortality  is  in  good  understanding 
with  our  flesh,  the  grave  is  no  longer  our  enemy,  the  elements 
shall  be  serviceable  to  our  welfare,  they  shall  work  no  more 


H4  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  X. 

against  us.  Tims  you  see  how  the  will  of  God  was  to  recon- 
cile things  on  earth  and  things  in  heaven  by  his  Son  ;  and  re- 
duce all  the  parts  of  the  universe  to  good  terms  each  with 
other.  This  great  work  is  begun,  the  foundations  of  it  are 
laid,  the  pledges  of  it  are  given  us.  But  it  will  not  be  per- 
fectly accomplished  till  the  latter  day,  when  the  world,  freed  from 
the  bondage  under  which  it  yet  groans,  shall  appear  entirely 
changed  ;  its  new  heavens,  and  its  new  earth,  and  its  new  ele- 
ments, with  the  angels  and  saints,  and  all  its  other  parts,  con- 
spiring together  in  an  eternal  concord,  and  an  inviolable  in- 
tercourse, to  the  glory  of  their  common  Creator,  who  shall 
then  be  "  all  in  all,"  as  the  apostle  declares,  1  Cor.  xv.  28. 
And,  in  my  opinion,  he  specially  means  this  in  this  place, 
when  he  saith  that  the  Father  would  reconcile  all  things  in 
himself,  as  the  original  precisely  means.  For  these  words  sig- 
nify, not  the  term,  but  the  end  and  event  of  this  reconcilia- 
tion ;  that  is  to  say,  that  it  shall  be  made,  not  with  God,  (as 
the  greater  part  of  expositors  have  understood  it,)  but  for  the 
glory  of  God.  For  it  is  plain  that  heavenly  things  were  not 
reconciled  to  God,  for  they  never  were  opposed  to  him.  But 
it  is  no  less  evident  that  their  reconciliation  with  us,  in  the 
sense  we  have  explained  it,  will  redound  to  the  glory  of  God, 
when  this  whole  universe  shall  return  entirely  to  its  true  and 
due  union.  When  therefore  the  apostle  saith,  that  it  is  the 
good  pleasure  of  the  Father  to  reconcile  all  things  in  himself, 
he  intends  it  shall  be  for  himself,  that  is,  for  his  own  glory. 

III.  It  remains  now  that  we  speak  of  the  means  which  God 
used  to  bring  this  great  work  of  the  reconciliation  of  the 
world  to  its  end.  Paul  shows  this  to  us,  when  he  adds,  having 
made  peace  by  the  blood  of  the  cross  of  Christ.  The  war 
that  man  had  with  God,  in  consequence  of  his  sin,  was  the 
true  and  only  cause  of  the  bad  understanding  which  existed 
between  us,  the  angels,  and  the  other  parts  of  the  world. 
Whence  it  is  clear  that,  to  make  the  latter  cease,  it  was  only 
necessary  to  extinguish  the  former  ;  that  is,  to  reconcile  us 
with  the  creatures,  it  required  only  to  recover  us  to  the  favour 
of  the  Creator.  This  is  the  means  which  the  Father  in  his 
sovereign  wisdom  used,  and  which  the  apostle  means,  when  he 
saith  that  he  "  made  peace  ;"  that  is,  our  peace,  having  pacified 
his  own  justice,  and  quenched  all  the  fire  of  his  wrath  against 
us.  By  the  sacrifice  that  Jesus  Christ  offered  on  his  cross 
this  miraculous  change  was  wrought.  This  precious  blood 
satisfied  the  justice  of  the  Father,  and  the  odour  of  this  di- 
vine burnt-oftering  sweetened  his  Spirit  ;  and,  severe  and 
inexorable  as  he  was,  rendered  him  propitious  and  favourable  to 
us.  Instead  of  fulminating  his  vengeance,  he  tenders  us  the 
arms  of  his  love  ;  and  no  man  is  so  wretched  but  he  is  ready 
to  receive  him,  provided  he  accept  the  promise  of  his  mercy 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS,  145 

with  a  humble  faith.  Not  long  since,  upon  one  ot  the  fore- 
going texts,  we  treated  of  the  reality,  the  worthiness,  and 
necessity  of  this  satisfaction,  by  which  the  Lord  Jesus  made 
our  peace  with  the  Father,  through  the  shedding  of  his  blood 
on  the  cross,  and  his  voluntarily  suffering  there,  in  our  room, 
the  curse  which  our  sins  deserved.  Therefore  we  will  dis- 
pense with  speaking  more  of  it  at  this  time  ;  and,  to  conclude 
the  exercise,  will  content  ourselves  with  briefly  remarking 
upon  each  of  the  three  points  explained,  the  principal  heads 
of  consolation  and  edification  which  they  contain. 

And  here,  dear  brethren,  which  shall  we  most  admire — the 
goodness  of  the  Father,  and  the  will   he  had  to  raise  us  up 
from  our  fall,  and  to  reconcile  us   with  the  whole  creation, 
whose  hatred  and  aversion  we  had  incurred  ;  or  his  unspeak- 
able wisdom,  in  ordering  this  great  word,  and  in  the  means  he 
elected  and  employed  to  compass  it  ;  or  the  love  of  the  Son, 
who  for  our  welfare  spared  not  his  own  blood  ?     Sinner,  ap- 
proach the  throne  of  God  with  boldness.     He  is  no  longer 
environed  with  flames  and  lightning  flashes.     He  is  full  of 
grace  and  clemency.     Fear  not  his  indignation  or  his  severity  ; 
peace  is  made.     Your  rebellions  are  expiated,  your  sins  are 
purged.     God  requires  nothing  of  you  but  faith  and  repent- 
ance.    His  justice  is  satisfied,  and  doubt  not  but  the  satisfac- 
tion it  hath  received  is  sufficient.     He  that  made  it  for  you  is 
the  well-beloved  of  the  Father,  the  Lord  of  glory,  in  whom 
all  fulness  dwells.     You  will  find  abundantly   in  him  all  the 
good  things  which  are  necessary  for  your  felicity  ;  the  light 
of  wisdom,  to  dissipate  your  darkness,  and  illuminate  your 
understandings  to  a  perfect  knowledge  of  divine  things  ;  a 
righteousness  most  complete,  and  sufficient  every  way  to  jus- 
tify and  exempt  you  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  and  to  open 
the  entrance  of  the  tribunal  of  God  to  you  ;  a  most  efficacious 
sanctification,  to  mortify  the   lusts  of  your   flesh,  and  fill  you 
with  love,  honesty,  and  purity  ;  and  a  most  plentiful  redemp- 
tion, to  deliver  you  from  death,  and  from  all  the  evils  that 
have  connection  with  it,  and  put  you  in  eternal  possession  of 
immortality.     Make  your  advantage  of  this  divine   well  of 
life.   Give  no  ear  to  them  that  call  you  anywhere  else.    You  are 
happy  enough,  if  you  possess  the  Lord  Jesus.     He  is  the  only 
Prince  of  salvation,  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life.     And  as 
for  creatures,  whether  earthly  or  heavenly,  fear  them  not.     If 
you  are  Jesus  Christ's,  they  shall  do  you  no  evil.     He  has  re- 
conciled them  all  to  you.     He  has  taken  from  them  all  the 
will  and  power  they  had  to  hurt  you.     They  desire  your  good, 
and  secretly  favour  you,  owning  you  for  their  friends  and 
allies.     Heaven  looks  down  on  you  in  peace,  and  calls  you  up 
into  its  holy  place.     The  angels  bless  you,  and  direct  all  your 
ways.     This  earth  will  hold  you  no  longer  than  your  common 
19 


146  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.    X. 

Lord  shall  judge  expedient  for  his  own  glory  and  your  salva- 
tion. 

But  if  this  general  peace  which  you  have  now  with  God  and 
the  world  rejoice  you,  the  means  by  which  it  was  procured 
should  no  less  ravish  you  ;  even  that  blood  of  Christ  shed 
upon  the  cross,  the  grand  miracle  of  God,  the  price  of  your 
liberty,  the  salvation  and  the  glory  of  the  universe.  What 
and  how  ardent  was  that  love  which  gave  so  rich  and  so  admi- 
rable a  ransom  for  you  !  What  will  he  deny  you,  who  has 
not  kept  back  his  own  blood  from  you  !  who  to  make  you 
happy,  abhorred  not  a  cross,  the  most  infamous  of  all  punish- 
ments !  who,  to  raise  you  up  to  the  most  eminent  contentment, 
underwent  the  extremest  dolours  ;  the  lowest  disgrace,  to  bring 
you  to  the  highest  glory  ;  the  malediction  of  God,  to  commu- 
nicate to  you  his  benediction  !  Oh,  over-happy  christians,  if 
you  could  discern  your  bliss  !  Where  is  the  anguish  of  spirit 
or  the  trouble  of  conscience,  or  the  loss,  or  the  suffering,  or 
the  reproach,  which  the  meditation  of  this  love  should  not 
console?  Who  shall  condemn  us,  since  the  Son  of  God 
died  to  merit  our  absolution?  Who  shall  accuse  us,  since 
his  blood  and  his  cross  defend  us  ?  Who  shall  take  from  us 
the  benevolence  of  the  Father,  since  he  has  obtained  it  for  us, 
and  preserves  it  for  us  ?  Who  shall  pluck  out  of  our  hands 
a  life  he  has  given  us,  a  salvation  that  he  has  so  dearly 
bought  ? 

Dear  brethren,  these  considerations,  which  open  to  us  so 
rich  a  source  of  consolation,  oblige  us  also  to  a  peculiar  sanc- 
tification. For  how  great  will  be  the  hardness  of  our  hearts, 
if  these  great  evidences  which  God  has  given  us  of  his  love  do 
not  affect  us  !  if  they  kindle  not  in  us  an  ardent  affection 
towards  a  God  who  has  so  loved  us,  a  sacred  and  inviolable 
respect  towards  a  Eedeemer  who  has  done  so  much  for  us  ! 
He  has  reconciled  and  reunited  all  things  in  him,  both  terres- 
trial and  celestial.  Let  us  live  then  henceforth  in  such  a 
manner  as  may  answer  this  happy  alliance.  Let  us  no  more 
afflict  heaven,  no  more  scandalize  the  earth,  by  the  impurity 
of  our  deportment.  Let  us  labour,  in  conjunction  with  all  the 
creatures,  for  the  service  and  to  the  glory  of  our  common 
Lord.  Let  us  imitate  the  purity,  the  zeal,  and  the  obedience 
of  those  celestial  spirits,  into  whose  society  we  are  entered  by 
the  benefit  of  this  reconciliation.  Let  us  be  clothed  as  they 
are,  with  a  beautiful  and  pleasing  light.  Our  lot  is,  to  be  one 
day  like  them,  in  immortality  ;  let  us  be  so,  for  the  present,  in 
sanctity.  Our  peace  is  made  with  God,  Let  us  not  make 
war  upon  him  any  more.  He  has  pardoned  us  all  the  enor- 
mity and  rage  of  our  rebellion  ;  let  us  never  turn  to  any  of 
them  again.  He  will  be  our  good  Lord  and  gracious  Master. 
Let  us  be  his  faithful  subjects  and  obedient  servants.     Let  the 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE    COLOSSIÀNS.  147 

blood  of  Christ  wipe  away  both  our  guilt  and  our  filth.  Let 
us  fasten  our  old  man  to  his  cross  ;  let  the  nails  that  there 
pierced  his  flesh  pierce  also  the  members  of  ours.  Let  the 
cross  that  made  him  die  make  all  our  lusts  die,  and  extinguish  by 
little  and  little  in  us  that  earthly,  carnal  and  vicious  life  which 
we  derive  from  the  first  Adam,  to  regenerate  and  raise  us  up 
again  with  the  Second,  to  a  new,  holy  and  spiritual  life,  worthy 
of  that  blood  by  which  he  has  purchased  it  for  us,  and  of  that 
Spirit  by  whom  he  has  communicated  the  beginning  of  it  to 
us,  and  of  that  sanctuary  of  immortality,  where  he  will  fully 
finish  it  one  day  to  his  own  glory  and  our  eternal  blessed- 
ness. Amen. 


SERMON  XI 

VERSES  21,  22. 


And  you^  that  were  sometime  alienated  and  enemies  in  your  mind 
by  wicked  zuorJcs,  yet  now  hath  he  reconciled  in  the  body  of  his 
fiesh  through  death^  to  present  you  holy  and  unblamable  and 
unreprovable  in  his  sight. 

Dear  brethren,  it  was  long  since  observed  by  philosophers, 
and  we  still  find  it  by  experience,  that  general  things  actuate 
the  spirits  of  men  but  very  little.  The  cause  is,  that  being 
naturally  bound  too  closely,  every  one  to  his  particular  inter- 
ests, they  mind  only  that  which  affects  them,  and  are  not  soli- 
citous about  a  common  concern,  till  by  some  means  they  are 
made  painfully  sensible  that  they  have  a  part  in  it.  The  min- 
isters of  the  church  therefore  should  not  content  themselves 
with  proposing  the  maxims  of  heavenly  doctrine  collectively, 
and  in  general  terms  only,  to  the  souls  whose  edification  is 
committed  to  them  ;  but  that  they  may  get  hold  of  them,  and 
produce  some  good  effect  upon  them,  they  must  apply  to  them 
in  particular  each  of  those  divine  verities.  Paul,  whose  exam- 
ple should  serve  as  a  rule  to  all  the  true  servants  of  God,  takes 
this  course  in  several  places  in  his  Epistles  ;  and  particularly 
in  the  text  we  have  now  read.  For  having  before  represented 
to  the  Colossians  the  reconciliation  of  things  on  earth  and 
things  in  heaven,  by  means  of  the  peace  which  was  made 
through  the  blood  of  Christ,  according  to  the  good  pleasure  of 
the  Father,  he  now  descends  from  general  things  to  particular 
cases  ;  and  to  excite  in  the  hearts  of  these  faithful  persons  a 
more  lively  feeling  of  this  grace  of  God,  he  reminds  them  by 


148  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.   XI. 

name  of  the  part  wliich  thev  had  in  it  ;  inasmuch  as  the  effi- 
cacy of  this  grace  had  been  displayed  upon  them,  in  drawing 
them  out  from  perdition,  and  advancing  them  to  the  highest 
happiness.  "  And  you,  that  were  sometime  alienated  and 
enemies  in  your  minds  by  wicked  works,  yet  now  hath  he 
reconciled  in  the  body  of  his  flesh  through  death,  to  present 
you  holy  and  unblamable  and  unreprovable  in  his  sight,"  To 
heighten  the  excellency  of  the  benefit  God  had  conferred  on 
them,  he  first  sets  before  their  eyes  their  miserable  estate  by 
nature,  before  the  gospel  was  preached  unto  them.  You  were, 
saith  he,  formerly  alienated  from  God,  "  and  enemies  in  your 
mind  by  wicked  works,"  Next,  he  sets  forth  the  favour  which 
God  afterward  showed  them,  notwithstanding  all  their  unwor- 
thiness.  And  "yet  now,"  says  he,  "hath  he  reconciled  you  in 
the  body  of  his  flesh  through  death."  Finally,  to  induce  them 
to  pursue  a  complete  sanctification,  he  represents  to  them  the 
purpose  or  end  of  their  reconciliation  with  God  :  "  to  present 
you  holy  and  unblamable  and  unreprovable  in  his  sight." 
These  three  points  we  will  handle,  God  willing,  in  this  ser- 
mon, distinctly,  one  after  the  other.  The  first  and  natural 
estate  of  the  Colossians  before  grace  ;  their  reconciliation  with 
God,  made  in  the  body  of  the  flesh  of  Christ,  by  his  death  ;  and 
the  end  of  this  reconciliation,  to  be  holy  and  unreprovable 
before  him. 

I.  Certainly,  since  the  sin  of  Adam  corrupted  and  infected 
our  nature,  there  are  no  men  born  into  the  world  whose  con- 
dition of  itself  is  not  most  wretched.  Yet  their  misery  is  no- 
where so  clearly  discovered  as  in  the  heathen,  who  are  born  and 
live  without  the  covenant  of  God,  For  as  to  those  whom  he 
prevents  with  his  grace,  by  training  them  up  in  his  church 
from  the  beginning  of  their  life,  his  light  and  his  goodness 
encompassing  them  from  their  nativity,  hinder  them  from 
discerning  so  fully  the  horrid  corruption  of  our  nature. 
Whereas,  heathens  having  no  other  guide  but  that  nature,  its 
state  and  strength  is  to  be  manifestly  seen  in  them.  The  Co- 
lossians, to  whom  Paul  writes,  were  of  this  order.  Gentiles  by 
extraction,  by  religion,  and  in  manners,  before  Jesus  Christ 
enlightened  them.  Let  us  behold  in  them  an  image  of  the  con- 
dition in  which  we  should  be  if  God  had  not  separated  us  from 
the  rest  of  men,  and  seasonably  drawn  us  out  of  our  original 
misery.  The  apostle  saith,  first,  that  "sometime,"  that  is, 
before  their  conversion,  they  were  "  alienated,"  that  is,  estranged 
from  God,  from  his  covenant,  and  from  his  people,  as 
he  explains  it  more  largely  elsewhere.  Eemember,  says  he 
to  the  Ephesians,  "  that  at  that  time  ye  were  without  Christ, 
being  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel,  and  strangers 
from  the  covenants  of  promise,  having  no  hope,  and  without 
God  in  the  world,"  Eph,  ii,  12.    They  had  no  communion  with 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  149 

the  true  God  ;  were  so  far  from  adoring  him,  that  they  not 
even  so  much  as  thought  on  him,  and  derided  the  only  nation 
in  the  world  that  knew  and  served  him.  This  is  clear  from 
the  books  of  the  ancient  heathens  which  are  still  extant, 
as  well  as  from  the  ignorance  and  idolatry  of  the  modern. 

But  the  apostle  goes  further  still,  and  adds,  that  at  that  time 
they  were  enemies  of  God  ;  which  comprehends  two  things  : 
first,  that  they  hated  God,  and  warred  against  him  ;  the  second, 
that  God  accounted  and  pursued  them  as  his  enemies. 

And,  first,  Paul  declares  this  expressly  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Eomans,  where,  among  other  characters  which  he  gives  the 
heathen,  he  mentions  that  they  were  "  full  of  envy,  murder, 
debate,  deceit,  malignity  ;  whisperers,  backbiters,  haters  of 
God,"  Eom.  i.  29,  30  ;  upon  which  a  question  arises,  how  it  is 
true  that  the  heathen  hated  God.  For  either  they  knew  him, 
or  they  knew  him  not.  If  they  knew  him  not,  how  did  they 
hate  him,  since  love  and  hatred  are  two  passions  which  cannot 
be  exercised  but  towards  objects  known,  it  being  as  impossible 
to  hate  as  it  is  to  love  that  which  we  know  not  ?  And  if  they 
knew  him,  seeing  he  is  the  chief  good,  how  is  it  possible  they 
should  hate  him,  since  our  will  is  not  capable  of  hating  any 
known  good  ?  To  this  I  answer,  first,  that  when  the  Scrip- 
ture says  the  heathen  hated  God,  it  does  not  mean  that  God 
was  the  proper  and  formal  object  of  their  hatred.  For  it  is 
certain  that  in  this  sense  the  Deity  cannot  be  hated  by  them 
who  are  ignorant  of  him,  nor  can  he  be  otherwise  than  loved 
by  those  who  know  him.  But  the  Holy  Ghost  thus  speaks,  to 
signify  that  these  wretches  act  altogether  as  if  they  hated  God. 
It  is  a  form  of  speech  familiar  enough,  to  put  the  cause  for  the 
effect,  and  the  antecedent  for  the  consequent.  Now  these  peo- 
ple, in  their  blindness,  defaced  the  glory  of  God  as  much  as 
they  could.  They  battered  down  the  most  illustrious  marks 
of  his  Godhead  ;  they  blasphemed  his  providence,  they  reviled 
his  nature.  They  robbed  him  of  the  honour  of  creating  and 
preserving  the  universe,  and  gave  it  to  monsters.  They  de- 
spised his  will,  and  reversed  all  his  orders.  They  passion- 
ately loved  that  which  he  most  abhorred,  and  abhorred  that 
with  which  he  is  best  pleased.  Are  not  these  the  ordinary  and 
natural  effects  of  hatred  ?  It  is,  therefore,  with  great  propri- 
ety that  the  Scripture,  to  set  forth  the  impiety  and  fury  of  the 
heathens,  says  that  they  hated  God,  since  they  treated  hira  in 
the  very  same  manner  as  if  they  had  directly  hated  him.  As 
when  the  wise  man  says,  that  the  wicked  hate  their  own  soul, 
or  their  own  life.  Pro  v.  xxix.  24  ;  viii.  36,  it  is  not  to  signify 
that  their  will  has,  properly,  any  aversion  to  their  own  life  ; 
on  the  contrary,  they  love  it  too  much  :  but  to  declare  that 
they  conduct  themselves  just  as  if  they  expressly  hated  it,  lov- 
ing and  practising,  with  extreme  vehemency,  the  things  that 


150  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XI. 

cause  their  ruin,  and  neglecting  and  abhorring  those  which 
would  lead  them  to  salvation. 

Secondly,  though  the  heathen  have  some  knowledge  of  God, 
yet  because  they  suppose  him  to  be  quite  opposed  to  that 
which  he  really  is,  they  may  with  propriety  be  said  to  hate 
him.  For  though  it  be  not  possible  for  us  to  hate  good,  so 
far  as  it  is  good  ;  nevertheless  it  often  happens,  that  error  re- 
presenting things  to  us  as  quite  contrary  to  what  they  are  in 
themselves,  we  love  that  which  is  indeed  worthy  of  hatred, 
and  we  hate  that  which  is  in  truth  most  worthy  to  be  loved. 
From  such  an  illusion  did  the  pagans'  hatred  of  God  arise. 
For  imagining  him  a  tyrant,  full  of  cruelty  and  injustice;  or 
an  idle  king,  who  has  no  care  of  his  state  ;  it  needs  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that,  their  understanding  falsely  conceiving  him  un- 
der so  monstrous  a  likeness,  their  will  should  be  influenced  to 
hate  him,  rather  than  to  love  him.  And  those  among  them 
who  had  a  better  opinion  of  him,  nevertheless  loved  him  not  ; 
for  by  an  extreme  perversion  of  mind,  which  placed  their  su- 
preme happiness  in  the  enjoyment  of  pleasures  and  vices, 
while  sensible  that  God  hated  them  and  punished  them,  they 
considered  him  as  an  enemy  to  their  felicity.  Thus  the  love 
of  vice  induced  them  to  hate  him.  Whence  it  followed,  that 
God  on  his  side  being  supremely  good  and  just,  condemned 
their  impiety,  and  resolved  to  punish  it.  This  is  what  the 
Scripture  figuratively  calls  God's  hatred  ;  and  this  is  what  the 
apostle  means,  when  he  says  that  the  Colossians  in  their  pa- 
ganism were  enemies  of  God. 

But  to  show  us  how  deeply  this  enmity  was  rooted  in  them, 
having  said  that  they  were  enemies,  he  adds,  "  in  their  minds" 
or  understanding.  The  understanding  is  the  principal  and 
highest  faculty  of  our  soul,  which  moves  and  guides  our  wills 
and  affections,  and  is  consequently  the  governor  of  our  whole 
life.  The  apostle  says,  therefore,  that  rebellion  and  enmity 
against  God  have  taken  up  their  seat  in  the  understanding  ; 
seizing,  if  we  may  so  speak,  on  this  grand  citadel  of  our  na- 
ture, and  from  thence  continually  making  war  against  God. 
This  war,  the  apostle  intends,  when  he  adds,  "  by  wicked 
works."  I  should  never  finish  if  I  were  to  attempt  now  to  de- 
scribe all  the  enormities  of  the  lives  of  the  heathen.  Paul 
gives  us  an  epitome  of  them  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans  :  he  there  expatiates  upon  the  principal  fruits 
of  their  impiety,  their  injustice,  their  uncleanness,  and  their 
abominations  ;  vice  being  grown  to  such  a  height  among 
them,  that  they  not  only  committed  it,  but  also  favoured  it, 
and  took  no  shame  to  adore  the  very  persons  whom  they  con- 
fessed to  have  been  extremely  imbued  with  it.  This  dissolute- 
ness and  abandonment  to  wicked  works  was  a  clear  conviction 
of  their  enmity  against  God,  and  renders  them  altogether  in- 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  151 

excusable;  because  however  great  and  universal  their  corrup- 
tion, yet  they  were  not  ignorant,  as  the  apostle  says  shortly 
afterwards,  "that  they  which  commit  such  things  are  worthy 
of  death,"  Eom.  i.  32. 

This  doctrine,  touching  the  state  of  the  heathens,  deserves 
great  consideration.  For  it  teaches  us  two  things  of  very  great 
importance  :  first,  the  quality  of  the  corruption  of  our  nature 
by  sin  ;  and  secondly,  its  extent.  Respecting  its  quality,  you 
see  it  is  so  horrible,  that  it  sets  us  far  from  God,  and  makes  us 
strangers  and  enemies  to  him  ;  it  is  so  deep,  that  it  has  insin- 
uated itself  into  all  the  faculties  of  our  souls,  even  the  under- 
standing itself,  the  noblest  of  them  all  ;  and  finally,  it  is  so 
contagious,  that  it  infects  all  our  works  with  its  venom,  none 
issuing  forth  but  wicked  ones.  Hence  it  appears,  first,  how 
false  and  pernicious  is  the  imagination  of  those  who  place  this 
corruption  in  the  lower  part  of  the  soul  only,  in  the  affections 
and  sensual  appetites,  and  in  their  resistance  of  reason  ;  and 
assert  that  the  understanding  has  remained  in  its  integrity. 
Paul  plainly  declares  the  contrary,  lodging  enmity  and  rebel- 
lion against  God  in  the  understanding  of  the  heathens  ;  and 
this  truth  he  testifies  in  various  places  :  as  when  he  says,  that 
"the  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  ;  for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him,  neither  can  he  know 
them,"  1  Cor.  ii.  14;  and  that  "the  carnal  mind  is  enmity 
against  God;  for  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither 
indeed  can  be,"  Rom.  viii.  T.  And  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephe- 
sians,  that  the  Gentiles  have  their  "  understanding  darkened," 
Eph.  iv.  18.  We  confess,  then,  that  this  evil  is  universal  ;  that 
it  has  depraved  our  whole  nature,  and  left  nothing  sound  or 
whole  in  us,  from  the  sole  of  the  foot  to  the  crown  of  the  head. 
It  has  extinguished  the  light  of  the  understanding,  and  filled 
it  with  the  thickest  darkness.  It  has  made  the  motions  of  the 
will  irregular,  and  dreadfully  disordered  all  the  passions  and 
affections.  And  so  palpable  is  this,  that  the  two  masters  of  pa- 
gan philosophy  have  in  some  degree  perceived  it,  and  as  it 
were,  felt  it,  while  they  were  groping  in  their  darkness.  One 
of  them  records  in  writing,  that  the  soul  of  man  is  sick  of  two 
maladies,  ignorance  and  wickedness  ;  and  the  other,  that  there 
is  something  in  our  nature,  I  know  not  what,  which  resists 
right  reason.*  On  the  same  ground  you  may  observe  again, 
how  vain  is  the  conceit  of  those  who  ascribe  I  know  not  what 
merits  of  congruity,  as  they  call  them,  to  men  out  of  the  state 
of  grace.  Would  you  know  how  the  Colossians  invited  God 
to  gratify  them  with  the  light  of  his  gospel  ?  They  were,  says 
the  apostle,  "  alienated  and  enemies  in  their  minds  by  wicked 
works."     If  a  subject  merits  the  favour  of  his  sovereign,  by 

*  Plato  in  Soph.     Aristotle,  Ethic.  I.  1. 


152  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XI. 

turning  his  back  upon  him  and  departing  from  him  ;  if  rebel- 
lion and  enmity  constrain  him  to  be  gracious;  if  wicked 
works  incline  the  goodness  of  God  to  communicate  itself  to 
men  ;  then  I  confess  that  they  who  are  out  of  his  covenant 
may  merit  his  grace.  But  since  it  is  quite  the  contrary,  and 
everybody  well  knows  that  such  conduct  evidently  provokes 
justice,  and  enforces  punishment  ;  who  does  not  see  that  man, 
while  he  is  in  the  corruption  of  his  nature,  merits  nothing, 
either  by  way  of  condignity  or  of  congruity,  but  the  cui-se  of 
God,  according  to  what  the  apostle  says  in  another  place,  that 
"  by  nature  we  are  children  of  wrath  ?"  Eph.  ii.  3. 

Secondly,  this  text  discloses  to  us  the  extent  of  this  corrup- 
tion. For  if  any  sort  of  men  could  be  found  exempted  from 
it,  in  all  probability  it  would  be  the  Greeks,  the  most  polite 
and  civilized  of  all  people.  Nevertheless  the  apostle  involves 
them  here  in  this  universal  misery.  From  this  it  appears  how 
much  some  of  the  most  ancient  writers  of  Christianity  were 
mistaken,  whom  the  love  of  learning  and  secular  erudition  so 
charmed,  that  they  hesitated  not  to  say  that  the  Gentiles,  by 
means  of  their  philosophy,  might  become  acceptable  to  God, 
and  attain  salvation.*  I  admit  that  they  had  a  very  quick  un- 
derstanding, as  we  discover  by  their  books,  in  which  they  have 
left  us  admirable  specimens  of  the  acuteness  of  their  minds. 
Neither  do  I  deny  that  God  presented  them,  both  in  the  nature 
and  government  of  this  vast  universe,  with  very  clear  and 
most  illustrious  arguments  of  his  power,  wisdom,  goodness,  and 
providence  ;  as  Paul  says,  "  He  left  not  himself  without  witness," 
Acts  xiv.  17  ;  and  again,  "That  which  may  be  known  of  God  is 
manifested  in  them,"  &c.,  Rom.  i.  19,  20.  But  all  this  light 
only  shows  us  the  greatness  of  their  corruption.  For  they, 
with  all  the  vivacity  of  their  spirits,  made  no  proficiency  in 
the  school  of  providence  toward  fearing  God  and  serving  him, 
but  became  vain  in  their  imaginations,  and  miserably  abused 
the  gifts  of  heaven  ;  so  that  the  only  result  of  this  dispensation 
was,  that  they  were  thereby  rendered  inexcusable.  We  con- 
clude, then,  that  all  men  generally,  not  one  excepted,  are  by 
nature  such  as  the  apostle  here  describes  the  Colossians,  alien- 
ated, and  enemies  in  their  minds  by  wicked  works.  There  is 
nothing  but  the  word  of  the  Lord  which  is  able  to  bring  them 
out  of  this  state  by  the  saving  grace  of  his  Spirit  with  which 
God  accompanies  it.  And  this  the  apostle  represents  here  to 
the  Colossians,  in  the  second  place.  For  having  minded  them 
of  their  former  condition,  he  adds,  "  yet  now  hath  he  reconciled 
in  the  body  of  his  flesh,"  that  is,  the  flesh  of  Jesus  Christ,  through 
his  death. 

Their  former  condition  was  very  miserable.     For  what  can 

*  Clem.  Alexaud.  Strom.  6. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  153 

be  imagined  more  wretched  tlian  men  far  from  God  and  stran- 
gers to  Him,  in  whose  communion  alone  all  their  welfare  con- 
sists— men,  enemies  to  Him  without  whose  love  they  can  have 
no  true  good  ?  Yet,  in  addition  to  misery,  there  was  also  horror 
in  their  case.  Misery  ordinarily  stirs  up  pity  ;  theirs  was 
worthy  of  abhorrence  and  hatred.  For  what  is  there  in  the 
world  that  less  deserves  the  compassion  of  God  and  men,  or  is 
more  worthy  of  the  execration  of  heaven  and  earth,  than  a 
subject  who  withdraws  from  his  sovereign  ;  who  hates  him,  and 
wars  against  him  ;  who  insolently  violates  all  his  laws,  and 
abandons  himself  to  all  the  crimes  he  has  forbidden  ;  especially 
if  the  sovereign  be  gracious  and  beneficent,  as  the  Lord  is,  the 
only  author  of  all  our  being,  life,  and  motion  ?  But,  0  inesti- 
mable and  incomprehensible  goodness  !  God,  for  all  this,  did 
not  forbear  to  have  pity  on  the  Colossians.  He  sought  them 
when  they  were  alienated  from  him  ;  he  offered  them  peace 
when  they  made  war  upon  him  ;  he  took  them  for  his  friends, 
and  chose  them  for  his  children,  when  they  showed  him  the 
greatest  hatred  and  enmity.  Their  wicked  works  deserved  his 
curse,  and  he  bestowed  on  them  his  grace.  Their  rebellion 
deserved  his  direful  flashes,  and  he  sent  them  his  comfortable 
light. 

II.  This  contrast  the  apostle  here  indicates  when  he  says, 
"  yet  now  hath  he  reconciled."  A  similar  contrast  he  expresses 
elsewhere,  upon  the  same  subject,  saying,  "God  commendeth 
his  love  toward  us,  in  that,  while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ 
died  for  us,"  Rom.  v.  8.  To  set  forth  this  great  grace  of  God 
towards  these  faithful  people,  he  says  that  God  hath  reconciled 
them.  Having  spoken  of  their  estrangement  and  of  their  en- 
mity with  God,  with  great  propriety  he  uses  the  word  recon- 
cile to  signify  bringing  them  again  into  his  love  and  favour. 
It  happens  sometimes,  in  the  misunderstandings  of  men,  that 
aversion  and  hatred  are  only  on  one  side,  one  of  the  parties 
seeking  the  favour  of  the  other.  Here,  as  we  have  before  inti- 
mated, the  aversion  was  mutual.  For  we  hated  God,  and  he, 
because  of  our  sins,  hated  us.  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  for 
our  restoration,  that  both  the  one  and  the  other  of  these  pas- 
sions should  be  remedied  ;  that  is,  that  the  wrath  of  God  against 
us  should  be  appeased,  and  our  hatred  and  enmity  against  him 
extinguished.  The  word  reconcile,  of  itself,  comprehends  both  ; 
but  in  the  apostle's  writings  it  refers  principally  to  the  first, 
that  is,  the  mitigation  and  appeasing  of  the  wrath  of  God  ;  and 
indeed  this  is  the  principal  point  of  our  reconciliation.  For 
God  being  our  sovereign  Lord,  it  would  not  benefit  us  at  all  to 
change  our  will  towards  him  if  his  did  not  operate  favourably 
towards  us  ;  as  the  repentance  and  tears  of  a  subject  are  vain, 
if  his  prince  reject  them,  and  remain  still  angry  with  him. 

Again,  the  word  reconcile,  as  also  most  words  of  the  same 
20 


154  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  XI. 

form  and  nature,  is  taken  two  ways.  For  either  it  signifies 
simply  the  action  which  has  the  virtue  necessary  to  make  re- 
conciliation, or  it  comprises  the  effect  of  it  also.  It  is  in  the 
first  sense  that  the  apostle  used  it  before,  when  he  said  that  God 
hath  reconciled  all  things,  celestial  and  terrestrial,  in  himself, 
or  for  himself,  having  made  peace  through  the  blood  of  the  cross 
of  Christ,  For  he  means  simply  that  God  has  taken  away  the 
causes  of  hatred  and  enmity,  and  opened  the  way  of  reconcilia- 
tion ;  not  that  all  things  are  already  actually  reconciled.  It  is 
thus  again  that  we  must  understand  that  which  he  says  in  ano- 
ther place,  "that  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto 
himsel]^  not  imputiug  their  trespasses  unto  them,"  2  Cor.  v.  19. 
But  the  apostle  uses  the  word  reconcile  in  the  second  sense, 
when  he  says  that  we  have  obtained  reconciliation  by  Christ; 
and  when  he  beseeches  us  to  "  be  reconciled  to  God  ;"  it  being 
evident  that  in  these  places  he  intends  not  the  right  and  power 
only,  but  the  very  efî'ect  and  actual  possession  of  reconciliation. 
According  to  this  import  we  must  understand  the  word  recon- 
cile in  the  text.  For  this  reconciliation  may  be  again  consid- 
ered two  ways  :  first,  in  general,  as  made  by  Jesus  Christ  on 
the  cross  ;  and  secondly,  in  particular,  as  applied  to  each  of  us 
by  faith.  In  the  first  consideration  it  is  presented  to  all  men 
as  sufficient  for  their  salvation,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
apostle,  that  "the  grace  of  God  that  bringeth  salvation  hath 
appeared  to  all  men,"  Tit.  ii.  11;  and  that  also  of  John,  that 
Jesus  Christ  "  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins  :  and  not  for  ours 
only,  but  also  for  the  sms  of  the  whole  world,"  1  John  ii.  2. 
Under  the  second  consideration  it  appertains  only  to  the  be- 
liever, according  to  that  clause  of  the  covenant  which  declares 
that  the  only  begotten  Son  was  given  to  the  world,  "that  who- 
soever believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life,"  John  iii.  16.  Precisely  in  this  sense  the  apostle  here  says 
that  God  had  reconciled  the  Colossians;  he  means,  not  simply 
that  God  had  not  only  prepared  the  way  through  the  cross  of 
his  Son  for  their  reconciliation  to  him  by  believing,  but  also 
that  he  had  effectively  reconciled  them  to  himself,  and  put  them 
in  real  possession  of  the  benefits  that  were  purchased  for  us  by 
the  merit  of  Christ  ;  embracing  them  as  his  children,  pardoning 
all  their  sins,  and  obliviating  all  his  wrath  and  aversion  against 
them  which  their  offences  had  enkindled. 

But  again,  the  apostle  here  informs  them  of  the  means  by 
which  this  reconciliation  was  effected,  it  being  a  subject  of 
infinite  importance  both  to  the  glory  of  God  and  their  edifica- 
tion. He  hath  reconciled  you,  he  says,  "  in  the  body  of  his 
flesh"  (that  is  to  say,  of  the  flesh  of  his  Christ)  "  through 
death."  There  is  not  one  of  these  words  that  does  not  possess 
very  great  force.  First,  when  he  speaks  here  of  the  body  of 
our  Lord,  he  intimates  to  us  the  mystery  of  his  incarnation. 


CHAP.   I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  155 

As  if  he  had  said  that  God  so  loved  us,  that  he  would  have  his 
own  Son  to  become  man,  to  reunite  and  reconcile  us  to  himself. 
He  would  have  this  divine  person,  whose  essence  is  spiritual 
and  infinite,  to  assume  a  visible  and  finite  body.  He  shows  us 
also  by  this  expression  the  sacrifice  by  which  the  wrath  of  God 
was  appeased,  and  our  crimes  expiated.  For  it  is  properly  for 
this  that  the  Son  of  God  had  a  body,  as  the  apostle  teaches  us, 
when,  opposing  this  body  of  the  Lord  to  sacrifices  of  living 
creatures,  that  were  unprofitable  and  incapable  of  satisfying 
the  justice  of  the  Father,  he  introduces  him  saying,  "Sacrifice 
and  offering  thou  wouldst  not,  but  a  body  hast  thou  prepared 
me;"  and  further  he  adds,  "by  the  which  will  we  are  sanctified 
through  the  offering  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,"  Heb.  x. 
5,  10. 

But  the  apostle  does  not  say  simply  the  body  of  Christ;  he 
adds,  "  the  body  of  his  flesh,"  that  is  according  to  the  style  of 
the  Hebrews,  his  fleshy  body,  his  body  of  flesh.  At  first  it 
may  appear  to  you  that  this  addition  is  needless,  and  to  no 
purpose;  but  it  is  far  otherwise.  For  in  the  language  of 
Scripture  every  body  is  not  flesh.  It  gives  this  name  only  to 
a  feeble  and  mortal  body.  He  means  therefore  that  the 
Lord,  to  reconcile  us,  not  only  assumed  a  body,  which  indeed 
is  very  marvellous,  but  that  he  took  a  feeble  and  mortal  body, 
a  body  sustaining  itself  by  meat  and  drink,  a  body  like  ours, 
and  subject  to  all  their  meannesses  and  infirmities.  A  consid- 
eration, as  you  perceive,  that  exceedingly  enhances  both  the 
excellency  of  his  love  towards  us,  and  the  value  of  the  means 
by  which  he  reconciled  us  ;  the  King  of  glory,  who  is  the 
Author  and  Mediator  of  this  work,  having  invested  himself 
with  poor  flesh  to  compass  his  design.  And  this  is  the  reason 
why  the  sacred  writers  so  often  use  this  word  to  signify  our 
Lord's  human  nature  ;  they  say  that  "God  was  manifested  in 
the  flesh  ;"  that  "  the  Word  was  made  flesh  ;"  that  the  Son 
partook  of  flesh  and  blood,  1  Tim.  iii.  16  ;  John  i.  14  ;  Heb. 
ii.  14.  Indeed,  this  qualification  of  the  body  of  Christ  was 
necessary  for  the  expiation  of  our  sins,  since  this  could  not  be 
effected  but  by  sufferings,  of  which  a  fleshy  body  only  is 
capable.  Hence  it  follows  that,  in  the  6th  chapter  of  John, 
where  he  himself  speaks  of  the  virtue  he  has  to  quicken  us,  he 
also  uses  these  very  words,  "  My  flesh  is  meat  indeed,  and  my 
blood  is  drink  indeed  ;"  and  "The  bread  that  I  will  give  is  my 
flesh  which  I  will  give  for  the  life  of  the  world,"  ver.  51,  55. 
From  this  I  understand  this  passage  as  referring  to  the  natural 
body  of  Christ,  and  not  to  his  mystical  body,  to  which  some 
suppose  it  to  refer.  I  acknowledge  that  the  Lord  receives  into 
the  union  of  his  mystical  body,  his  church  that  is,  all  those 
who,  applying  to  themselves  the  promises  of  his  gospel  by 
faith,  are  effectually  reconciled  to  God.     Yet  this  is  not  the 


156  AN   EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XI. 

body  to  which  the  apostle  here  alludes,  since  the  body  he 
speaks  of  is  the  body  of  the  flesh  of  the  Lord,  which  cannot  be 
affirmed  of  his  mystical  body.  When  he  says,  therefore,  that 
God  hath  reconciled  us  in  his  body,  it  must  be  understood  as 
though  he  had  said;  by  his  body.  For,  as  we  have  often  in- 
formed you,  it  is  the  ordinary  practice  of  Scripture  to  put  in 
for  by.  And  hence  it  appears  how  extravagant  was  the  im- 
agination of  some  ancient  heretics,  who  authoritatively  affirmed 
that  Jesus  Christ  had  but  a  vain  and  false  appearance  of  a 
body,  and  not  a  real,  solid,  and  true  body  ;  as  was  also  the 
error  of  those  who  confessed  he  had  a  true  body,  but  held  it  to 
be  celestial,  and  of  quite  a  different  matter  and  substance  from 
ours.  The  apostle  refutes  these  foolish  fancies  by  terming  the 
body  of  our  Lord  "  the  body  of  his  flesh." 

Having  said  that  we  were  "  reconciled  in  the  body  of  his 
flesh,"  the  apostle  adds,  in  the  last  place,  "  through  death."  It 
was  not  enough,  my  christian  brethren,  that  the  King  of  glory, 
the  Prince  of  life,  assumed  to  himself  a  body,  and  even  a  body 
of  flesh,  vile  and  infirm  as  yours,  to  reconcile  you  to  God  ;  it 
was  necessary  that  he  should  die.  His  flesh  would  have 
profited  you  nothing,  if  it  had  not  suffered  that  death  which 
you  deserved.  But  of  this  death  of  the  Lord,  of  its  necessity 
and  efficacy,  we  have  spoken  largely,  upon  the  preceding  texts. 
Here  we  will  only  make  two  remarks  before  we  proceed  further. 
The  first  is,  that  Christ  satisfied  the  justice  of  his  Father  for 
us,  since  it  is  by  his  death  that  he  reconciled  us  ;  for  unless  this 
be  asserted,  it  is  evident  his  death  will  have  contributed 
nothing  to  our  reconciliation;  in  this  respect  he  would  have 
died  in  vain.  Let  it  be  granted  that  it  was  needful  that  he 
should  die  to  confirm  his  doctrine,  and  to  give  us  an  example 
of  patience;  though  in  truth  this  does  not  appear  to  be  a 
sufficient  reason  why  the  Son  of  God  should  die,  still  upon 
this  supposition  his  death  will  have  contributed  nothing  to 
our  reconciliation  with  the  Father.  His  own  mercy  alone,  and 
not  any  consideration  of  this  death,  would  have  appeased  him 
towards  us.  And  nevertheless,  the  apostle  says  expressly,  we 
were  reconciled  through  that  death  which  the  Lord  suffered  in 
the  body  of  his  flesh.  Surely  then  it  must  be  acknowledged 
that  it  quenched  the  wrath  of  the  Father  ; .  that  is  to  say,  it 
satisfied  his  justice  for  us.  The  other  particular  Avhich  I  would 
notice  here  is,  that  the  body  of  the  Lord  made  propitiation  for 
our  sins  only  as  it  was  mortal  flesh  that  suffered  death.  Every 
one  confesses  that  now  he  dieth  no  more;  yea,  that  he  is  in- 
vested with  a  sovereign  glory,  having  for  ever  put  off"  the 
infirmity  and  mortality  of  the  flesh.  Certainly  then  it  is  vainly 
and  without  reason  that  some  imagine  that  his  body  is  still 
offered  to  this  day  for  the  reconciling  of  sinners  unto  God.  It 
is  through  death  that  he  hath  reconciled  us,  says  Paul  ;  and 


CHAP.   I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  157 

being  now  "  raised  from  the  dead,"  he  again  says,  he  "  dietli 
no  more,"  Kom,  vi.  9. 

III.  But  I  come  to  the  third  and  last  particular  in  our  text, 
in  which  the  apostle  asserts  that  it  is  "  to  present  us  holy  and 
unblamable  and  unreprovable  in  his  sight"  that  God  hath 
reconciled  us  by  the  death  of  his  Son.  It  is  strictly  in  the 
original,  to  present  us,  or  to  make  us  stand  and  appear,  before 
him  holy,  unblamable,  and  unreprovable,  which  has  given 
occasion  to  some  of  our  expositors  to  refer  these  words  also  to 
our  justification  before  God  ;  as  if  the  apostle  meant  that  he 
made  our  peace,  and  abolished  the  enmity,  that  being  purified 
by  the  virtue  of  the  sacrifice  of  his  Son,  and  clothed  with  his 
righteousness,  by  faith,  we  might  appear  before  the  tribunal  of 
his  grace,  without  condemnation  and  without  confusion.  But 
there  is  nothing  to  induce  us  to  fix  on  this  interpretation  ;  it 
is  much  better,  in  my  judgment,  to  consider  it  as  referring  to 
our  sanctification  than  to  our  justification.  First,  because  the 
words  themselves  agree  with  it  much  better  ;  the  Scripture,  as 
you  know,  ordinarily  expressing  the  gift  of  regeneration  by 
the  word  holiness  ;  whereas  it  uses  the  word  justify,  or  pardon 
of  our  sins,  and  not  imputing  them  unto  us,  when  it  would 
signify  the  first  benefit  of  God  which  we  obtain  by  the  im- 
putation of  the  righteousness  of  Christ.  Secondly,  because  the 
apostle  having  already  represented  it  unto  us  in  those  words, 
that  God  hath  reconciled  us  in  the  body  of  the  flesh  of  his  Son, 
through  death,  which  signify  that  he  has  received  us  into 
favour,  pardoning  all  our  sins,  as  has  been  explained,  it  seems 
needless  to  repeat  the  same  thing  again.  And  finally,  because 
both  Paul  and  the  other  sacred  writers  are  accustomed  to  join 
those  two  gifts  of  God,  our  justification  and  sanctification,  to- 
gether, as  two  inseparable  graces,  which  are  never  without  each 
other;  so  that  having  spoken  to  us  of  one,  it  was  not  only 
convenient,  but  also  in  some  degree  necessary,  that  he  should 
annex  the  other  ;  just  as,  elsewhere,  having  said  that  "  Christ 
is  made  unto  us  righteousness,"  he  immediately  adds,  "  and 
sanctification,"  1  Cor.  i.  30  ;  and  again,  in  another  place,  where 
having  touched  thefilthiness  of  the  former  life  of  the  Corinthians, 
as  here  that  of  the  Colossians,  he  says,  "  But  ye  are  washed, 
but  ye  are  sanctified,"  1  Cor.  vi.  11.  Here  the  apostle  not  only 
knits  these  two  graces  together,  but  shows  us  the  order  and  re- 
lation which  they  have  to  each  other;  that  the  second,  namely, 
"  sanctification,"  is  the  end  of  the  former,  that  is,  of  "justifica- 
tion." He  hath  reconciled  us,  says  he,  through  the  death  of 
his  Son,  to  present  us  "holy  and  unblamable  and  unreprovable 
in  his  sight."  The  Scripture  teaches  us  the  same  thing  in 
various  other  places;  as  in  Luke,  where  Zacharias  says,  "  That 
we  being  delivered  out  of  the  hand  of  our  enemies  might  serve 
him  without  fear,  in  holiness  and  righteousness  before  him," 


158  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XI. 

Luke  i.  74,  75.  And  Peter,  in  his  First  Epistle,  says,  "  Who 
his  own  self  bare  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree,  that 
we,  being  dead  to  sin,  should  live  unto  righteousness,"  1  Pet. 
ii.  24.  And  Paul  tells  us  that  Jesus  Christ  "  died  for  all,  that 
they  which  live  should  not  henceforth  live  unto  themselves, 
but  unto  him  which  died  for  them,  and  rose  again,"  2  Cor.  v. 
15  ;  and  again,  he  says  that  Christ  "  gave  himself  for  us,  that 
he  might  redeem  us  from  all  iniquity,  and  purify  unto  himself 
a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of  good  works,"  Tit.  ii.  14  ;  and  in 
another  passage  similar  to  that  which  we  are  discussing,  he 
says,  "Christ  also  loved  the  church,  and  gave  himself  for  it  ; 
that  he  might  sanctify  and  cleanse  it  with  the  washing  of 
water  by  the  word,  that  he  might  present  it  to  himself  a 
glorious  church,  not  having  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such 
thing  ;  but  that  it  should  be  holy,  and  without  blemish,"  Eph. 
V.  25—27. 

I  insist  upon  this  point,  because  it  is  of  exceeding  great  im- 
portance. First,  you  see  by  it  what  is  the  dignity  of  holiness. 
For  since  the  end  is  of  necessity  always  more  excellent  than 
the  means  which  are  used  to  compass  it,  it  is  clear  that  sanc- 
tification, being  the  last  end  of  all  the  things  that  the  Lord 
employs  for  our  salvation,  is  the  greatest  and  most  excellent 
of  all  his  graces.  And  you  know  that  Paul  positively  de- 
clares that  charity,  which  is  in  substance  nothing  else  than 
sanctity,  is  more  excellent  than  either  faith  or  hope  ;  and  he 
proves  it,  because  neither  of  these  virtues  shall  have  any  place 
in  heaven,  they  being  but  means  and  helps  for  conducting  us 
thither  ;  whereas  charity,  the  last  and  highest  perfection  of 
our  being,  shall  eternally  remain. 

Secondly,  from  hence  it  appears  how  much  carnal  christians 
deceive  themselves,  who  pretend  to  salvation  without  sancti- 
fication. Wretched  men,  what  are  you  doing!  Your  pre- 
tension is  a  vain  chimera.  You  pursue  an  impossibility.  For 
that  salvation  which  you  desire  is  substantially  that  very  holi- 
ness which  you  refuse.  Both  that  faith,  and  those  other  qual- 
ities which  you  say  you  possess,  serve  only  to  sanctify  men  ; 
without  this  they  are  unprofitable  things.  Suppose  then  that 
you  have  them  ;  if  they  do  not  change  you,  if  they  do  not 
fill  your  heart  with  love  to  God  and  with  charity  to  your 
neighbour,  in  short,  if  they  do  not  render  you  holy,  they  will 
profit  you  nothing.  So  far  from  giving  you  immortality,  they 
will  aggravate  your  misery,  and  sink  you  deeper  into  the  abyss 
of  death.  Never  believe  that  God  gave  us  his  own  Son,  that 
he  clothed  him  with  a  body  of  flesh,  that  he  delivered  him  up 
to  the  death  of  the  cross,  that  he  reconciled  us  by  such  pre- 
cious blood,  that  he  wrought  all  those  grand  wonders  which 
ravished  heaven  and  earth,  that  he  might  procure  for  us  the 
privilege  of  sinning  freely  ;  far  be  it  from  so  wise  and  so  holy 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  159 

a  Deity,  that  he  should  be  thought  ever  to  have  entertained 
such  an  extravagant  and  infamous  a  design.  He  has  shed 
upon  us  all  the  blessings  of  his  grace  and  love,  that  he  might 
restore  his  own  image  in  our  nature,  that  he  might  abolish  sin 
in  it,  and  transform  us  into  new  creatures,  pure  and  holy,  so 
as  in  some  measure  to  resemble  himself  and  his  Son. 

I  confess  that  the  description  which  the  apostle  here  gives 
us  of  this  grace  of  God  in  us  is  high  and  magnificent,  and  that 
it  seems  to  surmount  the  reach  of  believers  while  they  are  in 
the  present  life;  for  of  which  of  them  can  it  be  truly  said, 
while  he  remains  in  this  world,  that  he  is  holy,  and  unblam- 
able, and  unreprovable  in  the  sight  of  God  ?  But  to  this  I 
answer,  first,  that  the  apostle  does  not  affirm  that  this  great 
work  of  the  Lord's  in  us  is  completed  in  this  life  ;  he  shows 
us  only  his  purpose,  and  the  end  of  his  grace,  and  how  good 
and  glorious  that  holiness  is  with  which  he  will  clothe  us. 
For  if  we  be  truly  his,  he  will  not  leave  us  till  he  has  made 
us  such  as  the  apostle's  text  imports,  even  holy,  without  blame, 
and  unreprovable.  Secondly,  I  observe  that  though  the  high- 
est degree  of  sanctification  in  this  life  is  much  beneath  that 
which  shall  adorn  us  in  the  next,  and  that  the  former  is  de- 
fective in  comparison  with  the  latter  ;  yet  it  is  nevertheless 
true,  and  has  all  its  parts,  though  in  an  inferior  degree.  It  is 
sincere  and  without  hypocrisy,  and  such  in  substance  as  is 
agreeable  with  the  words  of  the  apostle.  For  true  believers, 
while  here  below,  put  off  the  habits  of  sin,  and  put  on  those 
of  holiness,  for  which  reason  they  are  justly  called  holy  ; 
though  at  times,  through  infirmity,  they  are  led  to  the  com- 
mission of  some  acts  which  are  contrary  to  the  christian  char- 
acter. They  are  washed  from  those  foul  and  odious  spots 
which  before  deformed  their  whole  life,  and  an  adversary 
cannot  observe  or  censure  anything  in  their  deportment  that 
is  contrary  to  the  profession  which  they  make  of  the  covenant 
of  grace.  And  with  respect  to  that  which  the  apostle  adds, 
that  they  are  such  before  God,  it  is  only  to  signify  that  their 
piety  is  true  and  real,  not  feigned  nor  dissembled  ;  that  it  is 
not  a  mask,  which  deceives  the  eyes  of  men,  but  a  disposition 
of  heart  which  God  discerns  within  them,  as  men  behold  the 
evidences  of  it  without  upon  them  ;  in  the  same  sense  that 
Luke  said  of  Zacharias  and  Elisabeth  that  they  "  were  both 
righteous  before  God."  Here,  beloved  brethren,  we  close  our 
remarks  upon  this  text. 

The  severity  of  the  weather  obliging  us  to  conclude  this 
discourse,  I  will  only  touch  in  a  few  words  upon  the  lessons 
which  we  should  deduce  from  it  for  our  edification,  referring 
it  to  your  diligence  to  meditate  upon  each  of  them,  and  above 
all  to  reduce  them  carefully  to  practice. 

Remember,  first,  the  miserable  state  in  which  you  were  be- 


160  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XI. 

fore  God  prevented  you  by  his  grace  ;  and  reflect,  that  it  is  to 
you  also  the  apostle  says,  "  Ye  were  sometime  alienated  and 
enemies  in  yclkr  mind  by  wicked  works,"  For  our  ancestors, 
before  the  Sun  of  righteousness  shone  on  these  countries,  were 
in  the  same,  or  rather  in  a  worse,  condition  than  the  Colos- 
sians.  Our  fathers  were  Hittites,  and  our  mothers  Amorites, 
living  in  the  darkness  of  paganism,  serving  a  Hesus,  and  a 
Belenus,  and  a  Tautates,  and  I  know  not  what  other  vanities, 
sacrificing  men  to  them,  and  weltering  in  the  filth  of  the  most 
infamous  vices.  Being,  by  the  great  benignity  of  God,  drawn 
out  of  this  gulf,  we  were  again  cast  into  another,  in  which, 
under  other  names,  we  committed  the  like  crimes  ;  adoring  an 
insensible  and  inanimate  thing,  and  bending  down  ourselves 
before  wood  and  stone,  and  dumb  images,  and  giving  to  a 
mortal  man  the  glorious  names  which  belong  only  to  the  Son 
of  God  ;  being  corrupted  both  in  our  thoughts  and  in  our 
deeds.  These  faults  were  so  much  worse  than  the  former,  by 
how  much  less  ignorant  we  previously  were  of  our  Master's 
will. 

Admire  next  the  goodness  of  God,  who  seeing  us  in  this 
abyss,  though  our  ingratitude  and  rebellion  merited  his  heav- 
iest vengeance,  yet  had  pity  on  us  ;  and  visiting  us  in  his 
infinite  mercies,  has  reconciled  us  by  the  body  of  the  flesh  of 
his  Son,  through  his  death.  He  has  sent  to  us  Epaphrases,  as 
he  did  to  the  Colossians,  ministers  of  his  word,  who  have 
made  the  voice  of  Paul  and  of  the  other  apostles  to  resound 
among  us.  He  has  purified  us,  and  washed  all  our  filth  in  the 
blood  of  his  Christ.  With  this  he  has  bedewed  our  hearts, 
abolished  our  enmity,  extinguished  our  hatred,  and  reunited 
us  unto  himself;  communicating  to  us  the  divine  body  of  his 
Son,  nailed  for  us  to  the  cross,  the  source  of  our  salvation,  and 
the  treasury  of  all  the  good  things  of  heaven.  His  death  has 
been  our  life,  and  his  malediction  our  benediction.  Let  us 
acknowledge  this  great  goodness  of  our  God  with  profound 
gratitude.  Let  us  give  him  the  glory  of  all  the  good  that  may 
be  in  us.  If  there  be  any  light  in  our  understandings,  any 
peace  in  our  consciences,  any  pureness  in  our  affections,  any 
rectitude  in  our  conduct,  let  us  bless  the  kindness  of  this 
sovereign  Lord,  who  has  vouchsafed  to  illuminate,  to  reconcile, 
and  to  cleanse  us.  Without  this  favourable  beaming  forth  of 
his  grace,  we  should  be  yet  strangers  and  enemies,  in  the 
bondage  and  darkness  of  Egypt,  or  under  the  yoke  and  in  the 
captivity  of  Chaldea.  Let  us  now  make  use  of  the  benefits  he 
has  conferred  upon  us.  Let  us  continue  united  to  him,  so  as 
that  nothing  may  remove  us  to  a  distance  from  him.  Let  us 
love  him  fervently  and  serve  him  diligently,  lest  we  become 
agaiti  his  enemies.  Let  those  understandings  which  were  for- 
merly the  heads  of  that  wicked  war  which  we  made  against 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  161 

him,  strictly  maintain  that  holy  and  happy  peace  which  he 
has  vouchsafed  to  conclude  with  us.  Let  us  banish  thence  all 
thoughts  of  rebellion.  Let  us  still  have  before  our  eyes  that 
sacred  flesh  with  which  the  King  of  glory  was  clothed  for  us, 
the  blood  wherewith  he  purchased  our  peace,  and  the  death 
which  he  underwent  to  reconcile  us  unto  God  his  Father.  Let 
us  not  profane  a  blessing  which  cost  him  so  dear.  Let  us 
imitate  also  his  goodness.  Let  us  treat  our  neighbours  as  he 
treated  us.  If  they  avoid  us,  let  us  seek  them  ;  for  we  also 
were  enemies  to  God,  and  warred  against  him,  when  he  called 
us  to  the  communion  of  his  grace.  Above  all,  let  us  remember 
that  the  end  of  all  the  wonders  God  has  wrought  on  our  be- 
half is  to  make  us  holy,  unblamable,  and  unreprovable  in  his 
sight.  Let  us  not  oppose  so  admirable  and  reasonable  a  de- 
sign. Let  us  not  frustrate  the  intentions  of  so  good  and  mer- 
ciful a  Lord.  Dear  brethren,  I  might  here  make  great  com- 
plaints of  the  profaneness  of  some,  of  the  looseness  of  others, 
and  of  the  falterings  of  us  all,  who  labour  after  nothing  less 
than  that  high  and  accomplished  sanctification  to  which  God 
calls  us.  But  I  would  much  rather  end  with  entreaties  than 
with  complaints,  and  conjure  you  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
and  by  your  own  salvation,  that  you  would  judge  yourselves  ; 
and  that  renouncing  all  the  faults  of  the  time  past,  and  all  the 
impieties  and  lusts  of  this  world,  you  would  live  henceforth 
soberly,  righteously,  and  godly,  and  keep  yourselves  holy, 
unblamable,  and  unreprovable,  to  the  glory  of  God,  the  edifi- 
cation of  men,  and  your  own  salvation.     Amen. 


SERMON  XII. 

VERSE  23. 


If  y&  continue  in  the  faith  grounded  and  settled,  and  he  not  moved 
away  from  the  hojie  of  the  gospel,  which  ye  have  heard,  and 
which  ivas  preached  to  every  creature  which  is  under  heaven  ; 
whereof  I  Paul  am  made  a  minister. 

Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  gospel  according  to  Matthew, 
tells  us  of  two  sorts  of  people  who  hear  his  doctrine  and  fre- 
quent his  school  :  the  one,  those  who  put  his  words  in  prac- 
tice ;  that  is,  those  who,  embracing  the  gospel  with  a  true  and 
lively  faith,  render  him  the  obedience  he  demands  of  them  : 
the  other,  they  who  hear,  but  put  not  in  practice,  what  he  says 
to  them  ;  that  is,  those  who,  giving  but  little  or  no  belief  in 


162  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM,  XII. 

liis  divine  truth,  take  no  care  to  perform  what  he  commands, 
but  content  themselves  with  a  vain  outside  profession,  and  are 
not  inwardly  afîected  and  changed  as  they  ought  to  be.  He 
compares  the  former  to  a  wise  and  prudent  man  that  has  built 
his  house  upon  a  rock  ;  and  when  "  the  rain  descended,  and 
the  floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house, 
it  fell  not  ;  for  it  was  founded  upon  a  rock."  But,  on  the  con- 
trary, he  compares  the  latter  to  a  foolish  man  that  built  upon 
the  sand;  and,  when  "the  rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came, 
and  the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house,  it  fell  ;  and 
great  was  the  fall  thereof."  Dear  brethren,  this  is  an  excellent 
parable,  and  worthy  to  be  deeply  engraven  on  the  hearts  of 
true  believers  ;  for  it  shows  us,  first,  that  to  have  part  in  the 
Lord's  salvation,  it  is  not  enough  to  call  him  our  Master,  and 
make  profession  of  his  doctrines.  Those  who  have  but  this 
will  sooner  or  later  fall,  and  be  infallibly  ruined.  Secondly,  it 
further  teaches  us  that  it  is  not  sufficient  to  begin,  except  a 
man  persevere  to  the  end.  And  lastly,  it  declares  to  us,  what 
is  the  cause  both  of  the  perseverance  of  some,  and  the  revolt 
and  fall  of  others  :  those  who  are  founded  on  the  rock  stand 
firm,  and  resist  the  scandals  with  which  the  devil  and  the 
world  combat  the  truth  ;  those  who  are  built  only  on  the  sand, 
are  easily  borne  down,  even  at  the  first  assaults  which  are  made 
upon  them  by  the  adverse  powers.  This  doctrine  Paul  repre- 
sented to  the  Colossians  in  the  text  which  we  have  now  read. 
In  the  foregoing  words,  as  you  have  heard,  he  set  before  their 
eyes  the  wonders  of  the  love  of  God,  which  had  been  glo- 
riously showed  upon  them  by  Jesus  Christ  their  Saviour,  who 
had  called  them  to  his  communion,  and  of  strangers  and  ene- 
mies, as  they  were,  made  them  friends  of  his  Father,  reconcil- 
ing them  in  the  body  of  his  flesh,  through  death,  to  render 
them  holy,  unblamable,  and  unreprovable  in  his  sight.  But 
the  apostle  knowing  there  were  seducers  and  deceitful  workers 
among  them,  who  laboured  to  turn  them  away  from  the  purity 
and  simplicity  of  the  gospel,  in  order  that  they  might  be  pre- 
served from  the  poison  of  those  men,  now  informs  them  that 
this  great  salvation  of  which  he  had  spoken  could  not  be  as- 
sured to  them  without  perseverance.  Qualifying,  and  in  some 
degree  correcting,  his  simple  and  absolute  assertion,  that  God 
had  reconciled  them  to  himself,  he  adds  the  condition  upon 
which  this  divine  grace  was  promised  to  them:  "If  ye  con- 
tinue in  the  faith  grounded  and  settled,"  &;c.  This  lesson,  my 
brethren,  is  no  less  necessary  for  us  than  it  was  for  the  Colos- 
sians, since  the  floods,  the  winds  and  storms,  which  were  then 
raised  against  the  edifice  of  their  faith,  in  like  manner  at  this 
day  beat  upon  ours  ;  various  deceitful  workers,  both  without 
and  within,  endeavouring  to  overthrow  it.  Let  us,  therefore, 
bring  this  sacred  preservative  which  the  apostle  here  gives  us 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  163 

against  their  malice  ;  and  that  we  may  the  better  profit  by  it, 
let  us  meditate  in  order  upon  the  three  particulars  which  his 
instruction  contains.  To  confirm  the  Colossians  in  perseve- 
rance, he  shows  them,  First,  the  necessity  and  the  manner  of 
it  ;  "  If  ye  continue  in  the  faith  grounded  and  settled,  and  be 
not  moved  away  from  the  hope  of  the  gospel,  which  ye  have 
heard."  Secondly,  he  sets  before  them  an  excellent  argument 
of  the  truth  of  that  gospel  which  they  had  heard  ;  namely, 
"  that  it  was  preached  to  every  creature  under  heaven."  And 
lastly,  he  alleges  a  second  proof  of  its  verity,  taken  from  his 
own  ministry  ;  "  whereof,"  says  he,  "  I  am  made  a  minister." 
These  are  the  three  points  which  we  will  handle,  if  it  please 
God,  in  this  discourse,  briefly  touching  upon  each  of  them,  as 
we  shall  judge  most  proper  for  our  edification  and  consola- 
tion. 

I.  The  apostle  explains  the  necessity  and  manner  of  this 
perseverance  in  these  terms  ;  "  If  ye  continue  in  the  faith,"  &c. 
Where  you  perceive  he  lays  it  down  first,  that  faith  is  the 
means  by  which  we  enter  into  the  possession  and  use  of  the 
good  things  of  God,  which  he  promises  to  us  in  his  Son. 
The  old  covenant  had  also  its  good  things,  but  the  condition 
which  it  required  of  men  for  obtaining  them  was  quite  differ- 
ent to  that  of  the  new  ;  for  it  demanded  of  them  an  exact  and 
perfect  obedience  to  the  law,  and  upon  any  failure  of  an  entire 
accomplishment  of  it  threatened  a  curse,  leaving  the  sinner  no 
hope  of  life;  according  to  that  dreadful  clause,  "This  do  and 
thou  shalt  live  ;"  and,  "  Cursed  be  he  that  confirmeth  not  all 
the  words  of  this  law  to  do  them."  But  the  gospel  differs  from 
the  law  especially  in  this,  that  not  only  are  the  good  things 
which  it  sets  before  us  much  greater  and  more  divine  than 
those  of  the  law,  but  it  demands  of  men  for  possessing  them 
nothing  but  faith  alone,  according  to  our  Saviour's  own  words, 
"  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son, 
that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life."  This  the  apostle  here  shows  us  with  much 
clearness,  when,  having  said  that  God  hath  reconciled  us  to 
himself  in  the  body  of  the  flesh  of  his  Son,  to  render  us  holy 
and  unreprovable,  he  adds,  "If  ye  continue  in  the  faith."  This 
connection  of  the  two  parts  of  his  discourse  evidently  infers 
that  it  is  faith  which  causes  us  to  participate  in  the  reconcilia- 
tion and  peace  of  God,  and  in  the  holiness  which  the  gospel 
imparts.  You  know,  likewise,  that  in  a  multitude  of  other 
places  the  Scripture  expressly  informs  us,  that  it  is  by  faith 
we  are  justified  and  have  peace  with  God,  and  that  it  is  by 
faith  our  hearts  are  purified.  Faith  is  the  means  of  our  union 
with  God  ;  it  is  the  root  of  our  love,  the  source  of  our  com- 
fort, and,  in  a  word,  the  only  cause  of  our  felicity.  For  as  a 
medicine,  however  excellent  and  healthful  it  may  be,  does  no 


164  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XII. 

good  except  to  tliose  who  take  it  ;  so  the  redemption  of  our 
Saviour,  and  the  virtue  of  his  sacrifice,  however  great  and  in- 
finite, though  able  to  heal  all  our  sins,  and  to  give  us  eternal 
life,  and  that  not  to  us  alone,  but  to  all  the  men  in  the  world, 
will  communicate  none  of  those  benefits  to  us,  except  we  re- 
ceive it  by  faith.  It  is  faith  that  applies  it  to  us,  and  sheds 
abroad  its  efficacy  into  all  the  parts  of  our  nature.  But  as 
many  deceive  themselves  in  this  matter,  and  take  that  for  true 
faith  which  has  only  the  shadow  and  name  of  it  ;  the  apostle 
tells  us  that,  to  have  part  in  the  salvation  of  Jesus  Christ,  our 
faith  must  be  constant  and  persevering.  For  as  in  games  and 
combats  for  prizes  none  are  crowned  but  those  who  hold  out 
to  the  end  ;  so  in  the  heavenly  lists  or  race,  God  glorifies  them 
only  who  run  with  constancy  to  the  goal.  Those  that  turn 
aside,  or  stop  in  the  midst  of  the  course,  lose  their  labour;  ac- 
cording to  the  declaration  of  our  Lord,  "  He  that  endureth  to 
the  end  shall  be  saved,"  And  the  apostle,  therefore,  in  another 
place,  when  assuring  himself  of  the  crown,  among  other  causes 
on  which  he  grounded  this  assurance,  says  particularly  that  he 
had  "  kept  the  faith,"  2  Tim.  iv.  7. 

From  this  it  appears  that  there  are  two  sorts  of  persons  who 
shall  be  excluded  from  the  salvation  of  God,  purchased  by  the 
merit  of  Jesus  Christ.  First,  all  the  rebellious  and  unbeliev- 
ing, who  have  no  faith  in  the  promises  and  declarations  of  the 
bounty  of  God  ;  as  our  Saviour  said,  "  He  that  believeth  not 
shall  be  damned,"  Mark  xvi.  16.  "  He  that  believeth  not  the 
Son  shall  not  see  life  ;  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him," 
John  iii.  36.  Secondly,  they  who  believe,  but  their  faith  is 
only  for  a  time  ;  such  as  abide  not  in  the  faith,  but  having  re- 
ceived it  at  the  beginning,  afterwards  quit  and  reject  it. 
Either  the  scorching  heat  of  persecution  dries  up  and  consumes 
the  tender  bud,  or  the  overflowing  irruption  of  pleasures  or  of 
worldly  affairs  carries  it  away.  The  cares  of  covetousness  or 
ambition  suffocate  it  ;  or  the  deceitfulness  of  error,  and  the 
hand  of  false  teachers,  pluck  it  out  of  their  heart.  The  apos- 
tle therefore  requires  of  the  Colossians,  in  order  that  they 
might  be  partakers  of  the  salvation  of  God,  that  they  not  only 
have  faith,  but  tiiat  they  persevere  in  it.  "  If,"  says  he,  "  ye 
continue  in  the  faith." 

But  this  is  not  all  ;  he  would  have  them  also  to  be  "  ground- 
ed and  settled."  I  acknowledge  that  it  seldom  happens  that 
this  vain  and  feeble  faith,  which  consists  only  in  a  bare  pro- 
fession and  some  slight  movings  of  heart,  endures  to  the  end 
in  those  who  have  it.  Persecution  or  temptation  generally 
plucks  off"  their  mask,  and  openly  carries  them  out  of  the  fel- 
lowship of  the  church.  Yet  it  appears  not  impossible  for  them 
to  continue  in  this  state  even  to  the  last.  As  a  little  chaff"  may 
abide  in  the  floor,  if  the  wind  does  not  blow  ;  so  there  is  some 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  165 

probability  tliat  these  persons  may,  in  like  manner,  remain 
mingled  with  true  believers  even  until  death,  if  persecution  or 
offence  does  not  seize  upon  them.  But  suppose  that  this 
really  happens,  still  they  shall  not  be  saved  ;  because  the  faith 
which  they  possess,  and  in  which  they  will  have  persisted,  is  a 
nullit}''  to  which  God  has  promised  nothing;  it  is  the  shadow 
and  the  image,  not  the  substance  and  reality  of  faith.  It  fol- 
lows, therefore,  that  as  chaff,  though  it  remain  in  the  floor,  is 
not  locked  up  in  the  granary  with  the  wheat,  but  is  left  out  or 
burned,  as  a  useless  thing  ;  so  likewise  these  people  who  have 
only  this  vain  faith,  should  they  abide  in  God's  floor,  that  is, 
in  the  external  communion  of  the  church,  unto  the  end,  still 
they  shall  not  enter  into  his  heavenly  garner,  that  is,  his  king- 
dom, but  shall  be  rejected  and  excluded  therefrom,  as  having 
no  lot  or  portion  with  true  believers.  They  will  think  it  suf- 
ficient to  allege  that  they  have  lived  in  the  church  of  Christ, 
that  they  have  perhaps  even  prophesied,  and  cast  out  devils, 
and  done  wonderful  works  in  his  name  ;  but  the  Lord  will 
openly  tell  them,  "  I  never  knew  you  :  depart  from  me,  ye 
that  work  iniquity,"  Matt.  vii.  22,  23.  The  apostle,  therefore, 
to  show  that  he  speaks  of  perseverance,  not  in  this  vain  sha- 
dow of  faith,  but  in  true  faith,  does  not  simply  say,  "  if  ye  con- 
tinue in  the  faith,"  but  adds,  "  grounded  and  settled." 

If  the  hypocrite  or  the  formalist  continue  in  the  profession 
or  in  the  rudiments  of  piety,  it  is  not  because  they  are  ground- 
ed, but  because  they  are  not  tempted  ;  as  a  woman  that  re- 
mains chaste  only  because  she  has  not  been  solicited  to  evil. 
They  owe  their  perseverance  to  the  forbearance  of  their  ene- 
mies, and  not  to  their  own  firmness.  This  false  constancy  may 
deceive  a  man,  who  sees  only  the  outside  and  the  event  of 
things,  but  it  cannot  deceive  God,  who  knows  the  inside  of 
them,  and  who  searches  the  heart,  and  judges  of  things  by 
what  they  are,  not  by  what  they  appear  to  be,  or  by  their 
events.  The  apostle,  therefore,  directs  that,  in  order  to  partake 
of  his  salvation,  we  have  true  perseverance,  and  continue  in 
the  faith,  not  simply  and  in  any  manner,  but  being  grounded 
and  settled  in  it.  God  saves  such  only.  It  is  but  for  them 
that  he  has  prepared  his  kingdom.  The  former  of  these  words, 
here  used  by  the  apostle,  is  taken  from  buildings,  which  being 
fixed  deep  in  the  earth  upon  a  rock,  are  firm  and  solid,  and 
proof  against  time  and  storms  ;  whereas  buildings  which  have 
no  foundation,  or  are  built  only  on  sand,  are  feeble,  and  unable 
to  resist  the  shock.  Our  Lord  made  use  of  this  same  compa- 
rison in  the  parable  which  we  touched  upon  at  the  commence- 
ment ;  and  he  employs  it  too  in  that  famous  promise  which  he 
made  to  Peter,  of  building  his  church  in  such  a  manner  on 
the  rock,  that  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it. 
The  other  word  which  the  apostle  uses  has  the  same  meaning, 


166  AN   EXPOSITION   OP  fSERM.  XII. 

and,  properly,  signifies  in  the  original  a  tiling  in  such  a  state 
of  settlement  as  that  it  is  difficult  to  move  or  shake  it  ;  a  thing 
that  is  fixedly  seated  and  placed,  and  neither  totters  nor 
changes.  This  is  the  settlement  of  true  believers,  who  shall 
have  part  in  the  salvation  of  God.  Their  faith,  grounded  on 
the  eternal  Eock,  Jesus  Christ  their  Lord,  seated  and  placed 
upon  this  immovable  basis,  abides  firm  and  cannot  be  shaken. 
The  torrents  and  the  winds  assault  it  in  vain  ;  the  tempests 
and  the  floods  may  beat  upon  it,  but  they  cannot  overthrow 
it. 

Upon  this  doctrine  of  the  apostle  we  shall  raise  two  obser- 
vations. First,  that  the  faith  of  those  who  persevere  in  the 
sense  he  intends  differs  from  the  faith  of  those  who  revolt,  not 
only  in  the  event,  inasmuch  as  one  fails,  and  the  other  persists 
and  abides,  but  also  in  the  nature  of  the  thing  itself.  For  the 
one  is  grounded  and  settled,  and  the  other  is  not  so.  Who 
does  not  see  that  there  is  a  great  difference  between  a  house 
which  is  well  founded,  and  one  which  is  but  built  upon  the 
sand  ?  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostle  expressly  declare  that 
such  as  stand  are  founded,  and  that  such  as  fall  are  not  so. 
Certainly,  then,  the  faith  of  the  former  is  quite  different  from 
that  of  the  latter  ;  and  this  difference  in  their  results,  in  that 
one  falls  and  the  other  bears  up,  discloses  to  us  the  distinc- 
tion which  is  between  them,  but  it  does  not  produce  it.  It  is 
the  effect  of  it,  not  the  cause  ;  an  argument  of  it,  not  the  orig- 
inal. The  same  thing  also  appears  from  the  comparison  else- 
where, of  the  one  to  wheat,  and  the  other  to  chaff.  The  wheat 
is  not  wheat  merely  because  it  abides  in  the  floor,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  it  abides  in  the  floor  because  it  is  wheat  ;  and  in  like 
manner  the  chaff  does  not  become  chaff  because  it  goes  out  of 
the  floor,  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  driven  out  because  it  is 
chaff.  This  diversity  of  events  proves  the  weight  and  firm- 
ness of  the  one,  and  the  inconstancy  of  the  other.  Even  such 
is  the  case  with  true  believers,  and  such  as  are  merely  profes- 
sors. Persecution  and  offence  make  not  the  difference  which 
is  discovered  between  them,  when  the  former  retain  the  gospel, 
and  the  latter  quit  it  :  this  event  only  shows  that  the  one  were 
God's  wheat,  and  the  others  but  chaff;  according  to  what 
John  says  of  apostates,  "  They  went  out  from  us,  but  they  were 
not  of  us  ;  for  if  they  had  been  of  us,  they  would  no  doubt 
have  continued  with  us  :  but  they  went  out,  that  they  might 
be  made  manifest  that  they  were  not  all  of  us,"  1  John  ii.  19. 
The  same  is  further  to  be  evidently  seen  in  the  parable  of  the 
sower,  where  the  Lord  says  expressly  that  those  "  on  the 
good  ground  are  they,  which  in  an  honest  and  good  heart, 
having  heard  the  word,  kept  it,"  Luke  viii.  15.  Whereas  he 
says  of  those  who  revolt,  that  one  heai'd  but  understood  it  not; 
and  another  had  no  root  in  himself;  an  evident  sign  that  their 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS,  167 

disposition  was  different  at  first,  before  the  perseverance  of 
the  one  and  the  fall  of  the  others.  From  whence  it  appears 
how  impertinent  is  the  argument  which  our  adversaries  draw 
from  the  apostasy  of  the  latter,  to  prove  that  the  faith  of  the 
former  may  fail  ;  and  the  contrary.  For  if  the  wind  carry 
away  the  chaff,  it  does  not  therefore  follow  that  it  shall  also 
hear  away  the  corn  ;  and  if  the  storm  beat  down  a  house  that 
is  planted  on  two  or  three  stakes,  it  is  not  to  be  said  that  it 
will  do  as  much  to  a  house  that  is  founded  on  a  rock.  If  the 
blade  that  shoots  forth  and  grows  up  suddenly  in  the  sand, 
without  any  root,  happens  to  wither  at  the  first  extreme  heat 
that  smites  it,  this  does  not  imply  that  the  same  might  hap- 
pen to  the  corn  which  is  deeply  rooted  in  a  good  and  fertile 
soil. 

The  other  point  which  we  have  to  notice  is  the  assurance 
of  true  faith,  excellently  represented  here  by  the  apostle  in 
these  words,  which  possess  a  singular  emphasis,  "If  ye  con- 
tinue in  the  faith,  grounded  and  settled  ;"  contrary  to  what  is 
taught  in  the  church  of  Rome,  that  faith  is  in  a  continual 
agitation,  so  that  a  believer  can  have  no  assurance  that  he  is 
at  present  in  a  state  of  grace,  and  much  less  that  he  shall  per- 
severe in  it  for  the  future.  In  conscience,  can  it  be  said  of 
these  people,  as  the  apostle  here  says  of  the  Lord's  true  disci- 
ples, that  they  are  "  grounded  and  settled  ?"  How  can  it  be, 
seeing  that  they  incessantly  float  in  doubt  and  uncertainty, 
and  are  miserably  in  suspense  between  the  hope  of  heaven  and 
the  fear  of  hell  ?  I  pass  by  their  other  error,  which  is  yet 
more  contrary  to  the  apostle's  doctrine,  namely,  that  the 
choicest  faith  may  fail.  If  this  be  true,  how  can  it  be  afl&rmed 
that  those  who  have  it  are  "  grounded  and  settled  ?"  Let  us 
then  hold  fast  the  truth  that  is  taught  us  here  and  in  divers 
other  places  of  Scripture,  namely,  that  faith  abides  continually  ; 
and  that,  being  founded  on  the  merits,  death,  and  intercession 
of  Jesus  Christ,  it  never  can  fail.  The  wind  causes  only  the 
chaff  to  fly  away  ;  it  does  not  prevail  upon  good  grain.  It 
overthrows  only  the  trees  that  are  feeble  and  ill-grounded  ;  it 
leaves  in  their  places  those  which  are  firm,  and  have  good  and 
deep-grown  roots.  And  as  an  ancient  once  said,  We  must  not 
account  them  prudent  or  faithful  whom  heresy  has  been  suf- 
fered to  change.  None  is  a  christian  but  he  who  perseveres  to 
the  end.* 

But  I  return  to  the  apostle,  who,  the  more  fully  to  explain 
this  firm  and  unshaken  faith  which  he  requires  in  us,  for  ob- 
taining salvation,  adds  further,  "and  be  not  moved  away  from 
the  hope  of  the  gospel."  Thus  justly  does  he  join  hope  to  faith  ; 
these  two  virtues  being  so  closely  linked  together,  that  they 

*  Tertul.  de  Perse. 


168  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XII 

mutually  succour  each  other,  and  the  one  cannot  be  obtained 
or  lost  without  the  other.  For,  first,  hope  is  the  suit  of  faith, 
expecting  with  assurance  the  fruition  of  the  things  which  we 
believe;  so  that  when  the  persuasion  which  we  have  of  them 
begins  to  totter,  it  is  impossible  but  that  the  hope  which  was 
founded  on  it  must  come  to  ruin.  Again  in  the  combats  which 
we  sustain  for  the  faith,  hope  is  one  of  our  principal  supports  ; 
while  it  is  firm  and  vigorous,  it  repels  without  difficulty  all 
the  strokes  of  the  enemy,  opposing  to  the  fear  of  the  evils  with 
which  he  threatens  us,  and  to  the  desire  of  the  good  he  pro- 
mises us,  the  incomparable  excellency  of  the  glory  and  felicity 
for  which  we  look  in  the  other  world.  He  that  hopes  for  hea- 
ven cannot  be  tempted  by  the  paintings  and  appearances  of  the 
earth.  For  this  cause  the  apostle,  in  another  place,  compares 
hope  to  an  anchor,  which,  penetrating  within  the  veil,  fastened 
and  grounded  in  heaven,  holds  our  vessel  firm  and  steady,  amid 
the  waves  and  agitations  of  this  tempestuous  sea  on  which  we 
sail  below.  And  it  is  this,  in  my  opinion,  at  which  the  apostle 
here  aims  ;  that  believers  might  be  established  in  the  faith,  he 
desires  them  to  have  still  in  their  hearts  the  hope  of  heavenly 
bliss  and  never  to  suffer  this  sacred  and  divine  anchor  to  be 
taken  from  them.  They  are  in  safety  while  it  holds  them  fast. 
But,  the  better  to  express  it,  he  calls  it  peculiarly  "  the  hope  of 
the  gospel  ;"  that  is,  the  hope  which  the  gospel  has  wrought  in 
us,  the  expectation  of  those  good  things  which  it  promises. 
And  so  you  see  he  refers  hope  to  the  gospel  as  to  its  true  and 
genuine  object.  All  the  hopes  which  we  conceive  from  other 
grounds  are  vain  and  failing.  There  are  no  hopes  but  those 
which  embrace  the  promises  of  Jesus  Christ  that  are  firm  and 
solid,  and  they  are  such  as  never  confound  those  who  wait  for 
their  fulfilment.  The  gospel  promises  us,  first,  the  entire  ex- 
piation of  our  sins,  and  the  peace  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  his 
Son.  They  therefore  that  seek  this  blessing  in  the  ceremonies 
and  shadows  of  the  law,  as  the  Galatians  and  false  teachei's, 
who  would  have  seduced  the  Colossians,  did  ;  or  that  seek  it 
in  their  own  merits,  and  the  merits  of  creatures  ;  all  of  them,  I 
say,  and  all  that  are  like  them,  sufter  themselves  to  be  carried 
away  from  the  hope  of  the  gospel.  Then  again,  the  gospel  pro- 
mises us  eternal  life  in  heaven  by  the  grace  of  God  in  his  Son. 
Those  therefore  who  seek  their  felicity,  either  in  the  earth  or  in 
heaven,  otherwise  than  through  the  Lord  Jesus  alone,  quit  this 
hope.  Whereby  it  appears  how  very  pertinently  Paul  recom- 
mends this  hope  of  the  gospel  to  the  Colossians.  For  in  the 
combat  in  which  they  were  engaged,  it  was  sufficient  to  preserve 
them  from  all  the  attempts  of  impostors.  What  have  I  to  do 
(says  this  hope)  with  the  observations  of  your  disciplines,  or 
the  subtilties  of  your  philosophy,  since  I  abundantly  have  in 
my  gospel  all  the  good  things  which  you  vainly  promise  me  ? 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  169 

But  as  it  is  common  for  false  teachers  to  abuse  the  gospel, 
and  to  give  that  name  to  the  fopperies  and  vanities  which  they 
preach,  Paul,  to  put  the  Colossians  out  of  all  doubt  and  uncer- 
tainty, indicates  expressly  what  this  gospel  is  of  which  he 
speaks,  that,  says  he,  "  which  ye  have  heard,"  namely  of  Epa- 
phras,  who  had  preached  it  among  them,  and  to  whom  he  be- 
fore gave  an  excellent  testimonial  for  fidelity  and  sincerity.  I 
mean,  says  he,  the  gospel  which  you  received  at  the  beginning, 
from  the  mouth  of  true  servants  of  God,  and  not  these  vain  and 
dangerous  doctrines,  which  evil  workers  would  wish  you  to  re- 
ceive as  the  gospel  of  Christ. 

II.  But  to  confirm  them  the  more  in  the  faith,  he  sets  before 
them  in  the  second  place,  an  excellent  encomium  of  the  gospel, 
which  contains  a  clear  proof  of  its  truth,  saying  that  it  is  "the 
gospel  which  was  preached  to  every  creature  which  is  under 
heaven."  It  is  not  the  doctrine  which  these  false  apostles  sowed 
here  and  there  in  some  out-quarters,  whispering  and  privily 
advancing  among  light  and  unstable  spirits.  It  is  the  true  word 
of  the  Son  of  God,  which  had  been  proclaimed  through  the  whole 
universe  by  his  command,  and  according  to  the  oracles  of  his 
ancient  prophets;  that  word  which,  going  forth  from  Jerusalem, 
spread  itself  every  way  in  a  very  little  time  ;  and,  being  accom- 
panied with  the  power  of  its  author,  made  itself  heard  and  be- 
lieved in  all  the  provinces  of  the  habitable  earth,  in  spite  of  the 
contradictions  of  hell  and  the  world.  His  assertion,  that  the 
gospel  was  "  preached  to  every  creature  which  is  under  hea- 
ven," may  be  expounded  two  ways,  but  both  of  them  amount 
to  the  same  sense. 

First,  by  a  figure  very  common  in  divine  and  human  speech, 
the  word  "creature"  may  be  taken  for  man,  the  noblest  and 
most  excellent  of  all  the  creatures.  And  our  Lord  so  used  the 
word  before  upon  the  same  subject,  when  he  commanded  his 
apostles  to  do  what  Paul  magnifies  in  this  place  :  "  Go  ye,"  said 
he,  "  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  crea- 
ture;" where  it  is  evident  that  by  "every  creature"  he  means 
men,  who  alone  are  capable  of  hearing  and  receiving  what  is 
preached.  In  this  sense  when  Paul  says  that  "  the  gospel  was 
preached  to  every  creature,"  it  is  as  much  as  if  he  had  said,  to 
all  mankind,  and  among  all  sorts  of  men  ;  agreeably  to  what 
he  says  here  shortly  afterwards,  when  speaking  of  himself, 
"warning  every  man,  and  teaching  every  man  in  all  wisdom," 
ver.  28. 

Secondly,  these  words,  "  to  every  creature,"  may,  in  my  opi- 
nion, be  also  taken  as  signifying  in  all  the  world  ;  and  the  more 
so,  because  it  is  literally  in  the  original,  in  all  the  creature, 
with  tlie  article  the^  and  not  simply  "  to  every  creature,"  Now 
that  Paul  sometimes  uses  this  term,  "the  creature,"  to  signify 
the  world,  this  great  body  and  collection  of  all  things  which 
22 


170  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XII. 

God  has  created,  is  manifestly  seen  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ro- 
mans, where  he  says,  "  The  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature 
waiteth  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God  ;"  and  again, 
"The  creature  was  made  subject  to  vanity;"  and  also  shortly 
after,  "  We  know  that  the  whole  creation,"  or  all  the  creature, 
"groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now,"  Rom. 
viii.  19,  20,  22,  where  it  is  clear,  and  confessed  by  most  inter- 
preters, that  "  the  creature  "  signifies  the  world  ;  and  our  Bibles, 
to  make  us  understand  it  the  better,  change  the  singular  number 
into  the  plural,  rendering  it  {les  créatures,  and  toutes  les  créatures) 
the  creatures,  and  all  the  creatures  ;  whereas  the  original  reads 
simply  the  creature,  and  all  the  creature.  Taking  it  thus  there- 
fore in  this  place,  when  the  apostle  saith  the  gospel  "was 
preached  in  all  the  creature  which  is  under  heaven,"  he  means 
in  all  the  world  wherein  we  dwell,  wherein  God  has  seated 
mankind  beneath  the  heavens.  I  will  not  stay  here  now  to 
show  you  how  it  might  be  truly  said  in  Paul's"  time,  that  the 
gospel  of  our  Lord  was  then  preached  to  all  mankind,  or  in  all 
the  habitable  world,  or  how  this  event  is  a  clear  and  solid 
proof  of  its  truth.  We  have  already  handled  both  of  these 
particulars  in  expounding,  if  you  remember,  the  6th  verse  of 
this  chapter,  which  affirmed  that  the  gospel  was  come  unto  all 
the  world.  Upon  that  text,  which  signifies  nothing  else  than 
what  the  apostle  says  here,  namely,  that  the  gospel  has  been 
"  preached  in  all  the  creature  which  is  under  heaven,"  we  showed, 
first,  by  good  and  irrefragable  testimonies  of  ancient  writers, 
both  christian  and  pagan,  that  the  heavenly  word  had  been 
preached  within  the  apostle's  days  in  all  countries  then  known 
either  to  the  Greeks  or  Romans,  and  received  generally  with 
profit  ;  so  that  taking  the  word  world  (according  to  the  style 
of  all  languages)  not  simply  and  absolutely  for  all  the  parts  of 
this  terrestrial  globe,  but  only  for  those  which  at  that  time  were 
known  to  men,  and  which  they  understood  to  be  inhabited,  it 
might  be  said  with  truth,  and  without  any  over-reaching  hy- 
perbole, as  Paul  declares  here,  that  the  gospel  had  been  "  preached 
in  all  the  creature  which  is  under  heaven,"  that  is,  in  all  the 
world.  And,  in  the  second  place,  we  proved,  both  by  the  im- 
portance of  the  thing  itself,  and  by  the  respect  it  has  to  tlie  ora- 
cles of  the  Old  Testament,  which  had  predicted  it  many  ages 
before  its  event,  that  this  swift,  sudden,  and  admirable  progress 
of  the  gospel  through  all  the  world,  in  so  few  years,  is  a  certain 
and  infallible  evidence  of  the  truth  and  divinity  of  this  holy 
doctrine  ;  obliging,  consequently,  both  the  Colossians  at  that 
time,  and  us  at  the  present,  to  hold  fast  and  persevere  in  the 
faith  which  we  have  reposed  in  it,  without  suffering  ourselves 
ever  to  be  moved  away  from  it,  either  by  the  cheating  arts  of 
false  teachers  and  their  crafty  seducements,  or  by  the  threaten- 
ings  and  persecutions  of  the  world. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  ïif 

III,  These  things  having  before  been  explained  at  large, 
lest  the  repetition  of  them  should  be  irksome,  I  will  pass  to 
the  third  head  of  our  text,  in  which  the  apostle  sets  before 
the  Colossians  another  character  of  true  christian  doctrine, 
namely,  that  it  is  the  word,  the  ministry  whereof  was  com- 
mitted to  him.  It  is,  says  he,  the  gospel,  of  which  "  I  Paul 
am  made  a  minister." 

He  opposes  his  heavenly  call  to  the  temerity  of  false  teach- 
ers, who  ran  without  having  been  sent,  and  preached  not  that 
which  heaven  commanded  them,  but  that  with  which  earth  in- 
spired them  ;  their  impulsions  and  instructions  being  from 
flesh  and  blood,  and  not  from  the  Lord  Jesus.  It  was  other- 
wise with  Paul  ;  all  the  faithful  knew  him  to  have  been  called 
from  heaven,  and  suddenly  changed  by  the  efficacy  of  divine 
power  from  a  wolf  into  a  pastor  ;  made  a  herald  and  witness 
of  the  gospel  immediately  by  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  instructed  in  his 
miraculous  school,  and  illuminated  and  consecrated  by  his 
Spirit.  Who  could  doubt  but  that  it  was  from  the  mouth  of 
this  holy  man  that  the  mysteries  of  God  should  be  learned,  and 
that  what  was  contrary  to  his  doctrine  ought  to  be  judged  false 
and  vain  ?  I  confess  that  his  mission  was  extraordinary  and 
miraculous,  and  is  not  to  be  made  a  precedent  for  others  ;  still 
that  which  he  here  says  of  it  affords  us  two  instructions  which 
concern  pastors  generally.  The  first  is,  that  they  should  never 
intrude  themselves  into  this  sacred  office,  if  God  call  them  not, 
so  as  that  they  may  say  with  a  good  conscience,  as  Paul  does 
in  this  place,  that  they  have  been  made  ministers  of  the  gospel. 
It  is  true,  Jesus  Christ  now  speaks  not  to  men  from  heaven,  as 
he  before  did  to  Paul,  to  call  them  unto  his  work.  But  this 
much  he  does,  he  makes  us  perceive  his  will  ;  first,  by  the 
moving  of  his  Spirit  within  us,  which  never  fails  to  incite  us 
to  his  work  when  God  calls  us  to  it  ;  and  secondly,  by  the 
voice  and  authority  of  his  church,  that  is  to  say,  of  his  faith- 
ful people,  to  the  body  and  community  of  whom  he  has  given 
the  power  to  apply  the  right  of  his  ministry  to  such  as  they 
discern  to  be  meet  for  it,  as  the  examples  of  the  primitive 
church,  registered  in  the  book  of  the  Acts  and  elsewhere,  show 
us.  And  as  for  ordination,  as  it  is  called,  which  is  done  by  the 
imposition  of  the  hands  of  other  ministers  already  established, 
I  confess  that  this  also  ought  to  intervene  for  the  completion 
and  crowning  of  the  call  ;  accordingly  you  see  that  it  is  se- 
riously practised  among  us.  But  I  add,  that  it  is  not  so  ab- 
solutely requisite,  but  that  in  case  of  extreme  and  invincible 
necessity,  as  in  places  and  times  when  there  are  no  true  min- 
isters of  Jesus  Christ  to  be  found  to  give  it,  the  call  of  the 
church,  that  is  of  a  body  of  faithful  people,  may  suffice  to  a 
valid  instituting  of  a  pastor,  supposing  the  person  to  have  the 
ability  and  inclination  requisite  for  such  a  charge. 


172  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XII. 

The  other  particular  which  we  have  to-  learn  here  is,  that  all 
pastors,  of  whatever  rank  they  may  be,  are  ministers,  and  not 
masters,  of  the  gospel.  It  is  the  title  which  the  apostle  here 
assumes  according  to  the  declaration  he  makes  elsewhere,  that 
he  has  no  dominion  over  the  faith  of  believers,  but  is  a  helper 
of  their  joy,  2  Cor.  i.  2-i,  The  duty  of  a  minister  is  to  pro- 
pose what  has  been  committed  to  him,  what  he  has  received 
of  the  Master.  If  he  go  beyond  it,  and  will  have  his  own  will 
and  his  private  imaginations  to  bear  sway,  he  is  no  longer  a 
minister  ;  he  does  the  act  of  a  master,  and  consequently  sets 
up  a  tyranny,  since  the  church  neither  has  nor  can  have  any 
lawful  master  but  Jesus  Christ. 

Thus,  dear  brethren,  we  have  expounded  this  exhortation 
of  the  apostle  to  the  Colossians.  Remember,  that  it  is  to  you 
also  he  directs  it.  Amid  the  persecutions  which  Satan  casts  in 
the  way  of  your  faith,  and  the  temptations  he  offers  to  turn 
you  out  of  it,  retain  still  in  your  hearts  and  in  your  ears  this 
sacred  voice  which  cries  aloud  from  heaven  to  you,  "  Continue 
in  the  faith  grounded  and  settled,  and  be  not  moved  away 
from  the  hope  of  the  gospel,  which  ye  have  heard,  and  which 
was  preached  to  every  creature  which  is  under  heaven  ; 
whereof  I  Paul  am  made  a  minister."  Oppose  the  authority 
of  this  divine  command  to  the  seducements  and  illusions  of 
the  world,  to  the  flatteries  and  babble  of  sophisters,  to  the 
suggestions  and  lusts  of  the  flesh.  From  whatever  coast  there 
come  counsels  contrary  to  it,  whether  from  within  or  from 
without,  judge  them  impious  and  abominable.  And  blessed 
be  God,  who  has  hitherto  so  settled  you  in  the  belief  of  his 
word,  that  neither  the  forcible  attempts  of  open  enemies,  nor 
the  fraud  of  false  friends,  has  been  able  to  remove  you.  But, 
dear  brethren,  it  is  not  enough  to  have  stood  fast  hitherto; 
there  must  be  a  preparation  for  combats  which  are  still  to  come. 
For  we  have  to  do  with  enemies  with  whom  we  must  look  for 
neither  peace  nor  truce.  They  will  be  still  setting  to  work 
one  engine  or  another  ;  and  if  repulsed  on  one  side,  they  will 
not  fail  to  attack  us  immediately  on  another.  Let  us  be  there- 
fore as  vigilant  in  our  defence.  Let  us  have  no  less  zeal  and 
constancy  for  our  preservation,  than  they  have  rage  and  reso- 
lution for  our  ruin.  Let  us  fortify  our  faith  daily.  Arm  it 
with  proof  armour.  Found  it  on  the  eternal  Rock,  and  so 
fasten  it  that  nothing  may  be  able  to  pluck  it  out  of  our 
hearts.  For  this  purpose  let  us  continually  read  and  meditate 
that  heavenly  word  from  which  we  have  drawn  it.  Let  us  fill 
our  souls  with  this  divine  wisdom,  and  render  it  familiar  to 
us.  Let  us  instruct  our  youth  in  it.  Let  us  cause  it  to 
abound  everywhere  among  us.  Let  it  be  the  matter  of  our 
mutual  entertainments,  and  the  usual  subject  of  our  medita- 
tions.     For,  as  an   ancient  ouce  very  prudently  said,  "  The 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  173 

reading  of  tlie  boly  Scriptures  is  an  excellent  and  an  assured 
preservative  to  keep  us  from  falling  into  sin  ;  and  ignorance 
of  the  Scriptures  is  a  huge  precipice,  a  deep  gulf  of  perdi- 
tion."* 

In  the  design  of  our  perseverance,  let  us  particularly  make 
use  of  the  two  means  with  which  Paul  here  furnisheth  us. 
The  one,  that  the  gospel  which  we  have  heard  has  been 
preached  in  the  whole  world  ;  the  other,  that  it  is  the  same 
which  was  committed  to  our  apostle.  It  is  in  the  belief  of 
this  gospel  that  he  would  have  us  abide  firm.  It  is  to  this 
faith  that  he  promises  the  peace  of  God,  his  favour  and  his 
eternity.  God,  says  he,  has  "  reconciled  you  to  himself,  that 
he  might  present  you  holy,  unblamable,  and  unreprovable  ;  if 
ye  continue  in  the  faith  grounded  and  settled,  and  be  not 
moved  away  from  the  hope  of  the  gospel."  From  whence  it 
follows,  that  if  we  have  this  gospel  among  us,  we  may  cer- 
tainly assure  ourselves  that  by  retaining  it  we  shall  obtain  the 
peace  and  the  salvation  of  God.  The  only  question  therefore 
is,  whether  the  doctrine  which  we  have  embraced  be  truly  this 
gospel  or  not.  If  it  is,  I  have  no  further  search  to  make. 
I  am  content  to  have  found  that  which  is  sufficient  for  me, 
that  I  may  appear  before  my  God  without  confusion,  and  re- 
ceive of  him  life  everlasting.  But  that  the  doctrine  of  which 
we  make  profession  is  the  same  gospel  that  Paul  preached, 
the  same  that  he  and  the  other  apostles  sowed  in  the  world, 
and  which  the  world,  being  overcome  by  the  force  of  its 
truth,  in  the  end  received  and  adored,  is  so  clear,  that  I  do  not 
think  the  devil  himself,  hardened  in  impudence  as  he  is,  can 
deny  it.  For  do  not  the  God  whom  we  serve,  and  the  Christ 
whom  we  adore,  and  his  merit  in  which  we  trust,  and  the  wor- 
ship we  give  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  and  the  heaven  we 
hope  for,  and  the  sacraments  we  celebrate,  and  all  the  other 
articles  of  our  religion,  everywhere  appear  in  the  books  of 
Paul,  and  of  the  other  apostles?  Are  they  not  to  be  seen  in 
all  the  monuments  of  these  great  men,  as  well  in  their  wri- 
tings as  in  the  churches  which  they  planted  through  the  earth? 
Let  us  therefore,  my  brethren,  abide  firm  in  this  faith,  since  it 
most  assuredly  is  the  gospel  which  was  heretofore  preached 
in  all  the  world,  and  was  committed  to  Paul's  ministration. 

And  if  those  of  Rome  confront  us  with  their  devotions  and 
traditions,  let  us  boldly  tell  them,  that  if  those  things  were 
any  part  of  the  gospel,  they  would  appear  in  what  the  apos- 
tles preached,  to  whom  Jesus  Christ  gave  the  ministry  thereof. 
Whereas  there  is  not  any  one  of  them  found  in  the  sacred 
volumes,  which  they  have  left  us  to  be  the  rule  of  our  faith  ; 
neither  the  adoration  of  the  host,  the  veneration  of  images, 

*  Chrys.  Horn.  3,  de  Lazaro. 


174  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XII. 

the  invocation  of  departed  saints,  nor  the  other  points  for 
which  they  have  excommunicated  us.  And  herein  their  head 
evidently  shows  how  apostolical  he  is,  to  banish  those  from 
his  communion  whom  Paul  here  expressly  declares  to  be  at 
peace  with  God,  holy  and  unreprovable  before  him.  For,  to 
have  this  happiness,  he  does  not  oblige  us  to  believe  or  prac- 
tise this  pretended  gospel  of  Rome.  He  requires  us  only  to 
abide  firm  in  the  belief  of  the  gospel  which  he  preached  to  the 
faithful  and  left  in  his  Epistles.  In  them  our  religion  is  to  be 
seen,  full  and  whole,  but  not  one  article  of  that  which  Rome 
would  by  all  means  constrain  us  to  receive.  But  there  is  no 
necessity  for  us  further  to  dwell  upon  this  matter  ;  the  truth 
of  that  doctrine  which  we  embrace  being  so  clear,  that  no  man 
who  understands  Christianity,  and  owns  the  divinity  of  it,  can 
call  it  into  question  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  absurdity  of 
the  doctrine  we  reject  is  so  palpable,  and  so  rudely  beats 
against  the  foundations  of  reason  and  Scripture  that  it  is  very 
difficult  for  a  man  who  has  had  any  taste  of  the  gospel  ever  to 
yield  up  his  consent  to  the  errors  we  contest,  exce})t  God  has 
blinded  him  by  way  of  punishment  for  his  ingratitude. 

The  great  combat  which  we  have  most  cause  to  fear  is  that 
of  the  passions  of  our  flesh.  It  is  these  properly  that  enfeeble 
faith,  that  darken  its  light,  that  hide  the  truth  from  its  view, 
and  embellish  error.  These  are  the  true  causes  of  their  change 
who  desert  us,  and  of  the  offence  of  many  that  are  infirm 
amongst  us.  Experience  shows  it  daily.  And  accordingly 
you  see  our  Saviour  warned  us  of  it,  having  said,  in  one  of 
his  parables,  Matt.  xiii.  21,  22,  that  it  is  either  the  fear  of  per- 
secution, or  the  cares  of  this  world,  or  the  deceitful ness  of 
riches,  that  makes  the  seed  of  heaven  unfruitful  in  the  hearts 
of  men,  and  obstructs  their  perseverance.  And  Paul  some- 
where informs  us,  that  they  who  reject  a  good  conscience  make 
shipwreck  also  of  faith,  2  Tim.  i.  19.  When  a  man  is  once 
sold  over  to  pleasure,  or  avarice,  or  ambition,  it  is  no  wonder 
if,  in  the  sequel,  he  should  loathe  the  truth  and  fall  into  error. 
The  passage  from  the  one  to  the  other  is  easy.  Besides,  the 
slaves  of  sin  not  finding  the  contentment  of  their  passions  in 
the  profession  of  truth,  which  is  generally  under  the  cross, 
their  interest  leads  them  to  seek  their  satisfaction  in  the  world  ; 
this  gives  a  violent  shake  to  their  minds,  and  brings  them  by 
degrees  to  relish  the  side  and  party  of  the  world,  as  it  is  natural 
to  us  easily  to  believe  the  things  we  desire.  It  is  for  this 
reason,  dear  brethren,  that  we  must  use  every  effort  and  fight 
in  good  earnest,  if  we  would  continue  firm  in  the  faith.  Give 
me  a  man  that,  embracing  Jesus  Christ,  has  cast  off  the  lusts 
of  the  flesh  and  the  world,  and  I  will  be  security  for  his  per- 
severance. Take  me  away  the  colours  wherewith  avarice,  am- 
bition, and  vanity  adorn  error  in  the  thoughts  of  the  wordlv- 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  ANS.  175 

minded,  and  I  will  not  fear  its  seducing  any.  Cleanse  your 
conscience,  and  your  faith  will  be  out  of  danger.  The  devil, 
without  doubt,  made  use  of  his  best  weapons  against  our  Lord  ; 
and  you  know  that,  having  represented  to  him  the  hunger  and 
the  necessity  he  was  in,  he  omitted  not  to  spread  before  his 
eyes  the  pomp  of  the  grandeurs  and  riches  of  the  world.  It  is 
a  stratagem  he  still  puts  in  practice,  and  his  ministers  do  not 
forget  this  piece  of  his  device;  they  fail  not  to  tell  those  whom 
they  would  destroy  that  they  will  give  them  wonders.  Faithful 
brethren,  let  us  fortify  ourselves  seasonably  against  this 
temptation.  Let  us  mortify  in  ourselves  all  the  lusts  of  flesh 
and  earth.  Let  us  accustom  ourselves  to  welcome  the  cross 
and  sufferings  of  our  Lord.  Let  us  not  suffer  the  world  to 
dazzle  our  eyes,  but  let  us  look  upon  it  as  a  deceitful  show, 
unable  to  content  its  own  adorers.  To  the  false  goods  with 
which  it  feeds  its  bond-servants,  let  us  oppose  the  true  ones 
which  the  gospel  promises.  Let  the  sweet  and  noble  hope  of 
these  inflame  our  souls  with  an  ardent  desire  of  heaven  and 
immortality.  Let  it  sweeten  all  the  bitterness  that  attends  our 
profession,  and  make  execrable  to  us  all  that  tends  to  turn  us 
away  from  so  blessed  a  design.  Courage,  christian;  yet  a  little 
patience,  and  you  will  have  overcome.  Your  faith,  if  you 
abide  firm  in  it,  will  open  in  your  heart  in  the  present  time  a 
living  spring  of  such  joy  as  is  a  thousand  times  sweeter  than 
all  the  pleasures  of  worldlings  ;  and  it  shall  be  crowned  one 
day  with  that  pre-eminent  and  immortal  glory  which  the  gos- 
pel that  you  have  believed  promises  to  all  those  who  constantly 
persevere  in  the  vocation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  to  whom,  with 
the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  true  and  only  God,  blessed 
for  ever,  be  all  honour  and  praise,  to  ages  of  ages.     Amen. 


SERMON  XIII 

VERSE   24. 


Who  now  rejoice  in  my  Bufferings  for  you^  and  fill  up  that  which 
is  behind  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ  in  my  flesh  for  his  hody''s 
sake,  which  is  the  church. 

The  gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  possesses  many  admirable 
evidences  of  its  divinity,  and  among  them  the  sufferings  of  its 
confessors  and  martyrs  are,  in  my  opinion,  not  the  least  illus- 
trious. For  if  you  seriously  consider  them,  you  will  find  that 
there  never  was  any  doctrine  in  the  world  that  drew  more 
persecutions  upon  its  followers,  or  that  inspired  them  with  so 


176  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  XIII. 

mucli  courage  and  resolution  to  endure  them,  or  was,  in  effect, 
sealed  with  so  much  blood  and  patience.  Other  religions,  as 
thej  sprung  from  the  earth,  are  welcome  there,  and  the  world, 
that  well  knows  its  own  nature  and  spirit,  shows  them  kind- 
ness, and  receives  them  gladly.  The  alliance  also  which  there 
is  between  them,  being  all  of  them  fruits  and  productions  of  the 
flesh,  makes  them  mutually  bear  with  each  other.  And  if  a 
little  jealousy  at  times  raise  in  any  of  them  some  aversion  for 
the  rest,  this  passion  seldom  carries  them  so  far  as  to  an  open 
persecution.  But  as  soon  as  Christianity  appeared,  they  all 
turned  their  hatred  and  their  violence  against  it,  as  against  a 
religion  which  was  a  stranger,  and  of  quite  a  different  origin 
and  extraction  from  theirs.  Who  is  able  to  describe  the  furious 
excesses  of  the  world  against  this  innocent  discipline,  and  the 
horrid  calamities  to  which  it  condemned  its  professors,  banish- 
ing them  out  of  all  its  countries,  stripping  them  of  all  its 
honours  and  possessions,  burning  them,  torturing  them,  and 
mercilessly  employing  its  brute  creatures  and  its  elements 
against  them  !  Yet  these  cruelties  did  not  confound  the  faith- 
ful ;  they  bore  them  magnanimously,  and  would  rather  lose 
all  that  was  dear  to  them,  even  their  very  blood  and  life  itself, 
than  renounce  Jesus  Christ.  Of  all  the  false  religions  that 
were  propagated  among  men  in  the  time  of  paganism,  name 
one  that  was  consecrated  in  such  a  manner.  Of  all  the  sects 
of  philosophy  which  Greece  brought  forth,  and  of  which  the 
old  sages  so  haughtily  boasted,  show  me  one  that  gave  to  its 
disciples  the  courage  to  suffer  for  it,  or  that  was  watered  with 
their  blood.  I  will  not  deny  that  some  persons  have  suffered, 
and  still  are  found  to  suffer,  for  false  religions.  But,  first,  this 
never  happens  except  when  long  use,  and  the  superstition  of 
many  generations,  have  authorized  their  belief;  whereas  the 
faithful  suffered  for  Christianity  at  its  first  springing  forth, 
before  the  consent  of  the  people  or  the  authority  of  princes 
had  strengthened  it,  or  any  other  human  considerations  made 
it  plausible.  Then,  again,  those  sufferings  for  error  are  very 
rare  ;  they  are  the  sufferings  of  a  few  persons  only,  one  here 
and  another  there,  whom  vanity  or  melancholy  may  push  on 
so  far  ;  whereas  christians  suffered  by  thousands,  of  all  ages, 
of  each  sex,  of  every  rank  and  condition,  so  that  their  resolution 
can  be  attributed  to  no  other  motive  but  their  religion.  Who 
can  doubt  that  Mahommedanism  and  paganism  would  have  been 
immediately  extinguished  if  they  had  been  exposed  to  the  same 
trials  ?  Whereas  Christianity  was  established  by  them  ;  it 
flourished  in  the  flames  ;  and  the  ruder  were  the  shocks  that 
persecution  gave  it,  the  deeper  root  it  took.  And  this 
character  is  so  essential  to  this  divine  doctrine,  that  in  the  time 
of  our  fathers,  when  God  caused  it  to  come  forth  again  into 
public  light,  it  did  not  escape  the  same  treatment  that  it  had 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  177 

anciently  experienced,  nor  did  it  fail  to  confirm  its  truth  by 
the  same  sufferings,  confessions,  and  martyrdoms  which  had 
accompanied  its  first  introduction.  To  this  I  further  add,  that 
the  sufierings  for  other  religions,  when  any  happen,  are  with 
constraint  and  fear,  or  mixed  with  pride  and  obstinate  ferocity; 
whereas  in  those  for  the  gospel  there  shine  forth  humility  and 
modesty,  charity  and  sweetness,  celestial  consolation  and  joy. 
Such,  at  the  erection  of  Christianity,  were  the  sufferings  of  the 
apostles  and  the  disciples.  For  this  reason  Paul  speaks  of  his 
sufferings  to  the  Colossians,  in  pursuance  of  the  design  he  had 
to  confirm  their  faith.  "Who  now  rejoice,"  says  he,  "  in  my 
sufferings  for  you,"  &c. 

To  keep  the  faith  of  the  Colossians  in  its  purity,  and  to  se- 
cure it  from  the  leaven  which  seducers  would  mix  with  it,  he 
presented  to  them  in  the  preceding  text,  two  strong  arguments 
of  the  truth  of  the  gospel.  One  taken  from  its  extension,  it 
having  been  preached  through  all  the  world  in  a  very  little 
time;  whereas  the  new  doctrine  with  which  efforts  were  made 
to  infect  them  had  been  heard  but  here  and  there,  in  some  by- 
corners.  The  other  drawn  from  his  own  miraculous  call,  it 
being  a  doctrine  the  ministration  of  which  our  Saviour  had 
authentically  and  magnificently  committed  to  him  ;  whereas  he 
had  not  ordered  any  person  to  preach  those  traditions  with 
which  some  would  burden  them.  But  because  this  was  a  mat- 
ter of  great  importance,  he  employs  the  rest  of  this  chapter  in 
grounding  and  clearing  it,  showing  in  various  ways  the  truth 
of  his  heavenly  call.  And,  first,  he  confirms  it  in  this  verse 
by  the  sufferings  which  he  cheerfully  and  willingly  bore  to  an- 
swer that  call,  secretly  opposing  his  condition  to  that  of  the 
false  teachers,  who  were  exempted  from  the  cross  by  the  pro- 
fession they  made  of  observing  the  law  of  Moses.  That  I,  says 
he,  am  sent  of  God,  and  a  true  minister  of  his,  these  great  con- 
flicts which  I  sustain,  and  the  afflictions  which  I  continually 
suffer,  evidently  prove.  For  instead  of  fearing  them,  or  being 
ashamed  of  them,  I  rejoice  in  them  ;  and  it  highly  gratifies  me 
to  confirm  my  preaching  with  this  divine  seal,  even  the  cheer- 
ful bearing  of  the  cross  of  Christ,  because  I  am  not  ignorant 
how  necessary  this  deportment  is  in  his  school,  where  no  one 
lives  without  suffering  ;  and  how  profitable  it  is  for  his  mysti- 
cal body,  that  is,  the  church,  whom  he  has  united  to  himself, 
and  of  whom  he  has  made  me  a  minister.  This  is  the  substance 
of  what  the  apostle  here  declares  concerning  his  afflictions  ; 
and,  that  we  may  the  better  understand  it,  we  will  consider, 
first,  the  manner  in  which  he  bore  them.  This  he  expresses 
in  these  words  ;  "  Who  now  rejoice  in  my  sufferings  for  you." 
Secondly,  the  reasons  of  his  rejoicing;  taken  from  the  nature 
of  those  afflictions  which  were  the  rest  of  the  sufferings  of 
Christ,  which  I,  says  he,  "  fill  up  in  my  flesh."     And,  finally, 

2o 


178  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SEKM.  XIII. 

the  object  or  the  use  of  them,  in  that  he  suffered  them  for  the 
sake  of  "Christ's  body,  which  is  the  church."  These  three 
points  we  will  explain,  the  grace  of  God  assisting  us,  in  this 
exposition.  The  apostle's  joy  in  the  nature  of  his  sufferings, 
and  the  end  or  utility  of  them  ;  we  will  establish  and  make 
good  the  truth  of  his  sentiments,  and  refute  the  attempts  that 
error  makes  to  wrest  some  advantage  from  his  words.  The 
whole  shall  be  elucidated  with  as  much  perspicuity  and  brevity 
as  is  possible. 

I.  Although  it  is  generally  true,  that  all  those  who  will  live 
godly  in  Christ  Jesus  suffer  persecution  ;  yet  this  is  particu- 
larly verified  in  the  ministers  of  the  gospel,  who,  not  content 
with  embracing  this  profession  themselves,  undertake  to  draw 
and  guide  others  to  it.  This  charge  exposes  them,  more  than 
the  rest  of  the  faithful,  to  the  hatred  and  violence  of  the  world. 
Paul's  history  clearly  proves  this.  For  he  had  no  sooner  re- 
ceived this  sacred  ministry,  than  he  saw  the  Jews  and  the  hea- 
then rise  against  him,  as  by  common  agreement,  and  his  whole 
life  from  that  moment  was  nothing  but  a  series  of  afflictions. 
But  the  Spirit  of  him  who  had  called  him  fortified  him  in  such 
a  manner,  that  he  sustained  them  all,  not  only  patiently  and 
constantly,  but  even  cheerfully,  and  there  was  not  one  of  them 
of  which  it  might  not  be  said  that  he  rejoiced  in  suffering  it. 
It  is  evident,  however,  that  in  this  place  he  speaks  of  one  of  his 
afflictions  in  particular,  and  not  of  them  all  in  general.  For 
in  saying,  "I  now  rejoice  in  my  sufferings,"  he  intimates  his 
present  sufferings,  those  which  he  was  enduring  when  he  wrote 
this  Epistle,  and  not  others  that  were  past.  Every  one  knows 
the  condition  which  he  was  then  in;  that  he  lay  a  prisoner  at 
Rome,  bound  in  a  chain  for  the  gospel.  It  is  therefore  to  this 
persecution  that  we  must  understand  him  to  refer.  It  is  this 
prison,  and  this  chain,  and  the  inconvenience,  pain  and  ignominy 
that  attended  them,  with  respect  to  the  flesh,  which  he  signifies 
by  his  afflictions. 

But  the  question  is,  how  is  it  that  he  saith  that  it  is  for  the 
Colossians  he  was  afflicted?  "Who  rejoice,"  says  he,  "in  my 
sufferings  for  you."  It  does  not  appear  in  the  history  of  his 
persecutions,  which  we  have  at  large  in  the  book  of  the  Acts, 
that  these  faithful  people  had  contributed  to  them,  that  they 
had  been  either  the  cause  or  the  occasion  of  them.  To  this  I 
answer,  that  if  you  carefully  consider  this  sacred  history,  you 
will  easily  be  enabled  to  resolve  this  difficulty.  For  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  hatred  of  the  Jews,  his  accusers  and  persecutors, 
who  raised  up  this  long  affliction  upon  him,  was  principally 
caused  by  that  commerce  which  this  holy  man  ordinarily  had 
with  the  Greeks  and  other  Gentiles  ;  by  his  imparting  the  gos- 
pel to  them,  and  receiving  them  into  the  communion  of  the 
people  of  God  without  obliging  them  to  observe  the  law  of 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  179 

Moses.  It  was  this  tbat  particularly  kindled  their  hatred 
against  Paul.  They  suffered  James  and  many  other  disciples 
to  exercise  their  ministry  among  those  of  the  circumcision,  as 
you  see  in  the  Acts.  But  as  for  Paul,  who  taught  the  Gentiles, 
and  freely  communicated  to  them  the  mysteries  of  God,  him 
they  could  not  bear;  they  cry  out  as  soon  as  they  see  him, 
"  Men  of  Israel,  help.  This  is  the  man  that  teaches  all  men 
everywhere  against  the  people,  and  the  law,  and  this  place." 
And  they  add  in  particular,  that  he  had  brought  Greeks  into 
the  temple,  and  polluted  that  holy  place;  imagining  he  had 
caused  a  disciple  of  Ephesus,  whose  name  was  Trophimus,  to 
enter  into  it,  because  they  had  seen  him  in  the  city,  Acts  xxi. 
28,  29.  Hereupon  the  apostle  was  made  prisoner  by  the  cap- 
tain of  the  citadel,  and  from  thence  sent  to  Cesarea,  and  two 
years  afterwards  to  Rome.  So  you  see  that  the  commerce  he 
had  with  the  Gentiles,  and  the  care  he  took  of  their  conversion, 
according  to  the  charge  given  to  him  concerning  it  from  on 
high,  was  the  true  cause  of  all  this  tedious  and  terrible  tempest 
being  brought  upon  him.  Since  therefore  the  Colossians  were 
of  the  number  of  the  Gentiles,  considering  them  here  under  this 
relation,  he  had  reason  to  say  that  it  was  for  them  he  suffered  ; 
it  being  evident  that  he  incurred  the  trouble  in  which  he  was 
at  that  time,  for  having  opened,  by  his  sacred  ministry,  the  hea- 
venly Jerusalem  to  them  and  to  other  Gentiles.  And  thus  he 
explains  himself  respecting  it  in  another  place,  where,  speaking 
of  the  persecution  of  which  we  are  now  treating,  "  I  Paul,"  says 
he,  "the  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ  for  you  Gentiles,"  Eph.  iii.  1. 
He  expressly  names  the  consideration  under  which  the  Ephe- 
sians  had  a  part  in  his  bonds,  namely,  as  they  were  Gentiles. 
The  truth  is,  he  was  not  imprisoned  either  on  account  of  the 
Ephesians  or  of  the  Colossians  in  particular  ;  but  in  general, 
because  of  the  service  he  did  to  the  Gentiles,  converting  them, 
and  admitting  them  to  the  communion  of  the  people  of  God. 
And  let  none  object  that  he  had  never  preached  in  person  to 
the  Colossians.  Some  doubt  it.  But  suppose  he  had  not,  it  is 
sufficient  that  those  who  had  converted  them,  as  Epaphras  and 
others,  had  done  it  by  his  order,  and  after  his  example,  and 
under  his  authority  ;  he  being  the  person  who  had  the  preach- 
ing to  the  uncircumcision  committed  to  him,  and  to  whom  the 
Lord  from  heaven  had  given  the  charge  to  go  unto  the  Gen- 
tiles, "to  open  their  eyes,  and  to  turn  them  from  darkness  to 
light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God,  that  they  might 
receive  the  remission  of  their  sins,  and  an  inheritance  among 
them  which  are  sanctified  by  faith,"  Acts  xxvi.  17,  18.  Here- 
after we  shall  find  him  declaring  still  more  plainly  to  these 
faithful  people,  that  they,  and  the  rest  of  the  Gentiles,  were  the 
occasion  of  his  sufferings.  "I  would,"  says  he  to  them,  "that 
ye  knew  what  great  conflict  I  have  for  you,  and  for  them  at 


180  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XIII. 

Laodicea,  and  for  as  many  as  have  not  seen  my  face  in  the 
flesh." 

In  all  this  the  holy  prudence  of  the  apostle  appears,  who,  to 
win  the  hearts  of  these  believers,  and  the  better  to  dispose 
them  to  the  reception  of  his  instructions,  besides  the  authority 
of  his  office,  which  he  sets  before  them,  expressly  intimates 
the  affection  he  bore  for  them,  and  the  zeal  he  had  for  their  salva- 
tion ;  and  in  order  to  gain  them  unto  God,  he  hesitated  not  to 
endure  so  long  and  grievous  a  persecution  ;  and  so  far  from 
repenting  of  it,  he  still  rejoiced  in  it  to  that  very  hour  ;  an 
evident  sign,  that  if  it  were  to  commence  again,  the  considera- 
tion of  that  hard  prison  would  not  in  the  least  degree  prevent 
him  from  exercising  his  ministry  towards  them  and  the  other 
Gentiles  in  the  same  manner  as  he  had  done  before.  Thus 
Paul  endured  all  the  afflictions  which  the  gospel  and  the  edifi- 
cation of  men  entailed  upon  him.  "  I  endure  all  things,"  says 
he,  "  for  the  elect's  sake,  that  they  may  also  obtain  the  salva- 
tion which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,"  2  Tim.  ii.  10.  And  to  them 
who  would  have  diverted  him  from  the  journey  he  took  to 
Jerusalem,  "  What  mean  ye,"  says  he,  "  to  weep  and  to  break 
mine  heart  ?  For  I  am  ready  not  to  be  bound  only,  but  also 
to  die  at  Jerusalem,  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  Acts  xxi. 
13.  He  faithfully  makes  good  what  he  had  promised  them. 
He  magnanimously  undergoes  his  bonds.  The  tumult  and 
fury  of  an  enraged  people  did  not  daunt  him.  The  conspira- 
cy of  his  enemies,  the  injustice  of  his  judges,  and  the  perils 
of  the  sea,  did  not  in  the  least  discourage  him.  The  tedious- 
ness  of  a  long  imprisonment  did  not  at  all  change  him.  Be- 
hold how  he  yet  protests  that  he  rejoices  in  his  afflictions! 
He  is  as  fresh  and  vigorous  as  if  he  were  but  now  entering 
upon  them. 

Indeed  it  is  thus  that  we  ought  to  suffer  for  Jesus  Christ.  It 
is  not  enough  to  be  patient  under  suffering,  there  must  be  a 
rejoicing  in  it.  It  is  not  enough  to  go  forth  under  the  cross 
without  murmuring,  there  must  be  a  marching  on  with  alacrity. 
He  that  follows  his  captain  weeping  is  but  a  poor  soldier; 
men  of  valour,  on  such  occasions,  go  forward  with  gladness. 
Paul  goes  yet  further.  He  would  have  us  to  glory  in  such 
kind  of  tribulations,  and  triumph  in  them,  Rom.  v.  3.  So  did 
the  apostles,  who,  having  been  ignominiously  scourged  by  the 
decree  of  the  council  of  the  Jews,  rejoiced  (says  the  sacred  his- 
tory) "  that  they  were  counted  worthy  to  suffer  shame  for  the 
name  of  Jesus,"  Acts  v.  41.  I  confess  that  such  joy,  in  occur- 
rences which  would  produce  shame  and  sadness  in  all  other 
men,  is  strange;  it  is  contrary  to  the  sentiments  of  nature,  and 
exceeds  its  strength  :  yet  I  affirm  that  it  is  just  ;  and  although 
it  is  above  the  reach  of  our  reason,  it  will  be  found  to  be  a 
very  rational  joy. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  181 

II,  That  this  may  the  better  appear,  let  us  now  consider  the 
two  reasons  of  it,  which  the  apostle  here  alleges,  when  he 
adds,  "  And  fill  up  that  which  is  behind  of  the  afflictions  of 
Christ  in  my  flesh  for  his  body's  sake,  which  is  the  church." 
The  word  "  and,"  which  knits  these  words  with  the  foregoing, 
is  put  here,  as  in  many  other  places  of  Scripture,  for  one  of 
those  particles  which  they  call  causal.  I  "  rejoice  in  my  suf- 
ferings for  you,  and  fill  up  that  which  is  behind  of  the  afflic- 
tions," &c.;  that  is,  forasmuch  as  I  fill  up,  or  because  I  fill  up, 
that  which  remains  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ,  as  some  of  the 
best  and  most  learned  interpreters  have  well  observed.  The 
first  of  these  reasons  which  induced  the  apostle  to  receive  the 
sufferings  of  the  gospel  with  joy  is  this,  that  by  undergoing 
them  he  filled  up  the  rest  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ  in  his 


First,  it  is  clear  that  by  "  the  afflictions  of  Christ  "  he  does 
not  mean  the  troubles  which  the  Lord  Jesus  himself  suffered 
in  his  own  person  during  the  days  of  his  flesh,  of  which  his 
death  on  the  cross  was  the  last  and  the  chief,  the  end  and 
crowning  of  them  all.  For  neither  Paul,  nor  any  of  the  wri- 
ters of  the  New  Testament,  ever  uses  the  term  "  affliction  "  to 
express  those  sufferings  of  our  Lord.  They  are  always  termed 
either  his  passion,  and  sufferings,  or  his  temptations;  as  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  "  Jesus  was  made  a  little  lower  than 
the  angels  for  the  suffering  of  death."  Heb.  ii.  9  ;  and  in  Peter, 
"The  Spirit  testified  beforehand  the  sufferings  of  Christ,"  1 
Pet.  i.  11  ;  and  so  also  in  other  places. 

Secondly,  "  the  afflictions  of  Christ,"  of  which  the  apostle 
speaks  in  this  place,  were  not  finished  ;  there  remained  still 
some  part  of  them  to  be  filled  up  ;  whereas  the  Lord's  personal 
sufferings  were  perfectly  completed  on  the  cross,  so  that  in  this 
respect  there  remained  nothing  more  for  him  to  suffer  ;  ac- 
cording to  what  he  himself  testified,  when  he  cried  with  a  loud 
voice,  before  he  gave  up  the  ghost,  "  It  is  finished  :"  and  also 
according  to  what  the  apostle  teaches  in  various  places  ; 
namely,  that  Christ  "  died  unto  sin  onoe  ;"  that  henceforth  he 
"  dieth  no  more,"  but  "  liveth  unto  God,"  and  that  he  "  was 
once  offered  to  bear  the  sins  of  many,"  Eom.  vi.  9,  10  ;  Heb.  ix. 
28.  Those  of  Eome  confess  it,  and  even  complain  that  they 
should  be  charged  with  having  other  thoughts  upon  the  sub- 
ject ;  they  acknowledge  it  would  be  gross  blasphemy  to  say 
that  the  sufferings  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  by  which  he  expiated 
our  sins  on  the  cross,  want  anything  that  should  be  supplied 
either  by  Paul  or  any  other  man.  What  then,  are  these  "afflic- 
tions of  Christ  "  which  are  here  spoken  of?  Dear  brethren, 
they  are  those  which  the  apostle  suffered  for  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  and  in  his  communion,  and  by  reason  of  the  ministry 
with  which  he  had  honoured  him.     For  it  is  the  practice  of 


182  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XIII. 

these  holy  men  to  give  this  title  to  all  that  believers  suffer  for 
this  holy  and  glorious  cause.  "  As  the  sufferings  of  Christ 
abound  in  us,"  says  the  apostle,  "  so  our  consolation  also 
aboundeth  by  Christ,"  2  Cor,  i.  5.  Hence  you  clearly  see  that 
by  "  the  sufferings  of  Christ  "  are  not  meant  those  which  the 
Lord  suffered  in  his  own  person,  but  those  which  the  apostle 
suffered  for  his  sake.  As  he  says  to  the  Philippians,  that  he 
desired  to  be  found  in  Christ,  to  the  end  that  he  might  know 
"  the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings,"  Phil.  iii.  10  ;  that  is,  those  suf- 
ferings by  which  all  his  faithful  ones  are  consecrated  after  his 
example.  The  same  he  elsewhere  calls  "  the  afflictions  of  the 
gospel,"  2  Tim.  i.  8  ;  and  in  another  place,  "  the  dying  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,"  which  he  says  he  bears  i'  about  in  his  body,"  2 
Cor.  iv.  10  ;  just  as  he  here  says  that  he  fills  up  the  afflictions 
of  Christ  in  his  flesh.  And,  in  my  judgment,  it  is  the  same 
that  he  means  at  the  end  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  where 
he  glories  in  bearing  in  his  body  "  the  marks  of  the  Lord  Je- 
sus," Gal.  vi.  17,  because  afflictions  are,  as  it  were,  the  mark 
that  Jesus  Christ  imprints  in  the  flesh  of  his  servants,  the  seal 
and  badge  of  his  house.  So  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  he 
terms  the  low  and  disgraceful  condition,  the  afflictions  and  in- 
conveniences of  the  people  of  God,  "  the  reproach  of  Christ  ;" 
saying  that  Moses  esteemed  "the  reproach  of  Christ  greater 
riches  than  the  treasures  in  Egypt,"  Heb.  xi.  26. 

If  you  now  ask  me  the  reason  of  this  mode  of  speech,  it  is 
not  difficult  to  be  found.  For,  first,  since  it  is  for  the  name 
of  the  Lord,  for  his  cause,  and  in  his  service,  that  the  faithful 
are  afflicted  ;  "  suffering,"  according  to  Peter's  advice,  "  not  as 
a  murderer,  or  thief,  or  evil-doer,  or  as  busybodies  in  other 
men's  matters,"  but  as  christians,  1  Pet.  iv.  15,  16  ;  all  the 
wounds  which  they  receive  upon  this  account  are  justly  called 
the  sufferings  of  Christ.  Since  he  is  the  cause  and  the  true 
occasion  of  them,  it  is  reasonable  to  attribute  them  to  him,  and 
to  say  that  they  are  his.  Secondly,  there  is  so  strict  a  union 
between  the  Lord  and  all  his  true  members,  that  they  with 
him  make  up  but  one  body,  as  the  apostle  will  presently  tell 
us.  And  by  virtue  of  this  conjunction  we  have  part  both  in 
his  glory  and,  in  some  measure,  in  his  very  name  ;  as  the  apos- 
tle intimates,  when  he  compares  this  mystical  body  to  a  natu- 
ral body,  and  says,  "  As  the  body  is  one,  and  hath  many  mem- 
bers, and  all  the  members  of  that  one  body,  being  many,  are 
one  body  ;  so  also  is  Christ,"  1  Cor.  xii.  12.  Under  the  name 
of  "  Christ"  there  Paul  comprises  not  only  the  person  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  but  with  him  the  whole  multitude  of  his  believers. 
And  considering  them  as  united  together,  he  gives  the  name 
"  Christ"  to  this  whole  body,  which  is  composed  of  the  Lord  as 
the  Head,  and  of  the  faithful  as  members.  Whereby  it  appears 
that  all  that  believers  suffer,  each  for  his  share,  makes  up  part 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  183 

of  the  afflictions  of  Christ;  as  you  know  we  call  those  inju- 
ries ours  which  we  receive  in  any  one  of  our  members,  whether 
the  hand  or  the  foot.  Paul  is  the  hand  of  Christ,  as  one  of  the 
members  of  his  body,  yea,  one  of  the  most  excellent.  Surely 
then  all  that  he  suffers  pertains  to  Christ.  It  is  his  affliction 
and  his  hurt.  None  of  the  wounds  of  his  servants  is  alien  to 
him.  And  you  see  even  among  men,  it  is  an  offence  to  a 
prince  to  slight  his  minister,  it  is  an  affront  to  the  husband  to 
injure  the  wife,  to  attack  the  servant  is  to  assault  the  master. 
Though  the  connection  between  these  persons  is  not  so  close 
or  so  intimate  as  the  union  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  people,  yet 
it  is  sufficient  to  denominate  these  outrages  and  injuries  the 
prince's,  the  husband's,  or  the  master's  injuries,  which  are  done 
to  the  persons  who  appertain  to  them  under  that  relationship. 
Accordingly,  you  see  in  civil  affjiirs,  that  men  interest  them- 
selves as  much  in  such  cases,  and  take  as  heinously,  or  even 
more  so,  the  outrages  done  to  persons  depending  on  them,  and 
dear  to  them,  as  those  which  are  directly  aimed  at  them- 
selves. Thus,  in  the  heavenly  state  of  the  church,  Jesus 
Christ  owns  both  the  good  and  the  evil  that  are  done  to  his 
followers.  He  says  of  those  who  visit,  comfort,  and  feed  his 
poor  members,  that  they  visit,  and  comfort,  and  feed  himself. 
Of  those  who  refuse  them  these  good  offices,  he  declares  that 
they  have  denied  them  to  him.  And  Paul  had  learned  this 
lesson  from  his  own  mouth.  For  when,  in  the  darkness  of 
his  ignorance,  actuated  by  the  fury  of  his  zeal  without  know- 
ledge, he  persecuted  the  disciples,  Jesus  cried  to  him  from  hea- 
ven, "  Saul,  Saul,  why  persecutest  thou  me?"  Acts  ix.  4.  It  is 
I  whom  thou  outragest  in  the  person  of  those  faithful  people 
whom  thou  purposest  to  bind  and  imprison.  Thou  dost  not 
give  them  a  blow  that  does  not  reach  me.  I  fail  not,  though 
in  heaven,  to  bear  a  part  in  all  that  they  suffer  on  earth.  The 
blood  thou  drawest  from  them  is  mine  ;  and  as  their  persons 
belong  to  me,  so  all  their  afflictions  and  torments  are  mine. 
The  apostle,  instructed  by  this  divine  oracle,  boldly  calls  the  af- 
flictions of  Christ  all  those  which  he  suffered  after  he  had  the 
honour  of  being  his. 

But  he  does  not  barely  say  here  that  he  suffers  "  the  afflic- 
tions of  Christ."  He  also  says  that  he  fills  up  that  which  is 
behind,  that  which  was  yet  wanting  of  them.  To  understand 
this  aright,  we  must  remember  what  he  teaches  us  elsewhere, 
namely,  "  that  whom  God  did  foreknow,  he  also  did  predesti- 
nate to  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son,  that  he  might 
be  the  first-born  among  many  brethren,"  Rom.  viii.  29  ;  and 
that  one  of  the  principal  parts  of  this  conformity  is  their  suf- 
fering here  below,  and  their  partaking  of  the  cross  of  Christ, 
according  to  the  intimation  which  he  constantly  gives  us  in 
Scripture,  that  if  any  one  will  follow  him  he  must  take  up 


184  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.    XIII. 

his  cross,  that  all  who  will  live  godly  in  Christ  Jesus  shall 
sufier  persecution,  and  that  we  must  through  much  tribulation 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  Now  as  the  wisdom  and 
understanding  of  the  Lord  is  infinite,  he  has  not  only  or- 
dained this  in  general,  but  has  defined  and  decreed  in  his 
eternal  counsel,  both  that  which  the  whole  body  of  the  church 
shall  bear  in  the  gross,  and  what  each  of  the  faithful,  of  whom 
this  body  is  composed,  shall  suffer  in  particular,  through  what 
trials  he  shall  pass,  where  his  exercises  shall  begin,  and  where 
they  shall  end.  And  as  his  hand  and  his  counsel  had  before  de- 
termined all  that  the  Lord  Jesus  suffered  in  his  own  person,  Acts 
iv.  28  ;  for  which  reason  Peter  calls  him  the  Lamb  that  "  was 
foreordained  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,"  1  Pet.  i.  20  ; 
so  likewise  has  he  resolved  upon,  and  formed,  in  the  light  of 
his  eternal  providence,  the  whole  lot  of  each  one  of  the  faith- 
ful, all  the  parts  and  thrusts  of  their  combat.  The  case  of  the 
head  and  of  the  members  is  alike.  Nothing  happens  to  them 
by  mere  chance.  The  procedure  and  proportion  of  their  whole 
laborious  course  is  cut  out  and  fashioned  before  all  ages.  Ac- 
cording to  this  true  and  holy  doctrine,  the  apostle  doubted  not 
that  his  task  was  ordained  in  the  counsel  of  his  God,  that  the 
number  of  his  sufferings  were  determined,  and  the  quality  of 
them  regulated.  Having  then  already  despatched  a  great  part 
of  them,  he  means  here  that  which  remained  for  him  yet  to  fin- 
ish according  to  the  counsel  of  God.  I  accomplish,  says  he, 
in  my  present  sufiîerings,  "  that  which  is  behind,"  or  the  re- 
mainder, "  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ."  I  despatch  my  task 
by  little  and  little,  and  what  I  now  suffer  makes  up  a  part  of 
it.  It  is  one  draught  of  the  cup  which  the  Lord  has  ordained 
for  me,  a  portion  of  the  afflictions  which  I  am  to  pass  through, 
for  his  Christ's  sake  and  cause.  It  is  one  of  the  conflicts 
which  I  must  endure,  for  the  consummation  of  my  whole 
course. 

But  it  must  not  be  omitted,  that  the  word  here  used,  and 
which  we  have  rendered  "  fill  up,"  is  in  the  original  very  em- 
phatical,  and  signifies,  not  simply  to  "  fill  up,"  or  to  finish, 
but  to  fill  up  in  one's  turn,  in  consequence  of  and  in  exchange 
with  some  other.  I  consider  that  there  is  represented  by  it  a 
secret  opposition  between  what  Jesus  Christ  had  suffered  for 
the  apostle,  and  what  the  apostle  at  that  time  was  suffering  for 
Jesus  Christ.  The  Lord,  says  he,  on  his  part,  has  completed 
all  the  sufferings  that  were  necessary  for  my  redemption  ;  I 
now,  in  my  turn,  fill  up  all  the  afflictions  that  are  useful  for 
his  glory.  He  did  the  work  which  the  Father  had  given  him 
to  do  on  earth  ;  and  I  after  him,  and  after  his  example,  do  that 
which  he  has  charged  me  with.  He  has  suffered  for  me  ;  I 
suffer  for  him.  He  has  purchased  ray  salvation  by  his  cross; 
I  advance  his  kingdom  by  my  conflicts.     His  blood  has  re- 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  185 

deemed  the  church  ;  my  imprisonment  and  my  bonds  edify  it. 
For  you  see,  my  brethren,  that  the  conformity  which  is  be- 
tween Jesus  Christ  and  each  one  of  his  believers,  requires  that 
there  should  be  such  a  resemblance  between  his  sufferings  and 
ours.  And  this  is  what  the  apostle  intends  by  the  word  here 
used.  To  this  we  must  also  particularly  refer  his  saying  that 
he  "  fills  up  that  which  is  behind  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ 
in  his  flesh."  For  as  the  Lord  suffered  in  this  infirm  and 
mortal  nature  which  he  had  put  on  ;  and,  after  he  had  put  off' 
the  infirmness  of  it,  and  rendered  it  immortal  and  impassible, 
suffered  no  more  ;  in  like  manner,  it  is  in  this  flesh  that  all 
the  afflictions  shall  be  filled  up  which  we  are  to  suffer  by  the 
order  and  counsel  of  God.  When  we  shall  once  have  quitted 
it,  there  will  be  no  more  conflicts  and  sufferings  for  us  to 
undergo,  than  there  were  for  the  Lord  Jesus  after  his  death 
upon  the  cross.  It  is  the  same  thing  which  the  apostle  signi- 
fies in  the  passages  quoted  before,  that  he  bears  the  dying  of 
Christ  in  his  body,  and  his  marks  in  his  flesh. 

From  whence,  by  the  way,  it  appears  how  absurd  the  belief 
of  purgatory  is,  which  makes  the  faithful  to  suffer,  not  in  the 
flesh,  but  in  the  spirit  ;  and  extends  their  afflictions  and  pains 
beyond  the  days  of  their  flesh  ;  in  which,  nevertheless,  the 
apostle  teaches  us  that  their  sufferings  are  completed.  Thus 
you  see  what  is  the  sense  of  his  words,  and  how  much  rea- 
son he  had  to  rejoice  in  his  sufferings  :  first,  because  they 
were  the  afflictions  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Prince  of  life,  and  the 
author  of  our  salvation.  Secondly,  because  they  were  dis- 
pensed by  the  order  and  will  of  God.  Thirdly,  because  they 
made  up  the  last  part  of  the  apostle's  task  ;  being  the  contin- 
uance and  remainder  of  the  conflicts  which  he  had  to  sustain. 
And  lastly,  because  they  contained  an  illustrious  evidence  of 
his  gratitude  towards  the  Lord  ;  and  rendered  him  conform- 
able to  his  holy  image,  in  that,  as  Jesus  had  suffered  for  his 
salvation,  he  also  suffered  in  his  turn  for  the  glory  of  his 
gracious  Master. 

III.  But  he  adds  yet  another  reason,  which  likewise  sweet- 
ened the  bitterness  of  his  sufferings,  and  enabled  him  to  find 
joy  amidst  the  horror  of  them  ;  it  is  that  he  suffered  them 
for  "  the  sake  of  the  body  of  the  Lord,  which  is  his  church." 
He  had  already  said  that  he  suffered  for  the  Colossians,  as  we 
have  explained  ;  now  he  extends  the  fruit  of  his  afflictions 
further,  saying  that  they  are  of  use  to  the  whole  church. 
And  to  show  us  how  much  weight  this  consideration  should 
have  to  make  his  sufferings  pleasant  to  him,  he  gives  the 
church  the  highest  and  the  most  glorious  appellation  that  can 
be  attributed  to  any  creatures,  calling  it  the  body  of  Christ. 
For  what  object  more  illustrious  and  more  precious  can  we  suf- 
fer, than  for  the  body  of  the  Son  of  God,  the  King  of  ages,  the 
'    24 


186  AN   EXPOSITION   OP  [SERM.  XIII. 

Father  of  eternity  ?  We  have  already  treated  of  it  upon  the 
18th  verse  of  this  chapter,  and  showed  how,  and  in  what 
sense,  the  church  is  the  body  of  Christ,  and  we  will  not  now 
repeat  it.  But  his  affirming  that  he  fills  up  these  afflictions 
for  the  church  is  true,  and  appears  so  in  two  respects. 

First,  inasmuch  as  the  church  was  the  occasion,  and  indeed 
the  cause,  of  his  sufferings.  For  it  was  the  service  he  did  it, 
in  preaching  the  gospel,  in  instructing  and  comforting  it,  in 
grounding  and  settling  it  in  the  faith,  which  had  provoked  the 
Jews  against  him,  and  involved  him  in  the  afflictions  which 
beset  him.  As  if  a  prince's  servant,  zealous  for  his  master's 
glory,  and  for  the  prosperity  of  his  affairs,  should  through 
his  zeal  fall  into  some  disaster,  he  might  say  it  was  for  him 
and  his  interests  that  he  shed  his  blood,  and  lay  a  prisoner 
in  his  enemies'  hands. 

Secondly,  Paul's  afflictions  were  for  the  church,  because  he 
suffered  them  for  the  edification  and  consolation  of  the  church. 
This  was  the  intention  of  his  patience,  and  the  design  of  his 
constancy.  It  was  to  the  church  that  all  the  fruit  of  these  fair 
and  illustrious  examples  of  the  apostle's  constancy  redounded. 
He  himself  explains  it  to  be  so.  "Whether  we  be  afflicted," 
says  he  to  the  Corinthians,  "  it  is  for  your  consolation  and  sal- 
vation, which  is  effectual  in  the  enduring  of  the  same  suffer- 
ings which  we  also  suffer,"  2  Cor.  i.  6.  Here  you  see  that  the 
fruit  which  the  faithful  reaped  from  these  afflictions  consisted 
in  this,  that  by  the  virtue  of  his  example  they  were  confirmed 
in  the  gospel  ;  were  rejoiced,  and  comforted,  and  fortified  for 
the  same  conflicts.  And  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians, 
when  treating  of  the  same  imprisonment  to  which  he  alludes 
in  our  text,  he  says,  "  I  would  ye  should  understand,  brethren, 
that  the  things  which  happened  unto  me  have  fallen  out  ra- 
ther unto  the  furtherance  of  the  gospel  ;  so  that  my  bonds  in 
Christ  are  manifest  in  all  the  palace,  and  in  all  other  places  ; 
and  many  of  the  brethren  in  the  Lord,  waxing  confident  by 
my  bonds,  are  much  more  bold  to  speak  the  word  without 
fear,"  Phil.  i.  12-14.  Behold  !  how  his  sufferings  were  for  the 
church,  in  that  they  encouraged  the  preachers,  and  enkindled 
in  the  hearts  of  the  faithful  people  the  zeal  of  the  house  of 
God  ;  and  in  those  without  the  church  an  inquisitiveness  about 
the  gospel,  for  which  he  was  a  prisoner.  This  great  man's 
preaching  would  never  have  sparkled  as  it  did,  never  af- 
forded the  world  and  the  church  so  much  edification  and  con- 
solation, if  it  had  not  been  accompanied  with  sufferings  sealed 
with  his  blood,  and  confirmed  by  his  wonderful  patience 
amidst  the  continual  persecutions  which  were  raised  against 
him.  The  conflicts  of  other  servants  of  God  have  the  same 
efiect.  Their  blood  is  the  seed  of  the  church.  It  is  from  their 
sufferings  that  it  springs  up.     It  is  by  them  that  it  grows  and 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  187 

gathers  strength.  It  is  the  patience  of  these  divine  warriors 
that  converted  the  world,  that  conquered  the  nations  unto  Je- 
sus Christ,  and  planted  his  cross  and  his  gospel  everywhere, 
even  in  the  most  rebellious  spirits.  Surely,  since  the  church 
received  so  much  profit  from  the  apostle's  afflictions,  it  is  with 
good  reason  he  here  affirms  that  he  fills  up  that  which  is  be- 
hind of  them  for  it.  And  in  this  sense  we  must  understand 
it,  when  he  says  to  Timothy  that  he  "endures  all  things  for 
the  elect's  sake,"  2  Tim.  ii.  10. 

This  may  suffice  for  the  discussion  of  our  text,  which  is  per- 
spicuous, simple,  and  obvious.  But  the  error  of  our  adversa- 
ries compels  us  to  lengthen  this  discourse.  Not  that  they  deny 
the  exposition  which  we  have  given  ;  for  how  could  they  do 
that,  without  renouncing  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel  and  the 
confession  of  christians  in  all  ages  ?  But,  granting  that  the 
apostle's  afflictions  were  for  the  church  in  the  sense  in  which 
we  have  expounded  it,  they  add,  that  they  were  so  also  in  an- 
other sense  ;  that  is  to  say,  in  that  by  undergoing  them  he 
made  satisfaction  for  the  sins  of  other  believers,  and  by  this 
means  contributed  to  the  increase  and  enrichment  of  the 
church's  treasury  of  satisfactions,  out  of  which  the  bishop  of 
Borne,  to  whom  the  custody  of  it  is  committed,  makes  larges- 
ses from  time  to  time,  as  he  judges  meet,  for  the  expiation  of 
the  sins  of  penitents  ;  and  hence  has  arisen  the  use  of  indul- 
gences, which  is  become  so  common  in  our  days.  But,  first, 
what  kind  of  proof  is  this  ?  To  show  that  the  saints  have 
satisfied  divine  justice  for  the  sins  of  other  believers,  they  al- 
lege that  Paul  writes,  "  I  fill  up  the  rest  of  the  afflictions  of 
Christ  for  his  church."  I  answer,  his  meaning  is  for  edifying 
and  comforting  the  church.  They  acknowledge  the  force  of 
this  answer,  but  add,  that  the  apostle's  sufferings  serve  also  for 
the  expiation  of  the  sins  of  the  church,  and  to  fill  the  exche- 
quer of  its  pretended  satisfactions.  Is  this  fair  disputing  ?  Is 
it  not  a  pronouncing  of  dogmas  after  their  own  fancy  ?  Is  not 
this  presupposing  their  opinion  instead  of  proving  it?  It  is 
clear  that  we  read  nothing  in  this  text  either  of  these  satisfac- 
tions, of  that  treasury,  or  of  those  indulgences  of  which  they 
inform  us.  Certainly,  if  they  will  draw  these  things  from 
hence,  it  behoves  them  to  show  us  that  they  are  here,  to  dis- 
close them  to  us,  to  constrain  us  by  the  clearness  of  their 
proofs  to  see  them.  So  far,  however,  from  forcing  us  to  this 
by  the  weight  of  their  evidence,  they  do  not  so  much  as  at- 
tempt it,  but  content  themselves  with  telling  us,  that  though 
our  exposition  is  good  and  true,  yet  theirs  also  must  be  added. 
Since  they  urge  no  other  proof  of  it  but  their  own  dictate,  we 
may  reject  it  with  the  same  facility  with  which  they  offer  it. 
Nevertheless,  for  your  greater  edification,  I  will  proceed  a  lit- 
tle further  in  the  illustration  of  this  text. 


188  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XIII. 

First,  the  apostle's  words  bj  no  means  warrant  us  in  suppo- 
sing that  be  is  speaking  of  satisfactions,  it  being  evident  that 
it  may  be  said  of  all  useful  things,  that  they  are  for  those  who 
have  the  use  of  them  :  as,  for  example,  that  it  is  for  men  the 
sun  shines  in  the  heavens  ;  that  it  is  for  them  the  clouds  pour 
down  the  rain,  and  the  earth  yields  its  fruits  ;  that  it  is  for  the 
church  Paul  wrote  his  Epistles,  and  preached,  and  published 
the  gospel  ;  and  a  thousand  other  such  things,  in  which  no 
man  ever  dreamed  that  there  is  any  satisfaction.  And  when 
Paul  professes  to  the  Corinthians,  that  he  would  most  willingly 
spend  and  be  spent  for  them,  2  Cor.  xii.  15,  does  he  mean  for 
the  atonement  of  their  sins  ?  No,  says  a  Jesuit  ;  but  he 
speaks  of  his  great  pains  in  preaching  and  teaching,  which 
could  not  have  failed  of  being  very  useful  for  the  edification 
of  the  church,  though  of  no  value  for  the  satisfaction  of  God.* 
Here,  therefore,  in  the  same  manner,  when  the  apostle  says  his 
afflictions  are  for  the  church,  it  follows  clearly  that  his  suffer- 
ings were  of  use  to  the  church,  (which  I  willingly  confess,)  but 
not  that  they  were  satisfactions  for  the  sins  of  the  church  ; 
which  is  precisely  the  thing  we  deny,  and  which  they  would 
prove.  But  if  the  words  of  this  text  do  not  support  their  ex- 
position, the  authority  of  the  fathers,  which  they  so  highly  ex- 
tol, does  not  establish  it  any  the  more  ;  not  one  of  them  ever 
having  been  known  to  infer  their  doctrine  from  this  text,  or  to 
interpret  it  differently  from  what  we  have  done. 

Lastly,  the  thing  itself  as  little  favours  their  design  ;  and 
to  demonstrate  it  to  you,  we  must  briefly  touch  upon  all  the 
points  of  their  pretended  mystery.  It  is  composed  of  four 
propositions,  all  of  which  they  advance  upon  their  own  credit, 
without  founding  so  much  as  one  of  them  on  Scripture.  For, 
first,  they  presuppose  that  when  God  pardons  the  sins  which 
are  committed  after  baptism,  he  remits  only  the  guilt,  and  the 
eternal  punishment  of  our  trespasses,  but  not  their  temporal 
punishment  ;  this,  they  consider,  he  obliges  us  to  expiate, 
either  here  or  in  purgatory.  Secondly  they  add,  that  various 
saints,  as  the  apostles,  martyrs,  and  others,  have  done  and  suf- 
fered much  more  than  they  themselves  required  for  the  expia- 
tion of  their  own  sins  ;  and,  as  they  are  provident,  thrifty 
men,  lest  these  superfluous  satisfactions  (for  so  they  call  them) 
be  unprofitably  lost,  they  maintain  that  they  go  into  the  com- 
mon treasury  of  the  churches,  where,  being  mixed  with  the 
superabundant  sufferings  of  Christ,  they  are  preserved  for  the 
necessities  of  the  penitent.  And,  finally,  in  addition  to  all  this, 
they  give  the  custody  of  this  treasury  to  the  bishop  of  Rome 
alone,  who  dispenses  it  as  he  judges  expedient.  Here  is  a 
chain  of  imaginations  which  have  no  foundation,  either  in  rea- 

*  Justiuiaa  in  loc. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  189 

son,  or  in  Scripture,  or  anywhere  else,  but  in  their  own  passion 
and  interest.  For,  first,  who  taught  them  thus  to  cut  in  pieces 
the  benefits  of  God,  and  to  suppose  that  he  remits  the  guilt 
without  the  punishment,  as  if  to  remit  a  sin  was  anything  else 
than  not  to  punish  it — and  that  he  again  remits  a  part  of  the 
punishment,  namely,  that  which  is  eternal,  and  holds  us  bound 
to  satisfy  for  the  other  ?  How  does  this  accord  with  that  full 
and  entire  grace  which  he  promises  to  repenting  sinners,  and 
with  his  declaration  that  he  will  forget  their  sins  ;  that  he  will 
blot  out  their  iniquities  ;  that  he  will  remember  them  no  more, 
and  that  there  is  no  condemnation  to  them  that  are  in  Jesus 
Christ?  Would  it  not  be  a  mockery,  if,  after  all  this,  he 
should  exact  of  men  the  punishment  of  their  faults  to  the  ut- 
most farthing?  And  as  for  the  pretended  satisfactions  of  the 
saints,  whence  have  they  drawn  them — from  what  prophets, 
from  what  apostles,  seeing  that,  so  far  from  having  suffered 
more  than  was  necessary  to  expiate  their  sins,  all  of  them  de- 
clare that  none  of  them  were  justified  by  their  doings  or  their 
sufferings,  that  they  all  needed  grace  for  the  expiation  of  their 
transgressions,  and  that  all  their  sufferings  were  not  able  to 
counterpoise  the  glory  wherewith  God  will  crown  them  ? 
And  if  we  be  indebted  to  them  for  any  part  of  the  expiation 
of  our  sins,  what  will  become  of  the  apostle's  assertion,  that 
Christ  purged  our  sins  by  himself,  Heb.  i.  3  ;  and  that  he 
consummated,  or  made  perfect,  them  that  believe,  by  that  one 
sole  oblation  which  he  made  on  the  cross  ?  If  Paul,  who  is  in 
question,  did  in  suffering  satisfy  for  us,  why  does  he  protest 
elsewhere  that  he  was  not  crucified  for  us  ?  1  Cor.  i.  13. 
Surely,  according  to  our  adversaries'  supposition,  he  could  not 
in  truth  deny  it.  For  if  his  sufferings  serve  not  only  for  the 
edification  of  our  lives,  but  also  for  the  atonement  of  our  sins, 
as  they  pretend,  there  remains  no  longer  any  sense  in  which  it 
may  be  said  that  Christ  alone  suffered  for  us.  These  two  pro- 
positions, that  the  apostle  did  suffer,  and  did  not  suffer  for  us, 
will  be  irreconcilable;  whereas  in  our  doctrine  it  is  easy  to 
harmonize  them,  by  saying,  he  suffered  for  us,  that  is,  for  our 
edification;  and  suffered  not  for  us,  that  is,  not  to  atone  for  our 
sins  ;  this  kind  of  suffering  appertaining  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
only. 

Besides,  if  the  afflictions  of  which  the  apostle  here  speaks 
were  satisfactory  for  the  church,  (as  our  adversaries  will  have 
it,)  Paul  would  not  have  suffered  them  with  joy;  it  being  evi- 
dent that  pains  of  this  nature  necessarily  seize  those  who  suffer 
them  with  an  extreme  horror  and  heaviness,  because  they  are 
accompanied  with  the  apprehension  of  the  wrath  of  God  against 
sin,  as  appears  both  by  the  cross  of  our  Lord,  which  he  bore, 
it  is  true,  with  firmness  and  patience,  but  without  any  emotions 
of  joy  ;  and  also  by  the  confession  of  our  adversaries  themselves, 


190  AN-   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XIII. 

who  represent  to  us  that  the  souls  which  suffer  for  their  sins, 
in  their  imaginary  purgatory,  are  all  confounded  with  horror, 
and  full  of  excessive  sadness. 

Lastly,  how  does  this  fiction  accord  with  the  perpetual  voice 
of  the  church,*  that  though  the  faithful  die  for  their  brethren, 
yet  martyrs  did  not  shed  one  drop  of  their  blood  for  the  remis- 
sion of  their  sins;  and  that  none  but  Christ  has  done  this  for 
us  ;  and  that  in  this  he  did  nothing  for  our  imitation  but  that 
for  which  we  should  thank  him  ;  that  he  alone  took  on  him 
our  punishment  without  our  sin,  to  the  end  that  we  by  him, 
without  merit,  might  obtain  the  grace  which  is  not  due  to  us  ? 
This  foundation  being  overturned,  their  pretended  treasury, 
and  its  distribution,  which  they  invent,  fall  to  the  ground.  I 
confess  the  church  has  a  treasure,  or  rather  a  living  spring  of 
graces,  and  of  propitiation  for  its  sins,  but  it  is  full  and  whole 
in  Jesus  Christ,  her  eternal  High  Priest,  who  was  ordained  of 
God,  from  all  time,  to  be  a  propitiation,  through  faith  in  his 
blood  ;  and  to  have  possession  of  these  blessings,  the  sinner 
needs  but  to  present  him  a  heart  full  of  faith  and  of  repentance, 
according  to  the  direction  of  John,  "  If  we  confess  our  sins,  he 
is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us 
from  all  unrighteousness,"  1  John  i.  9.  As  for  the  patience 
and  the  sufferings  of  saints,  though  they  have  not  the  virtue  to 
atone  for  our  sins,  yet  they  are  not  unprofitable  to  us.  Where- 
fore the  Lord  would  have  them  put  up  and  kept,  not  in  the 
pretended  exchequer  of  the  pope,  but  in  the  treasury  of  the 
Scriptures,  out  of  which  every  believer  has  the  liberty  of  re- 
ceiving them  at  all  times  for  his  use,  to  the  edifying  of  his  life, 
that  he  may  gather  from  such  fair  examples  that  excellent  fruit 
of  piety  which  they  contain,  and  admire  and  imitate  them  to 
the  best  of  his  ability.  This  is  the  lesson  which  we  ought  to 
practise  upon  the  sufferings  of  the  apostle  in  particular,  which 
are  represented  to  us  in  this  text,  that  we  may  in  reality  profit 
by  them,  to  the  glory  of  God  and  our  own  edification. 

Let  us  learn  from  them,  first,  not  to  be  ashamed  of  affliction 
for  the  gospel's  sake.  Paul  shows  us  that  it  is  matter  of  joy; 
I  "rejoice,"  says  he,  "  in  my  sufferings  ;"  and  our  Lord  himself 
says,  "  Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  revile  you,  and  persecute 
you,  and  shall  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely,  for 
my  sake.  Rejoice  and  be  exceeding  glad  :  for  great  is  your  re- 
ward in  heaven  :  for  so  persecuted  they  the  prophets  which 
were  before  you,"  Matt.  v.  11,  12.  Christ  was  treated  thus 
himself,  and  his  apostles  went  to  heaven  the  same  way.  Blush 
not  to  bear  their  marks.  If  they  be  ignominious  before  men, 
they  are  glorious  before  God.  Fortify  yourselves  in  this  reso- 
lution, particularly  you  to  whom  God  has  committed  the  mini- 

*  Aug.  34.  tract,  in  Joan,  et  1.  4.  ad  Bonif.  de  Pecc.  mer.  et  remiss. 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  191 

stry  of  his  word.  If  the  world  thwart  your  preaching,  if  it 
threaten  you,  if  it  proceed  so  far  as  to  imprisonments  and  to 
banishment,  remember  that  Paul  had  no  better  usage,  and  that 
it  was  out  of  a  prison  that  he  wrote  this  excellent  Epistle.  As 
your  cause  is  the  same,  so  let  your  courage  be  like  his.  Con- 
clude, as  he  did,  that  these  bonds  are  an  honour  to  you,  that 
these  sufferings  are  the  afflictions  of  Christ.  Let  this  sacred 
name,  and  the  communion  you  have  with  him,  sweeten  all  the 
bitterness  of  your  troubles. 

But,  faithful  brethren,  think  not  that  you  shall  be  exempted 
from  these  trials  because  you  are  not  ministers  of  the  gospel. 
You  also  have  part  in  them,  each  one  according  to  his  calling, 
and  the  measure  of  the  grace  of  God.  He  has  no  children  whom 
he  consecrates  not  by  afflictions.  But  if  you  suffer  with  Jesus 
Christ,  you  shall  reign  with  him  ;  if  you  have  part  now  in  his 
cross,  you  shall  one  day  have  part  in  his  glory.  And,  to  assure 
you  of  it,  he  calls  your  sufferings  his  afflictions.  He  protests 
that  you  receive  not  a  blow  but  what  he  feels.  Doubt  not 
that  he  takes  great  notice  of  the  conflicts  which  he  vouchsafes 
to  call  his.  Think  also  upon  what  he  has  sustained  for  you, 
and  you  will  confess  it  is  reasonable  that  you  should  suffer 
something  for  his  glory  who  has  undergone  so  much  for  your 
salvation.  He  has  suffered  for  you  the  whole  curse  of  God  ; 
will  not  you  bear  the  reproaches  and  wrongs  of  men  for  him  ? 
He  has  borne  and  expiated  the  penalty  of  your  sins  on  the 
cross  ;  will  you  shrink  from  that  which  is  behind  of  his  afflic- 
tions? He  has  accomplished  what  was  most  difficult,  that 
which  none  but  he  could  discharge,  having  drunk  for  us  the 
dreadful  cup  of  God's  indignation  against  our  sins.  Let  us 
valiantly  accomplish  the  trials  which  remain  for  us.  It  is  he 
himself  that  dispenses  them  to  us.  It  is  not  either  the  fancy 
of  men,  or  the  rage  of  devils.  God  has  appointed  our  task  for 
us.  It  is  from  his  hand  we  must  receive  all  the  afflictions  which 
we  shall  suffer. 

But  besides  that  we  owe  this  respect  and  subjection  to  God, 
let  us  learn  of  the  apostle  that  we  owe  such  examples  also  to 
the  church.  It  is  not  for  Jesus  Christ  alone  that  we  suffer.  It 
is  for  his  body  also.  As  our  afflictions  advance  the  glory  of 
the  Master,  so  they  likewise  serve  for  the  edification  of  the  fa- 
mily. Judge  thereby,  faithful  brethren,  what  our  affection  for 
the  church  should  be.  The  consideration  of  it  constituted  a 
great  part  of  the  apostle's  joy.  He  accounted  himself  happy, 
that  by  his  sufferings  he  could  testify  the  love  he  bore  to  this 
Bacred  body  of  his  Master.  He  blessed  his  chain,  how  hard  so- 
ever it  was,  because  it  did  the  church  some  service.  Dear  bre- 
thren, let  us  imitate  this  divine  charity.  Let  us  love  our  Lord's 
church  above  all  things.  Let  us  make  it  the  chief  object  of  our 
delight.     Let  us  consecrate  to  its  edification  all  the  actions  and 


192  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XIII. 

sufferings  of  our  lives.  Let  us  embrace  all  its  members  with 
brotherly  kindness,  and  take  good  heed  that  we  despise  no  man 
who  has  the  honour  to  be  incorporated  in  so  august  and  divine 
a  society.  The  apostle's  example  shows  us  that  we  owe  them 
even  our  blood  and  our  life.  And  we  have  heard  him  also  at 
another  time  professing  to  the  Philippians,  that  if  he  should 
be  offered  upon  the  sacrifice  and  service  of  their  faith,  he  should 
joy  in  it,  Phil.  ii.  17.  And  John  says  expressly,  that  as  Christ 
"  laid  down  his  life  for  us,  so  we  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives 
for  the  brethren,"  1  John  iii,  16,  If  the  Lord  spare  our  infirm- 
ity, and  call  us  not  to  such  great  trials,  let  us  at  least  testify 
our  love  towards  the  church  by  all  the  offices  and  services  of 
which  our  condition,  and  the  present  occasion,  is  capable.  We 
owe  it  our  blood.  Let  us  give  it,  at  least,  our  tears,  our  alms, 
our  good  examples.  You  that  have  had  the  heart  to  plunge 
into  the  vain  pastimes  of  the  world  while  the  church  was  in 
mourning,  that  have  laughed  and  sported  while  she  suffered 
and  groaned,  repair  this  disorder.  Comfort  her  with  your 
pious  tears,  whom  you  have  saddened  by  your  vain  pleasures. 
Break  with  the  world.  Have  no  more  commerce  but  with  the 
children  of  God.  Remember  you  have  the  honour  to  be  the 
body  of  Jesus  Christ.  How  is  it  that  you  have  no  horror  at 
defiling,  in  the  filth  of  sin  and  vanity,  those  members  which 
are  consecrated  to  the  Son  of  God,  washed  with  his  blood, 
sanctified  by  his  word,  and  baptized  with  his  Spirit  ? 

The  church,  besides  this  purity  of  life  which  its  edification 
requires  of  you  at  all  times,  particularly  at  the  present,  de- 
mands of  you  the  succour  of  your  alms  for  the  refreshment  of 
its  poor  members.  Their  number  and  their  necessities  increase 
daily.  Let  your  charity  be  augmented  after  the  same  propor- 
tion. Let  it  relieve  the  indigence  of  some,  let  it  allay  the 
passions  of  others,  let  it  extinguish  enmities  and  hatred  among 
us  all.  Let  it  seek  not  only  to  those  whom  you  have  wronged, 
but  even  to  them  that  have  offended  you  without  cause,  that 
henceforth  you  may  truly  be  the  body  of  the  Lord,  his  church, 
holy  and  unblamable,  "  having  neither  spot,  nor  wrinkle,  nor 
any  such  thing  ;"  patient  and  generous  in  affliction,  humble 
and  modest  in  prosperity,  crowned  with  good  works  and  the 
fruits  of  righteousness,  to  the  glory  of  our  great  Saviour,  the 
edification  of  men,  and  your  own  salvation.     Amen, 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  193 

SERMON  XIV. 

VERSES  25 — 27. 

Whereof  I  am  made  a  minister^  according  to  the  dispensation 
of  God  which  is  given  to  me  for  you,  to  fulfil  the  ivord  of 
God:  even  the  mystery  which  hath  been  hid  from  ages  and 
from  generations,  but  now  is  made  manifest  to  his  saints: 
to  whom  God  would  make  hioivn  what  is  the  riches  of  the 
glory  of  this  mystery  among  the  Gentiles  ;  which  is  Christ  in 
you,  the  hope  of  glory. 

The  cliurcîi  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  fairest  and  most 
glorious  state  that  ever  existed  in  the  world  ;  a  state  formed 
in  the  counsel  of  God  before  the  creation  of  the  heavens, 
founded  on  the  cross  of  his  Son  in  the  fulness  of  time  ;  gov- 
erned by  the  Father  of  eternity,  and  enlivened  by  his  Spirit  ; 
it  is  the  most  precious  of  his  jewels,  the  last  end  of  his  works, 
and  the  only  design  of  all  his  wondrous  performances.  It  is 
a  state  not  mortal  and  corruptible,  as  those  of  the  earth,  but 
firm  and  everlasting,  situate  above  the  sun  and  moon,  and  sees 
all  other  things  roll  under  its  feet,  in  continual  change,  with- 
out being  subject  to  their  vanity.  It  is  the  only  society 
against  which  neither  the  gates  of  hell,  nor  the  revolutions  of 
time,  shall  prevail.  It  is  the  house  of  the  living  God,  the 
temple  of  his  holiness,  the  pillar  of  his  truth,  the  dwelling- 
place  of  his  grace  and  glory.  One  of  the  prophets  therefore 
long  ago  contemplating  it  in  spirit,  cried  out  in  transport  and 
ecstasy,  "  Glorious  things  are  spoken  of  thee,  0  city  of 
God,"  Psal.  Ixxxvii.  3.  But  among  its  other  glories,  this  is  in 
my  opinion  none  of  the  least,  that  God  employs  the  hands,  the 
sweat,  and  the  blood  of  his  apostles  for  its  erection.  It  is  for 
the  church  that  he  made  and  formed  these  great  men,  and 
poured  into  their  souls  all  the  riches  of  heaven.  And  as  they 
had  received  them  for  the  service  of  the  church,  so  they  laid 
them  out  in  it  faithfully  and  cheerfully,  insomuch  that  they 
counted  it  a  great  honour  to  suffer  on  its  account,  and  they 
blessed  the  reproaches  which  they  received  for  its  edification. 
We  lately  heard  Paul,  the  most  excellent  of  these  divine  men, 
protesting  that  he  rejoiced  in  his  sufferings  and  afflictions  for 
the  church  ;  and  now,  in  the  text  which  we  have  read,  he  goes 
on  to  say  that  he  is  the  minister  of  the  church.  What  an  admi- 
rable and  happy  community  must  that  have  been  whose  min- 
ister and  servitor  was  Paul,  the  greatest  of  men,  one  of  the 
master-pieces  of  heaven,  and  the  wonder  of  earth  !  But  by 
these  words  he  not  only  justifies  the  joy  he  had  in  suffering 


194:  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XIV. 

for  the  church,  as  minister  of  it  ;  he  also  grounds  upon  them 
his  liberty  to  make  remonstrances  to  the  Colossians,  and  to 
enforce  his  doctrine  against  the  errors  which  seducers  were 
sowing  among  them.  For  this  cause,  he  enlarges  on  this  sub- 
ject, and  magnifies  his  ministry.  First,  he  represents  to  them 
the  foundation  of  it,  namely,  the  call  of  God  ;  and  the  object 
of  it,  or  those  towards  whom  he  ought  to  exercise  it  ;  and  the 
end  of  it,  in  verse  25,  in  these  words  ;  "  Whereof  "  (that  is, 
of  the  church)  "  I  am  made  a  minister,  according  to  the  dis- 
pensation of  God  which  is  given  to  me  for  you,  to  fulfil  the 
word  of  God."  After  this,  in  the  following  verse,  he  extols 
the  subject  of  this  ministry,  namely,  the  word  of  God  ;  saying 
that  it  is  "  the  mystery  which  had  been  hid  from  ages  and 
from  generations,  but  now  is  made  manifest  to  the  saints." 
Lastly,  he  adds  the  efficacy  of  this  divine  mystery  towards  the 
Gentiles  ;  and  declares  wherein  it  consists,  namely,  in  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.  He  is  the  whole  matter  and  substance  of 
this  great  mystery.  "  To  whom  God  would  make  known  what 
is  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  this  mystery  among  the  Gentiles  ; 
which  is  Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory."  These  are  the 
three  points  which  we  purpose  to  handle  in  this  discourse,  if 
the  Lord  permit.  First,  the  ministry  of  Paul.  Secondly, 
the  mystery  of  the  gospel.  And  thirdly,  the  riches  of  its 
glory  towards  the  Gentiles.  The  subject  is  great,  the  time 
short,  and  our  abilities  small  ;  may  it  please  God  to  supply 
our  defects  by  the  abundance  of  his  Spirit,  and  powerfully 
strengthen  and  multiply  the  words  of  our  mouth  in  your 
hearts;  so  that,  notwithstanding  their  scantiness  and  poverty, 
they  may  administer  food  for  your  souls,  even  as  the  seven 
loaves  and  a  few  little  fishes,  by  virtue  of  his  blessing,  for- 
merly sufficed  to  satiate  a  great  multitude. 

I.  As  for  the  first  of  these  three  points  ;  the  apostle,  speak- 
ing of  the  church,  says,  "  "Whereof  I  am  made  a  minister,  ac- 
cording to  the  dispensation  of  God  which  is  given  to  me  for 
you,  to  fulfil  the  word  of  God."  Upon  which  we  have  four 
things  to  consider.  First,  the  quality  of  the  apostle's  office, 
which  he  terms  the  ministry  of  the  church.  Secondly,  the 
title  to  this  office,  founded  on  the  dispensation  which  God  had 
given  him.  Thirdly,  the  object  of  the  execution  of  this  of- 
fice, which  he  expresses  by  saying,  "  for  you  ;"  that  is,  for  you 
Gentiles,  as  we  shall  show  you  presently.  And  in  the  fourth 
place,  the  function  and  the  proximate  end  of  this  office,  which 
he  declares  in  these  words,  "  to  fulfil  the  word  of  God." 

Observe  then,  brethren,  first,  how  this  holy  apostle,  to  de- 
scribe the  office  to  which  God  had  called  him,  says  he  had  been 
made,  not  the  master,  or  the  prince,  or  the  judge,  or  the  mon- 
arch, or  the  high  priest,  but  the  minister  of  the  church.  By 
which  you  see,  on  the  one  hand,  how  very  far  from  the  mind 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  l95 

of  this  holy  man  were  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  those  who 
qualify  themselves  with  those  vain  and  haughty  titles,  which 
are  not  to  be  found  among  the  names  of  the  apostles  and  pas- 
tors in  the  Scriptures,  and  who  are  not  ashamed  openly  to  say 
and  to  write,  that  bishops  a~re  judges,  masters,  and  princes  of 
their  flocks  :  that  he  of  Rome,  in  particular,  is  the  monarch 
of  the  church,  its  king  and  its  sovereign  Lord  on  earth,  whose 
feet  it  ought  to  kiss,  the  lowest  homage  a  vassal  can  do  to  his 
master  ;  that  he  has  power  to  impose  laws  on  the  church, 
which  shall  bind  the  conscience,  so  as  that  it  can  have  no  faith 
or  salvation  out  of  his  obedience;  that  he  has,  though  indi- 
rectly, even  power  and  dominion  over  the  temporalities  of  the 
church,  not  excepting  the  sceptres  and  crowns  of  the  sover- 
eign powers  of  the  earth.  Judge  by  this  if  it  is  not  a  mock- 
ery of  the  world  for  such  persons  to  represent  themselves  as 
the  true  heirs  and  successors  of  Paul  and  Peter.  Paul  calls 
himself  a  minister  of  the  church.  These  men  say  they  are 
the  lords  and  monarchs  of  it.  Paul  protests  that  he  has  no 
"  dominion  over  our  faith,"  2  Cor.  i.  24.  These  men  pretend 
that  they  have  an  absolute  empire,  insomuch  that  every  man 
is  bound,  under  pain  of  damnation,  to  believe  all  that  they 
command,  and  for  no  other  reason  than  because  they  command  it. 
Peter  styles  himself  a  presbyter,  that  is  an  elder,  with  the 
presbyters  or  elders,  1  Pet.  v.  1 — 3.  These  men  say  they  are 
their  sovereigns  and  kings.  Peter  orders  the  pastors  to  feed 
the  flock  of  Christ,  not  as  having  lordship  over  his  heritage  ; 
these  men  attribute  to  themselves  a  direct  and  a  supreme  do- 
minion over  them.  In  short,  Jesus  Christ,  both  Paul's  and 
Peter's  Master,  says  expressly  to  his  ministers,  "  Ye  know  that 
the  princes  of  the  Gentiles  exercise  dominion  over  them,  and 
they  that  are  great  exercise  authority  upon  them  ;  but  it  shall 
not  be  so  among  you,"  Matt.  xx.  25.  And  yet  these  men  exer- 
cise, both  upon  people  and  pastors,  indeed  upon  the  whole 
church,  a  mastership  and  dominion  much  more  absolute,  rough, 
and  rigorous  than  any  monarch  ever  exercised  over  his  sub- 
jects, and  such  a  dominion  too  as  wants  neither  the  pomp  of 
dignity,  the  splendour  of  riches,  of  arms,  and  guards,  nor  any 
other  of  the  ordinary  and  visible  marks  and  badges  of  a 
worldly  royalty.  But  you  have  to  observe  here  also,  on  the 
other  hand,  how  false  and  unjust  is  the  derision  which  our  ad- 
versaries make  of  the  name  of  minister,  which  pastors  among 
us  assume  ;  imputing,  in  a  manner,  their  modesty  to  them  as  a 
crime,  and  almost  accusing  them  of  their  want  of  arrogance. 

I  know  well  that  the  word  here  rendered  "  minister"  is 
often  used  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  and  of  the  church,  to 
signify  the  ministry  of  those  who  have  the  care  of  the  poor, 
and  of  the  funds  of  the  church,  and  we  have  retained  it  in 
this  sense  in  our  vulgar  tongues  ;  in  which  they  that  are  put 


196  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XIV. 

into  such  charges  are  called  in  French  diacres^  in  English,  dea- 
cons, as  you  know  ;  which  is  precisely  the  Greek  word  here 
used  by  the  apostle.  But  however,  since  Paul  has  not  hesi- 
tated to  use  this  name  for  expressing  his  office,  calling  himself 
a  minister  of  the  church,  ver.  23,  and  in  other  places,  a  min- 
ister of  the  gospel,  a  "  minister  of  the  New  Testament,"  2  Cor. 
iii.  6,  a  "  minister  of  God,"  chap.  vi.  4,  and  minister  of  Christ, 
it  appears  to  me  that  no  one  can  blame  us,  who  are  so  far  be- 
neath him,  for  having  followed  the  example  of  his  humility  ; 
and  that  to  censure  us  for  calling  our  pastors  ministers,  is 
evidently  to  revile  this  great  apostle,  who  has  so  often  used 
this  name  in  this  sense,  and  even  to  signify  the  highest  digni- 
ties in  the  church,  such  as  his  apostleship  ;  for  it  is  evident 
that  he  means  this,  when  he  says  in  our  text  that  he  was  made 
a  minister  of  the  church. 

He  adds,  secondly,  "  according  to  the  dispensation  which  is 
given  to  me."  Hereby  he  shows,  first,  that  it  was  not  man, 
but  God,  the  supreme  Master  and  Lord  of  the  whole  universe, 
who  called  and  consecrated  him  to  the  ministry  of  the  gospel. 
You  all  know  the  history  of  it,  which  is  told  us  at  length  in 
the  book  of  Acts.  It  is  full  of  so  many  wonders,  that  the 
vocation  of  this  holy  man  ought  to  be  counted  very  singular  ; 
many  circumstances  meeting  in  it  which  do  not  occur  in  the 
call  of  any  other  apostle.  Jesus  Christ  had  called  the  rest 
during  the  days  of  his  flesh  ;  he  called  Paul  after  his  resurrec- 
tion, and  subsequently  to  his  having  taken  his  seat  at  the 
right  hand  of  the  Father.  He  conversed  with  the  rest  on 
earth  ;  to  this  person  he  spake  from  heaven.  The  others  were 
invited  by  our  Saviour,  and  won  by  degrees  ;  him  he  over- 
came and  subdued  at  once  by  an  extraordinary  exercise  of  his 
divine  power,  seizing  him  suddenly  by  the  miraculous  force 
of  his  right  hand.  If  the  rest,  before  their  call,  had  no  affec- 
tion for  the  Lord,  at  least  they  had  no  hatred  or  aversion 
against  him,  Paul  burned  with  a  furious  zeal  against  Jesus 
Christ,  and  all  his  disciples,  and  made  war  upon  him,  and 
had  his  weapon  in  hand  when  he  was  plucked  by  celestial 
power  out  of  the  bonds  of  iniquity,  and  in  a  moment  changed 
from  a  persecutor  to  a  minister  of  the  church.  But  in  addi- 
tion to  the  Author  of  his  call,  he  here  discloses  to  us  the 
nature  of  his  ministry,  by  saying  that  this  dispensation  of 
God  was  given  to  him.  I  am  not  ignorant  that  the  dispensa- 
tion of  God  may  be  taken  for  the  conduct  and  wise  disposal 
of  the  providence  of  God,  who  governs  all  things,  and  partic- 
ularly the  things  of  the  church,  by  his  eternal  counsel.  And 
if  the  apostle  had  said  simply  that  he  had  been  made  a  min-- 
ister  according  to  or  by  the  dispensation  of  God,  it  might 
have  been  so  understood;  but  he  adds  expressly  that  this  dis- 
pensation   of    God    was    given  to  him,  and  this  necessarily 


CHAP.  I.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  197 

obliges  us  to  understand  it,  not  of  the  Lord's  conduct,  whicTi 
was  not  given  to  him,  but  of  the  divine  office  of  a  steward  in 
his  church,  to  which  Paul  was  called,  and  which  was  com- 
mitted to  him.  That  this  was  the  quality  and  condition  of 
his  apostleship  he  teaches  us  expressly  in  another  place  :  "  Let 
a  man  so  account  of  us  as  of  the  ministers  of  Christ,  and 
stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God,"  1  Cor.  iv.  1.  Whence  it 
clearly  follows,  since  the  apostle  was  a  steward,  or  a  dispenser, 
that  his  office  was  a  stewardship,  or  a  dispensation,  as  he  calls 
it  here.  And  from  this  it  appears  again  how  false  is  the  opin- 
ion of  those  who  attribute  a  lordly  and  absolute  authority 
and  a  despotic  power  to  ministers  of  the  church  over  the 
Lord's  flocks.  For  the  steward,  or  dispenser,  has  power  not 
to  do  anything  of  his  own  head,  and  after  his  own  fancy,  but 
only  to  dispense  what  the  master  has  given  him  and  precisely 
in  such  a  manner  as  he  has  described  to  him.  If  he  take  upon 
himself  to  do  more,  he  exceeds  the  bounds  of  his  commission  ; 
and  all  that  he  does  or  says  beyond  them  is  void  and  of 
no  force,  nor  does  it  oblige  any  one  of  the  household  to  obey 
it. 

But  the  apostle  describes,  thirdly,  the  object  of  his  ministry; 
that  is,  who  they  are  towards  whom  he  ought  to  exercise  it. 
"This  dispensation  of  God,"  he  says,  "is  given  to  me  for  you." 
These  Colossians,  to  whom  he  wrote,  being  Gentiles  by  birth 
and  extraction,  he  considers  them  here  in  that  quality;  and  his 
meaning  is,  that  it  was  for  them,  and  others  like  them,  that  is 
to  say,  for  the  Gentiles,  that  he  had  been  called  to  this  sacred 
ministry.  It  is  true,  an  apostleship  was  a  universal  charge, 
which  extended  generally  to  all  men,  of  every  nation  or  con- 
dition, having  the  whole  earth  for  its  precinct,  according  to 
that  clause  of  the  commission  which  the  Lord  gave  his  apostles 
when  he  sent  them  forth,  "  Go,  and  teach  all  nations,"  Matt. 
xxviii.  19.  And  that  the  ministry  of  Paul  was  of  the  same 
character  evidently  appears,  both  from  his  procedure  and  his 
writings  ;  for  he  often  preached  the  gospel  to  the  Jews,  as  you 
may  see  in  various  places  in  the  Acts  ;  and  directed  to  them 
particularly  that  excellent  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  which  re- 
mains in  the  church  to  this  day.  But  though  the  extent  of  his 
charge  was  such  originally  and  properly,  nevertheless,  that  he 
might  exercise  it  more  extensively  and  with  greater  success, 
God  appointed  him  to  preach  peculiarly  to  the  Gentiles,  and 
commissioned  him  to  labour  particularly  for  them,  as  he  ex- 
pressly informed  him  when  he  directed  to  him  his  call  from 
heaven  :  "  I  send  thee,"  said  he,  "  to  the  Gentiles,  to  open  their 
eyes,  and  to  turn  them  from  darkness  to  light,"  Acts  xxvi.  17, 
18.  And  afterwards,  in  pursuit  of  this  heavenly  mandate, 
Peter  and  Paul  by  a  voluntary  arrangement  divided  mankind 
into  two  parts  ;  Peter,  with  the  other  apostles,  taking  the  cir- 


198  AN   EXPOSITION  OP  [SERM.  XIV. 

cumcision  of  the  Jews,  and  Paul  the  uncircumcision,  that  is, 
the  Gentiles,  as  he  himself  informs  us  in  another  place.  This, 
however,  must  be  understood  of  the  ordinary  exercise  of  their 
commissions  ;  Peter  not  being  prohibited  from  preaching  to 
and  converting  the  Gentiles,  nor  Paul  from  labouring  among 
the  Jews,  if  any  favourable  opportunity  should  occur  in  the 
course  of  their  ministry.  Gal.  ii.  Here  we  have  a  general  view 
of  the  necessity  of  appropriating  a  determinate  flock  to  each 
pastor,  and  of  the  vanity  and  exorbitancy  of  the  pretension  of 
him  who  calls  himself  the  universal  pastor  and  bishop  of  all 
Christendom.  For  if  the  apostles  themselves,  who  had  the 
power  to  exercise  this  charge,  yet  considered  it  so  difficult, 
that  for  its  proper  performance  they  voluntarily  divided  the 
district  of  their  commission  between  them,  each  of  them  taking 
a  portion  of  it  only;  how  can  we  believe  that  a  man,  who  is 
infinitely  inferior  in  gifts  to  these  great  ministers  of  God, 
should  be  able  alone  to  govern  the  whole  church  of  Christ? 
But  the  apostle  very  pertinently  declares  this  to  the  Colossians, 
to  keep  them  fast  in  the  purity  of  the  faith.  For  since  he  had 
been  sent  of  God  to  illuminate  and  teach  the  Gentiles,  it  is 
evident  that  they,  being  Gentiles,  owed  him  a  particular  re- 
spect, and  that  they  were  to  believe  nothing  which  was  not 
conformable  to  his  instructions,  considering  him  as  the  min- 
ister of  their  faith,  whom  God  had  particularly  set  over  them. 
From  whence  it  follows  that  they  neither  could  nor  ought  to 
embrace  that  novel  doctrine  which  certain  seducers  offered  to 
them,  seeing  it  was  neither  preached  nor  approved  of  by  Paul. 
And  since  we  ourselves  are  by  extraction  Gentiles,  this  con- 
sideration, my  brethren,  should  induce  us  also  to  reverence 
this  holy  man.  He  is  our  apostle,  and  the  minister  whom  God 
has  given  to  us  for  an  interpreter  of  his  will,  and  a  conductor 
of  our  souls  to  salvation.  Let  us  respect  him  among  all  the 
ministers  of  Christ.  Let  us  hear  him  diligently.  Let  us  peruse 
his  divine  instructions  night  and  day.  Let  us  abide  fixedly 
hanging  on  his  sacred  lips,  and  hear  nothing  contrary  to  his 
doctrine.  Whatever  others  may  be,  there  never  was  any  but 
he  who  received  from  heaven  the  particular  commission  to  in- 
struct us. 

Lastly,  he  shows  us  the  nature  of  his  work,  and  the  end  of 
his  office.  "  The  dispensation  of  God  which  is  given  to  me  for 
you,"  says  he,  "  to  fulfil  the  word  of  God."  Some  there  are  who 
understand  by  this  "word  of  God,"  of  which  the  gospel  speaks, 
the  ancient  oracles,  which  foretold  the  conversion  of  the 
Gentiles  to  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  in  the  days  of  the 
Messiah  ;  as,  for  instance,  in  Isaiah,  where  we  read  that  Christ 
should  be  given  "for  a  light  to  the  Gentiles,"  chap.  xlii.  6  ; 
xlix.  6;  and  in  Zechariah,  "Many  nations  shall  be  joined  to 
the  Lord  in  that  day,  and  shall  be  my  people,"  chap.  ii.  11  ; 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  19'9 

and  in  Micah,  "  Many  nations  shall  come  and  say,  Come,  and 
let  us  go  up  to  the  mountain  of  the  Lord,  and  to  the  house 
of  the  God  of  Jacob  ;  and  he  will  teach  us  of  his  ways,  and 
we  will  walk  in  his  paths,"  chap.  iv.  2  ;  and  other  similar 
passages,  which  are  to  be  found  in  great  number  in  the  books 
of  the  prophets.  As  if  the  apostle  meant,  that  he  was  ap- 
pointed the  minister  of  the  Gentiles,  for  the  accomplishment 
of  these  predictions.  Now  certainly  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
the  thing  in  itself  is  true,  it  being  evident  that  his  preaching 
was  one  of  the  most  excellent  means  which  the  Lord  used  for 
effecting  that  which  he  had  promised  in  those  oracles,  namely, 
the  conversion  of  the  nations.  Nevertheless,  to  put  this 
sense  upon  the  apostle's  words,  is,  in  my  opinion,  to  do 
them  violence.  For,  first,  the  word  of  God,  according  to 
the  apostle's  style,  signifies  the  gospel,  which  is  so  called  on 
account  of  its  excellency  ;  it  being,  without  controversy,  the 
most  excellent  of  all  the  words  of  the  Lord  ;  and  these  terms 
are  always  constantly  so  understood  when  he  uses  them  sim- 
ply and  absolutely,  as  in  this  place  ;  and  I  do  not  think  that 
so  much  as  one  passage  can  be  produced  in  which  he  useâ 
them  otherwise.  And  if  this  were  not  so,  it  is  impossible  to 
understand  them  in  any  other  way  here,  as  the  apostle,  to  ex- 
plain what  is  this  word  of  God,  for  the  fulfilling  of  which  he 
was  sent,  immediately  adds,  "  the  mystery  which  hath  been 
hid  from  ages  and  from  generations,  but  now  is  made  manifest 
to  his  saints  ;"  which  is,  as  you  perceive,  an  illustrious  descrip' 
tion  of  the  gospel.  And  as  for  this  phrase,  "  to  fulfil  the  word 
of  God,"  which  seems  chiefly  to  have  settled  the  authors  of 
this  exposition,  considering  it  harsh  that  it  should  signify 
preaching  of  the  gospel,  it  should  be  considered  that  the  apos- 
tle uses  it  elsewhere  in  this  very  sense,  when  he  says  that 
"  from  Jerusalem,  and  round  about  unto  Illyricum,  I  have  fully 
preached  the  gospel  of  Christ,"  Bom.  xv.  19  ;  where  he  uses 
the  same  term  as  he  here  does,  and  clearly  calls  that  "  the  gos- 
pel of  Christ,"  which  he  here  terms  "  the  word  of  God." 
What  does  he  mean  then  by  these  words  ?  Truly,  to  fulfil  the 
gospel  is  to  preach  it  with  such  efficacy,  that  it  may  find  recep- 
tion in  the  hearts  of  men  ;  it  is  to  justify  the  virtue  of  it  by 
the  effect.  And,  therefore,  our  Frencli  Bibles  have  judiciously 
rendered  the  word,  in  the  place  now  quoted,  by  "  making  to 
abound."  The  true  and  natural  perfection  of  the  gospel  is, 
that  it  is  "  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that 
believeth,  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Greek."  I  acknow- 
ledge that  it  is  so  every  way  in  itself;  but  this  its  virtue  does 
not  appear,  nor  display  itself,  until  it  be  planted  by  preaching 
in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  take  root  and  fructify  there.  Till 
then,  its  perfection  remains  hid  and  wrapped  up  in  itself.  It 
is  with  the  gospel  as  with  seed,  which  shows  not  what  it  is, 


200  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XIV. 

but  when,  having  been  received  into  the  bosom  of  the  earth,  it 
produces  an  herb  or  a  plant  ;  or  as  a  sword  in  the  sheath,  which 
does  not  discover  its  strength,  and  the  goodness  of  its  temper, 
but  when  it  is  drawn  and  used.  This  is  what  the  apostle 
means,  when  he  says  that  God  gave  him  the  dispensation  of  the 
Gentiles,  to  fulfil  or  accomplish  his  word  ;  that  is,  to  spread 
his  gospel,  and  by  his  preaching  display  the  virtues  and  per- 
fections of  it  ;  which,  indeed,  clearly  appeared  when  this  hea- 
venly word,  which,  till  that  time,  had,  in  a  manner,  operated 
upon  the  Jews  alone,  in  a  short  space  of  time  converted  a 
great  multitude  of  Gentiles.  And  the  apostle  elsewhere  uses 
a  similar  word,  in  almost  the  same  manner,  when  he  says  that 
the  power  of  God  is  completed  in  infirmity  ;  that  is  to  say,  not 
that  it  therein  acquires  its  perfection,  but  that  it  shows  and  dis- 
plays it.  Such  is  the  end  of  the  apostle's  ministry.  He  was 
called  to  it  to  fulfil  or  complete  the  word  of  God,  to  spread  the 
gospel,  to  preach  it  for  the  conversion  of  men,  and  for  the 
glory  of  its  author. 

By  this  you  see,  first,  in  what  the  charge  of  true  ministers 
of  the  Lord  principally  consists.  It  is  not  in  commanding 
their  flocks,  or  in  appearing  above  them,  much  less  in  extra- 
vagant exhibitions  before  the  world  ;  but  in  publishing  hea- 
venly truth  with  a  holy  order,  even  to  the  giving  of  themselves 
no  rest  till  it  be  settled  in  the  souls  of  their  hearers,  till  it 
reign  there,  and  show  its  divine  perfections  in  the  change  of 
their  conversations.  And,  secondly,  that  the  gospel  is  the 
whole  subject  of  their  preaching,  so  that  they  have  no  liberty 
to  mingle  with  it  either  their  own  inventions,  or  the  traditions 
of  men,  however  fair  and  plausible  they  may  appear  ;  that  they 
keep  themselves  faithfully  within  these  bounds,  remembering 
the  end  of  their  commission,  that  the  dispensation  of  God  is 
given  to  them  to  fulfil  the  word,  not  of  men,  but  of  God. 

Let  us  now  consider  that  which  the  apostle  adds  concerning 
this  word  of  God  ;  (that  is,  the  gospel  ;)  "  It  is,"  says  he,  "  the 
mystery  which  hath  been  hid  from  ages  and  from  generations, 
but  now  is  made  manifest  to  his  saints."  All  this  serves  to 
exalt  the  glory  of  the  gospel.  He  saith,  first,  that  it  is  a  mys- 
tery, that  is,  a  secret;  and  he  often  gives  it  the  same  name  in 
other  places,  because  it  is  a  doctrine  not  exposed  to  the  sense 
and  reason  of  men,  but  it  is  secret  and  hid  in  God,  1  Tim.  iv. 
16  ;  such  a  doctrine  as  eye  saw  not,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  did 
it  enter  into  the  heart  of  man.  Eead  the  books  of  the  sages 
of  the  world,  and  you  will  see  that  by  the  subtlety  of  their  spi- 
rits they  discovered,  and  we  may  say  read,  various  truths  in 
the  creatures  which  the  Creator  had  engraven  on  them  ;  but 
you  will  not  find  there  those  of  the  gospel.  They  were  hid 
in  the  deep  abyss  of  his  eternal  wisdom  and  counsel,  which  no 
created  eye  can  penetrate,  nor  can  we  discern  anything  that  is 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  201 

therein  until  he  himself  produce  it,  and  set  it  before  our  sight. 
It  appears  from  this,  how  much  thej  are  mistaken,  who  con 
tend  that  evangelical  truth  may  be  discovered  in  the  contem 
plation  of  nature.  I  acknowledge  that  the  gospel  does  not 
contradict  nature,  indeed  I  affirm  that  it  perfects  and  crowns 
it  ;  so  that  when  it  is  once  revealed  to  us,  we  observe  many 
things  in  nature  which  admirably  correspond  with  it,  and 
which  could  not  be  clearly  seen  without  this  new  light.  But 
it  is  the  Son  of  God  alone  who  brought  it  out  of  the  bosom 
of  the  Father,  and  published  it.  By  the  same  consideration 
you  may  also  judge  with  what  reverence  we  ought  to  receive 
the  gospel,  since  it  is  a  mystery,  the  secret,  not  of  an  earthly 
king,  but  of  the  sovereign  Monarch  of  men  and  angels, 

II.  Let  us  consider  this  mystery  of  the  gospel.  The  apostle 
says  that  this  secret  "  had  been  hid  from  ages  and  from  gene- 
rations ;"  that  is,  from  the  creation  of  the  world  until  the  re- 
vealing of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  ;  none  of  the  former  times, 
none  of  the  generations  of  men  that  lived  in  them,  having  had 
the  happiness  to  know  it.  There  are  many  truths  in  the  law 
which  might  be  termed  secrets,  or  mysteries  ;  as,  for  instance, 
those  things  which  it  teaches  concerning  the  creation  of  the 
world,  and  the  manner  of  that  creation  ;  concerning  the  judg- 
ment of  God  against  sin,  and  the  calling  of  Israel  :  but  these 
truths  became  public  long  ago,  having  been  made  known  by 
the  ministers  of  God  to  former  generations.  The  gospel  alone 
has  this  glorious  advantage,  that  it  continued  hid  until  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  Son  of  God.  Paul  affirms  it  here  ;  he  re- 
peats it  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesiaus  in  almost  the  same 
terms,  chap.  iii.  5,  and  also  in  that  to  the  Romans  chap.  xvi. 
25,  where  he  says  that  the  revelation  of  this  mystery  had  been 
"  kept  secret  since  the  world  began."  But  he  adds,  in  fine, 
that  this  great  secret  now  is  made  manifest  ;  that  is  to  say,  in 
the  fulness  of  time,  in  the  latter  days,  when  the  Son  of  God  ap- 
peared. By  the  saints  of  God  he  means,  first,  the  apostles,  to 
whom  the  Lord  Jesus  discovered  the  whole  truth  of  his  gospel 
by  the  light  of  his  Spirit,  in  a  very  peculiar  and  extraordi- 
nary manner.  And,  secondly,  the  rest  of  the  faithful,  whom 
he  caused  to  see  the  same  mysteries  by  their  preaching,  accom- 
panied with  the  effectual  operation  and  light  of  the  same  Spi- 
rit. Both  of  them  are  called  saints,  because  God  had  separa- 
ted them  by  his  call  from  the  rest  of  men.  By  which  you  see 
that  there  are  none  but  the  saints  of  God  who  truly  know  his 
mysteries,  the  revelation  which  is  necessary  for  the  knowledge 
of  them  most  assuredly  purifying  and  sanctifying  the  heart  of 
man. 

But  I  perceive  that  some  difficulties  arise  here  in  your  minds 
against  this  doctrine  of  the  apostle,  which  must  be  resolved  for 
your  satisfaction  before  we  pass  on  further.     First,  you  may 


202  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  XIV. 

ask  mc  in  general  how  it  is  true  that  this  mystery  was  hid 
from  the  former  ages,  seeing  the  gospel  is  eternal.  And  then 
how  this  accords  with  so  many  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, in  which  it  seems  to  be  so  clearly  represented  ;  and  with 
the  words  of  our  Lord,  when  he  said  of  Abraham,  that  he  saw 
his  day  ;  and,  likewise  with  the  express  information  of  the 
Scriptures,  that  the  ancient  believers  were  all  saved  by  faith, 
which  seems  to  have  been  impossible  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  gospel.  To  the  first  question  I  answer,  that  it  is  true 
the  gospel  was  foretold,  and,  as  the  apostle  says  elsewhere,  was 
promised  and  prefigured,  under  the  Old  Testament  ;  but  it 
was  not  manifested.  It  was,  at  that  time,  in  being,  but  it  lay 
hid  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  and  only  wrapped  up  in  the 
oracles,  by  which  he  promised  it,  and  in  the  types,  by  which 
he  prefigured  it  ;  so  that  it  is  nevertheless  eternal,  inasmuch 
as,  in  these  latter  times  it  was  not  made  and  created  of  no- 
thing, but  only  brought  out  of  the  obscurities  and  envelop- 
ments, with  which,  until  then,  it  had  remained  covered.  And 
as  for  the  prophecies,  it  is  true  that  they  are  clear,  since  the 
Sun  of  righteousness  has  arisen  in  the  horizon  of  the  church, 
and  there  shed  abroad  his  light,  by  the  aid  of  which  we  easily 
read  what  the  finger  of  God  has  written  in  them;  but  before 
this,  while  the  darkness  of  the  night  covered  all  things,  it  was 
impossible  for  the  best  sight  thoroughly  to  penetrate  into  the 
true  meaning  of  them.  As  when  it  is  broad  day  we  read  dis- 
tinctly and  without  difficulty  the  writing  which,  during  the 
dimness  of  the  night,  appears  to  be  nothing  but  a  few  confused 
strokes  and  letters.  Would  you  know  the  difference  between 
these  two  dispensations  ?  Turn  to  that  chapter  of  Isaiah,  in 
which  we  read,  "  He  is  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter," 
Isa.  liii.  7,  and  what  follows.  There  is  not  a  child  among  us 
that  does  not  instantly  understand  it  of  Christ,  and  his  dying 
for  us,  in  profound  humility  and  love.  Yet  the  Ethiopian, 
who,  without  doubt,  was  very  forward  in  the  school  of  the 
former  people,  confesses  that  he  understands  nothing  of  it,  and 
cannot  tell  whether  the  prophet  says  this  of  himself  or  of  some 
other  man.  Acts  viii.  34.  First,  the  accomplishment  of  things, 
which  is  the  commentary  upon  prophecies,  and  the  light  of  fig- 
ures, has  made  the  ancient  oracles  and  types  clear  to  us,  which 
necessarily  remained  obscure  and  inexplicable  until  that  event. 
Secondly,  the  law  further  augmented  this  obscurity  ;  it  being 
then  spread  over  these  mysteries  as  a  thick  veil,  through  which 
men,  however  sharp-sighted,  were  unable  to  penetrate. 
Whereas  now,  the  righteousness  of  God  having  been  revealed 
to  us  without  the  law,  (as  the  apostle  says,)  and  this  trouble- 
some veil  having  been  rent,  and  removed  by  Jesus  Christ,  we 
clearly  behold  the  light  of  Moses's  face,  which  was  indeed  of 
old,  but  could  not  be  seen  so  lono;  as  it  abode  covered  with  the 


CHAP.  I.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  203 

veil  of  the  law.  And  when  it  is  said  that  Abraham  saw  the 
day  of  the  Lord,  and  rejoiced  in  it,  we  are  to  understand  that 
he  knew  and  believed  that  Christ  should  come  and  save  the 
world,  and  exalt  the  people  of  God  to  a  pre-eminent  glory, 
which  was  sufficient  for  his  joy  ;  but  this  does  not  imply  that 
he  distinctly  knew  either  what  the  person  of  Christ  would  be, 
or  in  what  manner  he  would  acquire  salvation  for  us,  with  all 
the  circumstances  of  these  things,  which  neither  men  nor  even 
angels  knew,  but  by  the  manifestation  of  Jesus  Christ  in 
the  flesh,  and  by  the  consequences  thereof.  The  apostle 
expressly  testifies  that  it  was  then,  and  not  before,  that  the 
manifold  wisdom  of  God  was  made  known  to  the  angels,  whom, 
according  to  his  ordinary  style,  he  calls  "  principalities  and 
powers,"  Eph.  iii.  10.  The  knowledge  which  the  rest  of  the 
faithful  had  of  Christ  was  like  that  which  Abraham  had. 
They  believed  in  his  coming,  and  their  redemption,  and  the 
restoration  of  all  things  by  his  means  ;  and  they  desired  him, 
and  waited  affectionately  for  him,  embracing  his  promises  afar 
off.  But  they  did  not  distinctly  comprehend  the  mystery,  as 
we  do  at  this  day.  Yet  this  did  not  hinder  their  justification 
by  the  merit  of  his  death,  their  salvation  by  his  cross,  their 
being  fed  with  his  manna,  and  their  being  made  to  drink  of  his 
soui'ce,  it  being  clear  that  there  is  no  other  salvation  in  the 
world  but  that  which  he  procured.  ISTor  do  the  various  de- 
grees of  faith,  by  which  the  redeemed  draw  from  his  fulness, 
vary  at  all  in  the  essence  and  substance  of  his  grace  ;  because 
God  requires  no  other  faith  of  his  people  than  such  as  is  pro- 
portioned to  the  measure  of  the  revelation  which  he  has  given 
them,  such  revelation  being  more  or  less  clear  as  the  times  were 
nearer  to,  or  more  remote  from,  the  glorious  light  of  his  Son. 
Thus  the  truth  which  the  apostle  teaches  us  here  abides  firm, 
and  is  beyond  all  contradiction,  namely,  that  the  mystery  of 
God,  that  is  to  say,  the  gospel,  was  hid  from  ages  and  from 
generations,  and  was  not  manifested  till  now  to  the  saints  of 
God  ;  "to  whom,"  says  he,  "God  would  make  known  what  is 
the  riches  of  the  glory  of  this  mystery  among  the  Gentiles, 
which  is  Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory." 

III.  This  is  the  third  head  of  our  discourse,  the  glory  and 
the  riches  of  this  mystery.  He  sets  the  will  of  God  at  the  en- 
trance, as  a  strong  bar  against  our  curiosity,  to  stay  and  re- 
strain it  from  intruding  into  a  search  of  the  causes  of  this  ad- 
mirable dispensation  of  the  mystery  of  the  gospel.  Curiosity 
would  busy  itself  principally  about  two  points,  namely,  the 
time  and  the  persons  to  whom  this  manifestation  has  been 
made.  Respecting  the  first  point,  it  demands  why  God  should 
suffer  so  many  ages  to  flow  forth,  and  so  many  generations  to 
pass  away,  without  discovering  the  secret  of  the  gospel  to 
them,  having  reserved  the  revelation  of  it  to  these  latter  ages 


204  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SEEM.  XIV. 

only.  Let  us  say,  with  the  apostle,  "  God  would  "  so  do  ;  and 
let  us  be  contented  with  his  will,  assuring  ourselves  that  it 
is  just  and  reasonable,  though  we  know  not  his  motives.  He 
has  reserved  the  seasons  of  things  for  his  own  disposal.  Be- 
sides, at  whatever  time  he  might  have  revealed  this  mystery, 
man  would  still  have  demanded  why  it  was  not  done  sooner  or 
later.  Now  he  complains  that  God  delayed  it  so  long.  If 
God  had  discovered  it  at  the  beginning,  he  would  complain  of 
his  having  made  so  much  haste.  He  now  objects  the  interest 
of  the  first  ages  which  were  deprived  of  this  blessed  light. 
He  would  have  objected  the  interest  of  these  last  generations, 
that  they  were  too  far  removed  from  this  sunshine  to  profit  by 
it.  Unbelief  never  wants  pretences.  It  finds  a  reply  against 
all  the  Lord's  procedure  ;  and,  not  desiring  that  it  should  be 
just,  easily  invents  appearances  to  believe  that  it  is  not  so. 
Let  us  suffer  him  to  be  wiser  than  ourselves  ;  and  instead  of 
arguing  about  his  arrangements,  let  us  receive  them  with  re- 
spect, and  profit  by  them.  Let  it  satisfy  us,  that  by  his  grace 
we  find  ourselves  within  the  compass  of  that  blessed  time  in 
which  he  has  manifested  his  secret,  and  let  us  thankfully  make 
use  of  the  advantage  which  he  has  been  pleased  to  give  our 
age  above  those  that  have  preceded. 

But  if  you  ask  me  why  God  did  not  sooner  communicate  his 
gospel  to  the  church,  I  will  also  ask  you  why  he  does  not  give 
to  men  and  other  living  creatures  the  perfection  of  their  kind 
at  the  instant  of  their  nativity  ;  why  he  lets  them  lose  so 
much  time  in  the  weakness  of  infancy,  which  might  be  better 
employed  in  more  noble  actions,  if  they  had  their  vigour  and 
maturity  at  the  beginning  of  their  days.  Tell  me  again  why 
he  makes  not  the  plants  to  grow  up,  to  blossom,  and  to  bear 
fruit  in  a  moment,  and  why  he  forms  families  and  states  so 
slowly  among  mankind.  God  does  nothing  suddenly,  that  we 
may  learn  the  maturity  of  his  counsels  from  the  gravity  of  his 
motions.  He  has  formed  the  church  in  the  same  manner.  He 
has  purposed  that  she  should  begin  to  pronounce  before  she 
spake  distinctly,  and  that  she  should  pass  through  childhood 
before  coming  to  full  age.  He  designed  that  she  should  learn 
her  rudiments  before  she  heard  the  highest  lessons  of  his  wis- 
dom, and  have  at  one  time,  Moses  for  her  schoolmaster,  and  at 
the  other  Jesus  Christ  for  her  Teacher,  as  the  apostle  shows 
us  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  chap.  iii.  and  iv.  Since  the 
gospel  is  the  highest  of  her  lessons,  it  was  justly  reserved  for 
her  ripest  age.  But  if  you  press  me  still,  and  ask  me  why 
God  ordained  such  a  difference  between  the  ages  of  the  church, 
I  will  answer  you  as  before,  with  Paul,  that  thus  he  luould  do. 
You  cannot  break  over  this  bound  without  unsettling  the 
whole  nature  of  his  proceedings,  and  bringing  the  justice  of 
them  into  question  ;  it  being  evident  that  it  was  neither  more 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   C0L0SSIAN9.  205 

difficult,  nor  apparently  less  reasonable,  for  God  to  give  ani- 
mals and  vegetables  their  strength  and  perfection  in  the  first 
moments  of  their  life,  than  to  give  to  the  church  the 
knowledge  of  his  mysteries  in  the  first  centuries  of  her 
existence. 

The  other  point,  in  this  dispensation  of  God,  which  offends 
our  curiosity,  is  respecting  the  persons  to  whom  he  has  mani- 
fested his  mystery,  and  whom  he  has  sanctified  by  this  divine 
light.  Why  to  these  has  he  done  this,  rather  than  to  those  ? 
Why  to  poor  Galileans,  rather  than  to  the  scribes  and  priests  of 
Israel  ?  The  apostle  cuts  the  knots  of  all  these  questions  with 
only  one  word,  saying  that  he  would  make  it  known  to  them.  It 
is  the  reason  which  the  Lord  himself  assigned  for  this  diversity, 
when  having  given  thanks  to  the  Father,  because  he  had  hid 
these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  had  revealed  them 
unto  babes,  he  adds,  "  Even  so,  Father  ;  for  so  it  seemed  good 
in  thy  sight,"  Matt.  xi.  26.  And  the  apostle  treating  in  another 
place  expressly  of  this  matter,  concludes,  that  God  "  hath 
mercy  on  whom  he  will  have  mercy,  and  whom  he  will  he 
hardeneth,"  Eom.  ix.  18.  At  this  will  we  must  stop,  and  not 
go  on  vainly  seeking  for  reasons  in  the  persons  themselves 
for  the  favour  which  God  has  showed  to  them  ;  it  being  evident 
that  we  shall  never  find  in  them  any  which  can  give  us  satisfac- 
tion. And  to  this  also  must  we  reduce  all  the  diversities 
which  may  be  observed  in  the  dispensation  of  the  gospel  ; 
such  as  God's  making  it  to  abound  in  one  country,  and  among 
one  people,  while  another  is  deprived  of  it  ;  causing  it  to  shine 
■upon  one  generation  after  having  denied  it  to  another;  and  his 
communicating  it  here  more  liberally,  and  there  more  sparingly. 
All  this  depends  merely  on  his  good  pleasure;  nor  can  the 
things  themselves  afford  sufficient  reason  for  it. 

But  I  return  to  the  apostle,  who  says  that  by  the  revelation 
of  his  gospel  "  God  would  make  known  what  is  the  riches  of 
the  glory  of  this  mystery  among  the  Gentiles."  They  who 
are  acquainted  with  this  holy  man's  writings,  know  that  he 
often  uses  the  word  riches  to  signify  abundance  :  as,  for 
instance,  when  he  exclaims,  "  0  the  depth  of  the  riches  both 
of  the  wisdom  and  the  knowledge  of  God  !"  Eom.  xi.  33  ;  and 
when  he  speaks  in  another  place  of  the  riches  of  the  grace 
of  the  Lord,  Eph.  i.  7  ;  and  demands  of  the  impenitent  if  he 
"  despises  the  riches  of  the  goodness,  and  forbearance,  and 
long-suffering  of  God,"  Rom.  ii.  4.  In  this  sense  we  must 
here  understand  the  expression  of  "riches  of  glory;"  that  is  to 
say,  a  great  abundance  of  glory,  or  (which  amounts  to  the 
same  thing)  a  very  great  and  most  abundant  glory.  Whereby 
you  see  the  zeal  of  this  holy  man  for  the  praise  of  the  gospel  ; 
insomuch  that  he  cannot  satisfy  himself  upon  this  subject,  but 
heaps  up  the  most  magnificent  terms  he  can  think  of  to  repre- 


206  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SEEM.   XIV. 

sent  its  excellency.  He  calls  it  a  mystery,  and  a  mystery  of 
God  ;  and  a  mystery  hidden  during  all  the  ages  which  rolled 
on  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  and  which  was  at  length 
discovered  from  heaven  in  the  last  time  to  the  saints  of  God. 
This  is  saying  much  ;  and  there  is  no  other  doctrine,  either 
human  or  divine,  of  which  so  much  can  be  said.  But  it  is 
not  enough  for  Paul.  He  adds  that  it  is  a  glorious  mystery  ; 
and  contents  not  himself  with  this,  but  ascribes  to  it,  not 
glory  simply,  but  riches,  and  an  abundance  of  glory.  And 
it  is  not  here  alone  that  he  so  speaks.  He  treats  of  it  every- 
where else  in  the  same  manner  ;  as  when  he  says  that  unto 
him  this  grace  was  given,  to  "  preach  among  the  Gentiles  the 
unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  ;  and  to  make  all  men  see  what 
is  the  fellowship  of  the  mystery,  which  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world  hath  been  hid  in  God,"  Eph.  iii.  8,  9  ;  and  when 
he  calls  it  the  glorious  "  ministration  of  the  Spirit,"  and  the 
mirror  wherein  the  face  of  the  Lord  is  openly  beheld,  2  Cor. 
iii.  8,  18.  And  indeed  he  had  good  reason  for  so  speaking  ; 
for  it  is  particularly  in  the  gospel  that  God  has  made  all  the 
beams  of  his  glory  to  shine  forth.  There  he  manifests  and 
communicates  to  men  all  the  wonders  of  his  power,  of  his  wis- 
dom, justice,  and  merciful  goodness,  in  their  greatest  altitude, 
and  in  their  richest  abundance,  which  are  as  the  substance 
and  essence  of  this  glory.  The  gospel  is  his  treasury,  in 
which  he  presents  to  us  his  most  divine  and  glorious  benefits  ; 
his  grace,  his  peace,  his  Spirit,  his  holiness,  his  consolation, 
his  life,  and  his  immortality. 

But  the  apostle  does  not  speak  here  of  the  riches  of  the 
glory  of  the  gospel  in  general,  and  towards  all  :  he  adds 
particularly,  "  among  the  Gentiles."  Surely  there  is  no  sort 
of  men,  whether  Jews  or  Greeks,  in  whom  the  gospel  does 
not  show  forth  riches  of  glory,  if  they  receive  it.  Yet  we 
must  acknowledge  that  its  glory  never  broke  forth  with  so 
much  splendour  as  when  it  was  preached  to  the  Gentiles. 
First,  that  exceeding  great  and  inexhaustible  abundance  of 
goodness  and  grace,  with  which  the  gospel  is  filled,  poured 
forth  itself,  and  (if  I  may  so  speak)  overflowed  all  bounds  in 
saving  the  Gentiles,  the  most  hopeless  of  all  men,  when  it 
raised  them  from  the  grave,  or  rather  the  abyss  of  misery,  in 
which  they  had  lain,  not  for  four  days,  as  Lazarus  in  his  sepul- 
chre, but  for  four  thousand  years.  For  this  reason,  the  holy 
apostle,  comparing  the  grace  of  God  in  his  Son,  which  was 
shown  to  the  Jew,  with  that  showed  to  the  Gentile,  at  his 
calling  of  each,  declares  that  the  former  received  it  by  promise, 
and  the  latter  simply  and  altogether  of  mercy,  Rom.  xv.  8,  9. 
Then,  again,  how  admirable  was  the  virtue  of  the  gospel,  which 
effected  that  in  a  few  days  which  the  law  had  not  been  able  to 
do  in  so  many  ages  !     The  ministers  of  the  law  compassed  sea 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  207 

and  land,  and  after  all  found  it  very  hard  to  make  one  prose- 
lyte ;  and  with  all  their  diligence  during  the  two  thousand 
years  in  which  they  toiled,  they  had  not  reduced  so  much  as 
one  nation  to  the  service  of  God,  though  they  employed,  when 
they  were  able,  even  sword  and  power  for  that  purpose.  But 
the  gospel,  quite  naked,  and  without  any  weapons  but  its  cross, 
converted  many  nations  from  paganism,  and  brought  them 
unto  God.  They  were  men  who  worshipped  stocks  and  stones, 
who  were  sunk  in  brutish  ignorance,  and  were  addicted  to  the 
most  infamous  vices  ;  there  was  a  mixture  in  them  of  the 
stupidity  of  beasts  and  the  wickedness  of  devils.  Certainly, 
to  make  even  one  of  these  a  christian  ;  to  bring  him  out  of 
this  infernal  pit,  and  place  him  in  the  church;  to  make  him, 
who  was  a  slave  of  Satan,  a  child  of  God  ;  was,  as  Chrysostom 
writing  on  this  passage  justly  says,  no  less  a  miracle,  than  if 
some  one  should  suddenly  change  an  unclean  and  deformed 
dog  into  a  man,  and  raise  him  from  the  dunghill  whereon  he 
lay  to  sit  upon  a  royal  throne.  It  was  truly  therefore  a  great 
and  an  ineffable  richness  and  abundance  of  glory,  for  the  gos- 
pel to  transform  so  speedily,  not  a  small  number,  but  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  pagans,  into  so  many  believers.  And  in 
this  the  apostle  secretly  strikes  at  the  false  teachers,  who  would 
mix  such  a  noble  and  glorious  mystery  with  their  feeble 
traditions,  as  if  it  had  not  in  itself  strength  and  virtue  enough 
to  subsist  without  the  succour  of  their  inventions. 

Finally,  he  intimates  in  two  words  the  ground  of  all  this 
richness  of  glory  which  the  gospel  possesses,  "  which  is,"  says 
he,  "  Christ  in  you  ;"  that  is  to  say,  that  Christ  whom  they 
possessed,  and  who  dwelt  in  them  by  faith.  And  he  adds 
that  he  is  "  the  hope  of  glory  ;"  in  the  same  manner  as  in  an- 
other place  he  calls  Christ  "  our  hope,"  1  Tim.  i.  1  ;  that  is,  he 
of  whom  we  hope  for  highest  glory,  and  in  whom  we  infal- 
libly find  all  the  blessedness  that  we  can  either  desire  or  ex- 
pect. It  is  not  without  design  that  he  informs  them  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  all  the  fulness  of  the  mystery  of  the  gospel  ; 
by  this  he  lays  a  foundation  for  that  which  he  more  clearly 
tells  them  hereafter,  namely,  that  it  is  in  vain  that  the  seducers 
attempt  to  mingle  with  it  the  ceremonies  of  Moses  and  the 
service  of  angels.  All  this  great  mystery  begins  and  ends  in 
Jesus  Christ,  since  it  is  no  other  thing,  as  he  defines  it  else- 
where, than  "  God  manifested  in  the  flesh,  justified  in  the 
Spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached  unto  the  Gentiles,  believed  on 
in  the  world,  and  received  up  into  glory,"  1  Tim.  iii.  16  ;  that 
is,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  born,  put  to  death,  raised  again,  glo- 
rified, and  set  forth  in  the  gospel  for  us.  Such  is  the  mystery 
of  which  the  holy  apostle  here  speaks. 

Judge  now,  beloved  brethren,  what  grace  God  has  conferred 
on  us  in  communicating  to  us  so  rich  and  so  admirable  a  se- 


208  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XIV. 

cret.  Many  kings  and  prophets  "have  desired  to  see  and  to 
hear  it,  but  have  not  had  that  happiness.  Heaven  and  earth, 
for  four  thousand  years,  sighed  after  the  blessing  we  possess  ; 
but  only  the  last  ages  obtained  it.  The  Jews  saw  the  wonders 
of  God  but  obscurely,  and  through  veils  and  shadows.  The 
Gentiles  did  not  see  them  at  all,  being  covered  with  a  dismal 
night,  living  without  God  and  without  hope.  This  divine  mys- 
tery appearing  at  once  in  the  end  of  time,  as  a  great  light 
which  suddenly  shines  forth  from  heaven,  dissipated  the  shad- 
ows of  the  one,  and  dispelled  the  darkness  of  the  other, 
changing  in  a  moment  by  its  virtue  the  whole  face  of  the  uni- 
verse. It  has  particularly  shown  the  riches  of  its  glory  among 
us,  having  brought  our  fathers  out  of  the  horrors  of  paganism, 
which  once  covered  the  whole  of  this  land.  Let  us  embrace, 
therefore,  with  all  the  affections  of  our  souls,  this  great  and 
inestimable  favour  of  the  Lord.  Let  us  keep  it  pure  and  un- 
corrupted,  without  mixing  with  it  anything  that  is  foreign. 
It  is  not  only  sufficient  for  our  happiness,  it  is  even  rich  and 
abundant  in  glory.  They  who  would  burden  it  with  ceremo- 
nies and  services,  whether  of  Moses's  teaching  or  man's  in- 
venting, as  false  teachers  formerly  did,  and  our  adversaries  do 
at  this  day,  understand  not  rightly  the  inexhaustible  riches 
with  which  it  overflows.  They  obscure  the  resplendency  of 
its  heavenly  glory  by  their  additions  ;  they  again  hide  and 
cover  it  with  the  veil  which  Jesus  Christ  has  rent  asunder. 
Let  us  say  to  those  who  propose  them  to  us.  We  are  content 
with  the  mystery  which  God  has  vouchsafed  to  manifest  unto 
his  saints.  It  was  sufficient  for  their  bliss.  It  will  well  suf- 
fice for  ours.  We  do  not  desire  any  other  riches  than  those 
with  which  it  abounds,  or  any  other  glory  than  that  with 
which  it  shines.  It  is  enough  that  this  Jesus  Christ  who  fills 
it  is  in  us,  the  hope  of  true  glory.  There  is  no  need  to  asso- 
ciate with  him  either  Moses,  or  angels,  or  saints. 

But,  my  brethren,  it  is  not  enough  to  secure  this  mystery 
from  the  errors  of  superstition,  there  must  be  a  putting  far 
away  the  filth  of  vice,  and  of  carnal  and  earthly  passions,  in 
order  that  it  may  be  preserved  pure  among  us,  and  receive 
that  glory  which  is  its  due.  God  has  not  lighted  up  this  great 
Sun  among  you  that  you  should  continue  to  live  in  sin,  and  do 
those  works  in  such  a  blessed  light  which  are  done  in  dark- 
ness. Far  be  it  from  him.  He  has  made  known  to  you  the 
mysteries  hidden  in  old  time,  that  your  holy  life  might  be 
new.  As  your  knowledge  is  greater  than  that  of  other  ages, 
let  your  holiness  surpass  theirs.  The  dimness  of  their  light 
in  some  degree  excuses  their  faults  ;  faults  committed  in  the 
mistakes  of  childhood,  and  in  the  obscurity  of  shadows. 
With  what  pretext  can  you  palliate  yours;  you,  to  whom  God 
has  communicated  all  his  counsel  ?   How  will  you  defend  that 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  209 

ardent  and  unruly  passion  whicli  you  have  for  the  earth  ;  you, 
whom  by  the  gospel  he  has  made  to  see  all  the  beauties  of 
heaven  ?  How  will  you  justify  the  love  and  the  adherence 
which  one  has  to  the  pleasures  of  the  JElesh,  another  to  the 
riches  and  honours  of  the  world  ;  you,  to  whom  he  has  shown 
the  riches  and  the  glory  of  eternity  in  his  Son  Jesus  Christ  ? 
Surely  to  sin  in  such  light  is  not  infirmity,  nor  simply  wick- 
edness. It  is  impudence,  and  execrable  insolence.  Take  heed 
then,  beloved  brethren,  that  this  great  grace  which  God  has 
shown  you  does  not  prove  your  condemnation.  If  you  desire 
it  should  be  saving  to  you,  purify  and  cleanse  yourselves  from 
all  filthiness  and  pollution.  For  the  mysteries  of  God  are 
only  for  saints.  Eenounce  the  customs  of  the  world  as  well 
as  its  belief.  Walk  in  the  ways  of  heaven,  in  honesty  and  pur- 
ity, worthy  of  the  vocation  with  which  God  has  honoured  you. 
Let  his  mystery  show  forth  the  wonders  of  its  glory  among 
you,  powerfully  changing  your  whole  life  into  its  brightness, 
and  transforming  you  into  the  image  of  that  Jesus  Christ  who 
has  vouchsafed  to  dwell  in  you,  and  to  take  your  hearts  for 
his  temple  ;  that,  after  you  have  wisely  used  his  talents  here 
below,  and  happily  laboured  in  his  vineyard,  he  may  at  length 
crown  you  in  the  heavens  with  that  sovereign  and  eternal 
glory  which  he  has  promised  us,  and  which  we  hope  for  from 
his  grace.     Amen. 


SERMON  XV. 

VERSES  28,  29. 


Whom  we  preach,  warning  every  man,  and  teaching  every  man 
in  all  wisdom  ;  that  we  may  present  every  man  perfect  in 
Christ  Jesus:  whereunto  I  also  labour,  striving  according  to 
his  working,  which  worketh  in  me  mightily. 

Dear  brethren,  there  is  a  great  difference  between  the  law 
and  the  gospel,  both  with  regard  to  their  own  nature,  and  to 
the  manner  of  their  dispensation.  For,  to  omit  other  things, 
the  gospel  is  a  mystery  ;  that  is,  a  truth  so  hid  in  God,  that  if 
he  had  not  vouchsafed  to  discover  it  to  men  himself  by  a  su- 
pernatural revelation,  no  creature,  either  earthly  or  heavenly, 
would  ever  have  been  able  to  bring  it  forth  from  the  bottom- 
less depth  of  God's  wisdom,  or  to  acquire  of  it  any  solid  and 
distinct  knowledge  by  the  contemplation  of  the  things  of  the 
world.  But  the  law  is  a  truth  suitable  to  the  sentiments  of 
27 


210  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XV. 

nature,  and  so  open  to  tlie  view  of  angels  and  men,  tbat  if  sin 
liad  not  dulled  and  corrupted  the  strength  of  our  understand- 
ing, we  should  have  easily  comprehended  it  of  ourselves, 
without  any  extraordinary  manifestation  from  heaven.  Ac- 
cordingly, you  see,  however  blind  and  wretched  men  are,  yet 
they  fail  not  to  discern  the  things  of  the  law,  and  the  rectitude 
and  justice  of  most  of  its  requirements.  But  if  you  consider 
the  dispensation  of  these  two  doctrines,  you  will  find  that  the 
law  was  given  by  Moses  to  the  Jewish  nation  only,  whereas 
the  gospel  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  was  preached  indifferently 
to  every  people  on  earth,  there  having  been  no  part  of  mankind 
to  whom  the  benefit  of  this  new  light  was  not  presented  by  the 
apostles  and  their  scholars.  Paul  informed  us  of  it  in  the  prece- 
ding text,  where  he  affirmed,  first,  that  the  gospel  is  a  mystery, 
hidden  during  all  the  ages  and  generations  which  had  passed, 
but  now  manifested  to  the  saints  of  God  ;  and  secondly, 
that  the  Lord  has  made  known  the  glorious  riches  of  this 
mystery  among  the  Gentiles,  that  is  to  say,  among  other 
people  of  the  world  besides  the  Jews  ;  this  he  further  con- 
firms in  our  text  by  the  extent  of  his  preaching,  declaring 
that  he  proclaimed  this  divine  word  to  all  men.  For  having 
intimated  before  the  subject  of  this  great  mystery  of  the 
gospel,  and  declared  that  it  consists  wholly  in  Christ  Jesus, 
who  is  the  author  and  the  substance  of  this  celestial  doctrine, 
he  adds,  "  Whom  we  preach,  warning  every  man,  and  teaching 
every  man  in  all  wisdom;  that  we  may  present  every  man 
perfect  in  Christ  Jesus."  And  because  his  labours  and  suf- 
ferings were  one  of  the  most  glorious  marks  of  the  truth,  and 
of  the  divine  authority  of  his  apostleship,  he  makes  mention 
of  them  also  in  the  following  verse  :  "  Whereunto  I  also 
labour,  striving  according  to  his  working,  which  worketh 
in  me  mightily,"  His  design  is  to  justify  what  he  had 
before  told  the  Colossians,  namely,  that  he  was  a  minister  of 
the  church,  set  up  to  fulfil  the  word  of  God  among  the  Gentiles, 
that  he  might  establish  the  Colossians  in  the  doctrine  which 
he  preached,  and  secure  them  from  the  seductions  of  false  apos- 
tles, who  endeavoured  to  corrupt  it  by  mixing  with  it  those 
errors  which  they  were  actively  employed  in  propagating,  and 
contended,  that  besides  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  there  was  a  neces- 
sity for  observing  the  ceremonies  of  the  law  of  Moses,  and  of 
practising  various  superstitions,  such  as  the  worshipping  of 
angels,  which  they  recommended  and  greatly  extolled,  as  Paul 
shows  us  in  the  following  chapter.  It  was  to  set  up  his  own 
ministry  above  that  of  these  evil  workers  that  he  before  urged 
his  heavenly  call.  It  is  for  this  purpose  that  he  again  so  highly 
exalts  the  gospel  ;  and  with  the  same  design  he  here  sets  forth 
the  exercise  of  his  apostleship,  which  consists  in  two  things  : 
the  first,  in  preaching,  which  he  describes  in  ver,  28  ;  the  other, 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPÎSTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  211 

in  the  labour  and  conflict  which  accompanied  his  preaching, 
declared  in  the  verse  following.  These  are  the  two  points  of 
which  we  will  treat,  by  the  will  of  God,  in  the  present  discourse, 
the  preaching  and  the  combats  of  Paul  ;  commenting  upon  each 
of  them,  as  we  shall  judge  expedient,  for  your  edification  and 
consolation,  which  is  the  only  aim  of  all  the  labour  of  this 
great  apostle,  and  the  true  end  both  of  our  word  and  of  your 
faith. 

I.  In  the  first  place  we  will  notice  the  preaching  of  the  apos- 
tle; and  respecting  this  we  shall  have  four  things  to  consider: 
First,  the  subject  of  it,  namely,  Jesus  Christ,  "  whom,"  says  he, 
"  we  preach."  Secondly,  the  manner  of  it,  which  he  expresses 
in  these  words,  "  warning  and  teaching  every  man."  Thirdly, 
the  object  to  which  his  preaching  was  directed,  namely,  every 
man  ;  "  warning  every  man,"  says  he,  "  and  teaching  every  man." 
And  in  the  fourth  and  last  place,  the  end  and  aim  of  it,  namely, 
the  perfecting  of  those  to  whom  it  was  directed  ;  "  that  we  may 
present  every  man  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus." 

First,  when  he  says  that  he  preaches  Jesus  Christ,  his  mean- 
ing is  not  simply  that  he  speaks  of  Jesus  Christ  to  those  whom 
he  instructed.  There  never  was  a  heretic  who  did  not  make 
some  mention  of  him,  and  who,  to  colour  his  false  doctrines, 
did  not  mingle  with  them  something  of  the  mystery  of  Jesus 
Christ;  even  Mahomet  himself,  the  most  desperate  of  all  im- 
postors that  ever  seduced  men  from  the  gospel,  speaks  of  him 
with  honour,  and  acknowledges  in  general  the  truth  of  the  call 
and  the  doctrine  of  Jesus.  But  the  apostle  declares  that  he 
preaches  Jesus  Christ  alone,  that  he  is  the  only  subject  of  his 
preaching,  and  the  substance  of  his  teachings  ;  according  to  the 
profession  he  expressly  makes  elsewhere,  that  he  determined 
to  know  nothing  among  them,  "  save  Jesus  Christ,  and  him 
crucified,"  1  Cor.  ii.  2.  His  Epistles  in  which  he  has  left  us  a 
lively  and  true  picture  of  his  preaching,  sufficiently  justify  this 
remark.  For  those  who  have  read  his  divine  writings  see  that 
they  are  filled  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  with  Jesus  Christ 
alone.  This  adorable  name  shines  forth  in  them  everywhere, 
and  there  is  no  discourse  or  chapter  on  which  it  is  not  engraven. 
There  are  scarcely  two  periods  found  together  in  which  it  does 
not  appear.  If  he  is  to  teach,  he  proposes  no  other  secrets  than 
those  of  either  the  nature,  offices,  actions,  passions,  or  promises 
of  Jesus  Christ.  If  he  must  combat  error,  he  wields  no  other 
weapons  than  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ.  If  he  aims  to  clear  the 
obscurities  either  of  nature  or  of  the  law,  Jesus  Christ  alone  is 
the  light  which  he  uses  to  dissipate  all  kinds  of  shadows  and 
clouds.  From  him  he  draws  consolation  for  souls  cast  down, 
either  by  the  sense  of  their  sins,  or  by  the  heaviness  of  afflic- 
tion. In  him  he  finds  all  his  motives  and  arguments  for  our 
sanctification.     Jesus  Christ  alone  furnishes  him  with  all  that 


212  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XV 

is  necessary  to  pacify  our  consciences,  to  make  glad  our  hearts, 
to  raise  our  hopes,  to  confirm  our  faith,  to  inflame  our  charity, 
to  enkindle  our  zeal,  to  establish  our  constancy,  to  encourage 
our  patience,  to  purify  our  affections,  to  loosen  us  from  the 
earth,  and  lift  us  up  to  heaven.  Jesus  Christ  is  all  his  logic 
and  all  his  rhetoric.  He  is  the  source  of  his  arguments,  the 
magazine  of  his  arms,  the  great  motive  of  his  persuasions,  the 
soul  of  all  his  discourses.  In  the  writings  of  this  holy  teacher, 
you  nowhere  meet  with  either  pope,  or  mass,  or  devotions  to 
saints  and  angels,  or  purgatory,  or  auricular  confessions,  or  even 
one  of  those  pretended  mysteries  which  fill  up  the  modern  the- 
ology. He  was  fully  content  with  Jesus  Christ.  He  believed 
it  enough  to  preach  him,  and  that  he  needed  no  more,  either  to 
discharge  his  own  duty,  or  to  advance  our  edification.  And 
not  without  good  reason  ;  for  what  is  there,  I  do  not  only  say, 
that  is  necessary  and  useful,  but  that  is  in  any  way  good,  or 
great,  or  excellent,  which  is  not  in  Jesus  Christ  ?  If  other  things 
which  are  recommended  in  religion  were  as  true  as  they  are 
false,  and  as  innocent  as  they  are  pernicious,  yet  it  is  evident 
that  in  comparison  with  Christ  Jesus  they  are  miserably  poor 
and  trivial.  In  him  alone  is  found  such  true  solidity  as  is  able 
to  content  the  soul  ;  in  him  alone  is  wisdom,  righteousness, 
sanctification,  and  redemption  ;  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead, 
all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,  as  Paul  tells  us 
hereafter.  In  this  Lord  alone  is  grace,  truth,  and  life.  There 
is  no  "  salvation  in  any  other  ;  for  there  is  none  other  name 
under  heaven  given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved," 
Acts  iv.  12.  And  yet,  alas  !  though  this  is  a  truth  so  clear  in 
itself,  and  so  authentically  confirmed  by  the  preaching  of  our 
great  apostle,  yet  there  are  people  who,  notwithstanding  that 
they  profess  to  believe  it,  seek  that  elsewhere  which  is  to  be 
found  alone  in  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  who,  though  this  living  and 
overflowing  spring  of  grace  is  opened  to  all  believers  by  the 
loving-kindness  of  the  Father,  dip  in  the  poor  cisterns  of  the 
creature  for  the  water  of  salvation.  They  acknowledge  that 
the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ  are  infinite,  his  righteousness  abso- 
lutely perfect,  his  grace  inexhaustible,  his  power  pre-eminent  ; 
still  they  are  not  content  with  it,  but  add  their  satisfactions  to 
his,  the  prayers  of  angels  and  saints  to  his  intercession,  and 
mingle  the  sufferings  of  men  with  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God. 
But  if  the  lusts  of  the  world,  or  the  false  blaze  of  error,  or  the 
corrupt  inclinations  of  the  flesh,  induce  them  to  approve  or  to 
tolerate  so  dangerous  a  mixture,  let  us,  for  our  part,  dear  bre- 
thren, whom  God  has  delivered  from  such  prepossessions,  adore 
the  fulness  of  Jesus  Christ.  Let  us  content  ourselves  with  his 
richness,  and  never  seek  any  true  good  anywhere  else  than  in 
him.  Let  us  bless  God  that  from  the  pulpits  erected  among  us 
we  hear  no  name  sounded  forth  but  his.     Since  Paul  preaches 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  213 

none  but  him,  he  alone  should  occupy  the  tongues  of  preachers, 
and  the  faith  of  their  hearers. 

Secondly,  the  apostle  having  declared  the  subject  of  his 
preaching,  goes  on  to  express  the  manner  of  it.  We  preach 
Christ,  says  he,  "  warning  and  teaching  in  all  wisdom."  These 
are  the  two  parts  of  the  office  of  a  good  preacher  ;  namely,  ad- 
monition and  instruction.  The  first  comprises  all  the  remon- 
strances that  are  made  to  sinners,  whether  to  reprehend  their 
faults,  to  excite  their  diligence,  to  comfort  their  sorrows,  or  to 
remind  them  of  any  other  part  of  their  duty.  The  second  con- 
tains all  the  lessons  of  heavenly  doctrine,  the  exposition  of 
each  article  of  the  mystery  of  godliness.  Admonition  reforms 
manners,  teaching  informs  faith.  The  one  moves  the  will  and 
the  affections,  the  other  instructs  the  understanding.  The 
apostle  asserts,  in  another  place,  that  he  carefully  joined  these 
two  offices  together,  not  contenting  himself  with  teaching  and 
testifying  of  the  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  but  incessantly  warning 
every  one  with  tears.  Acts  xx.  21,  31.  And  you  see  him  uniting 
these  two  duties  throughout  his  Epistles,  where  he  not  only 
expounds  the  mysteries  of  faith,  but  constantly  applies  those 
instructions  to  the  conduct  of  those  whom  he  instructs  ;  re- 
proving, chiding,  comforting,  and  encouraging  them  as  they 
had  need.  And  as  he  thus  acted  himself,  so  he  gave  orders  for 
the  like  procedure  to  others,  whom  God  had  called  to  the  holy 
ministry.  "  Preach  the  word,"  says  he,  to  Timothy  ;  "  be  in- 
stant in  season,  out  of  season  ;  reprove,  rebuke,  exhort  with  all 
long-suffering  and  doctrine,"  2  Tim.  iv.  2.  And  in  other  places 
he  directs  that  every  pastor  be  not  only  "  apt  to  teach,"  but 
also  "  able,  by  sound  doctrine,  to  exhort  and  convince  the  gain- 
sayers,"  1  Tim.  iii.  2  ;  2  Tim.  ii.  24  ;  Tit.  i.  9.  Indeed  these 
two  offices  are  necessary  for  the  edification  of  the  faithful,  which 
is  the  design  of  the  ministry.  It  is  not  enough  to  propose  to 
them  generally  the  secrets  of  the  gospel  ;  general  things  do  not 
much  aftect  us.  They  must  be  applied  particularly  ;  and  the 
word  of  God,  which  is  the  instrument  of  our  profession,  is  pro- 
per for  these  two  operations,  as  Paul  expressly  declares,  when 
he  says  that  "all  Scripture  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  re- 
proof, for  correction,  for  instruction  in  righteousness  :  that  the 
man  of  God  (that  is,  his  servant,  or  his  minister)  may  be  per- 
fect, and  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works,"  2  Tim.  iii. 
16,  17.  Such,  then,  whom  the  Lord  has  honoured  with  this 
sacred  ministry  should  labour  to  discharge  these  two  duties  ; 
and  remember  that  he  calls  them,  not  simply  to  teach,  but  also 
to  admonish.  For  this  is  not  the  desk  of  a  professor  of  mathe- 
matics or  physic,  who  has  no  other  business  than  to  explain 
the  secrets  of  those  sciences  to  those  that  hear  them.  The  pul- 
pit has  been  prepared  in  the  church  for  conducting  men  to  sal- 
vation ;  not  merely  to  make  them  understand,  but  to  give  them 


214  AN   EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XV. 

everlasting  life,  to  illuminate  their  minds,  to  form  their  lives 
unto  holiness,  to  pluck  them  out  of  the  snares  of  Satan,  and 
cause  them  to  walk  in  the  ways  of  God.  Faithful  brethren, 
since  you  know  that  such  is  the  nature  of  our  charge,  you 
should  not  think  it  strange  or  unkind  that  we  execute  it  in 
this  manner  among  you.  There  are  some  who  have  a  tender 
ear;  they  willingly  hear  information  and  doctrine,  but  cannot 
bear  remonstrances.  A  discourse  about  the  mysteries  of  reli- 
gion is  pleasing  to  them,  but  one  about  their  vices  and  their 
duty  is  burdensome.  And  this  tenderness  is  a  very  bad  sign, 
as  it  shows  that  their  religion  is  not  sound.  As  a  physician 
judges  that  there  is  something  amiss,  some  sinew  hurt,  or  some 
collection  of  unnatural  humours,  in  those  parts  of  the  body 
which  he  cannot  touch  without  putting  the  patient  to  pain.  If 
you  would  have  our  ministrations  to  be  entirely  pleasing  to 
you,  reform  your  manners,  that  nothing  may  remain  in  your 
life  but  what  is  healthy  and  vigorous.  Remonstrances  annoy 
those  only  who  have  a  diseased  soul.  But  they  should  consider, 
that  if  they  are  troublesome  to  them  they  are  necessary  ;  and 
if  the  duties  of  our  ofl&ce  oblige  us  to  make  them,  their  eternal 
interests  much  more  oblige  them  to  suffer  them.  It  is  a  salt 
somewhat  sharp,  but  wholesome  ;  a  potion  bitter,  but  conducive 
to  health. 

But  the  apostle's  addition,  that  he  teaches  "  in  all  wisdom," 
must  not  be  forgotten.  There  is  no  occasion  for  me  to  inform 
you  that  he  speaks  of  heavenly  wisdom,  of  that  truth  which 
is  necessary  to  be  known  for  obtaining  salvation.  It  is  evi- 
dent, therefore,  when  he  says  he  teaches  in  all  this  wisdom,  he 
signifies  that  he  declares  all  the  mysteries  of  it  to  those  whom 
he  instructs,  that  he  hides  no  part  of  it  from  them  which  it 
concerns  them  to  know,  for  their  arrival  at  the  inheritance 
of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  the  very  thing  which  he  speaks  more 
clearly,  and  in  express  words,  to  the  bishops  or  pastors  of 
the  church  at  Ephesus,  when  he  says,  "  I  kept  back  nothing 
that  was  profitable  unto  you,  but  have  showed  you,  and  have 
taught  you  publicly,  and  from  house  to  house,  testifying  both 
to  the  Jews,  and  also  to  the  Greeks,  repentance  toward  God, 
and  faith  toward  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;"  and  shortly  after 
he  says,  "  I  have  not  shunned  to  declare  unto  you  all  the  coun- 
sel of  God,"  Acts  XX.  20,  21,  27.  From  which  it  appears  that 
the  traditions,  which  are  pretended  to  have  been  not  publicly 
and  generally  taught  to  all  the  faithful,  but  delivered  in  secret 
by  the  apostles  to  some  only,  are  not  at  all  necessary  to  men's 
salvation.  He  who  has  learned  what  the  apostle  taught  all 
men  knows  enough,  since  he  taught  in  all  wisdom,  except 
men  will  say  that  he  still  wants  some  knowledge  who  has 
learned  all  wisdom.  But  it  has  always  been  one  of  the  arti- 
fices of  curiosity  to  pretend  that  men  of  God  did  not  publish 


GHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  215 

all,  and  that  they  committed  a  part  of  their  instructions  only 
to  the  ears  of  some  that  were  more  perfect  than  the  vulgar, 
to  the  end  that,  under  this  pretext,  it  may  make  its  own 
disquisitions  and  inventions  pass  for  articles  of  divine  doc- 
trine. I  know  well  that  this  is  a  mere  imagination,  as  weak 
as  it  is  bold,  and  such  as  has  no  other  foundation  than  the 
invention  of  those  by  whom  it  is  advanced.  But  it  is  not  my 
business  to  make  any  further  inquiry  into  its  vanity  ;  for 
whatever  it  is,  since  Paul  has  taught  every  man  in  all  wisdom, 
my  simplicity  is  henceforth  my  safety.  The  ignorance  of 
your  pretended  secrets  cannot  be  prejudicial  to  me,  since  all 
the  wisdom  of  the  gospel  is  comprised  in  the  apostle's  public 
and  common  teachings.  From  the  same  consideration,  you 
may  also  perceive  how  extravagant  are  the  visions  of  those 
who  would  cause  it  to  be  believed,  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
church  is  polished  and  perfected  from  age  to  age,  the  succeed- 
ing having  added  to  the  light  of  those  that  went  before  ;  and 
that  we  should  not  wonder  if  the  ancients  either  knew  not 
some  of  the  articles  of  modern  divinity,  or  even  spake  con- 
trary to  them,  inasmuch,  say  they,  as  the  church  not  having 
yet  at  that  time  declared  them,  the  belief  af  them  was  not 
necessary.  By  this  account,  the  faith  must  have  been  imper- 
fect in  the  apostle's  time.  Yet  Paul  says  here  that  what  he 
preached  to  all  men  was  "  all  wisdom  ;"  and  he  adds  immedi- 
ately, that  by  it  he  rendered  "  every  man  perfect  in  Christ 
Jesus."  Whatever  may  be  said  on  the  subject,  it  is  clear  that 
it  is  enough  to  know  the  things  which  are  sufficient  to  save 
us.  If  that  which  the  apostles  preached  sufficed  for  the  sal- 
vation of  the  first  believers,  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  that 
which  men  have  since  added.  For  we  seek  but  our  salvation; 
and  it  is  foolishness  to  imagine  that  what  was  sufficient  to 
save  believers  in  those  days  is  not  sufficient  to  save  them  now  ; 
as  if  God  had  changed  his  design,  and  the  revelation  of  his 
Son,  and  as  if  the  apostle's  preaching  were  not  the  seal  and 
the  perfection  of  all  his  dispensations.  The  articles  which 
have  been  declared  in  the  latter  ages  either  formed  a  part  of 
the  wisdom  preached  by  the  apostles,  or  they  did  not.  If 
they  did  form  a  part  of  it,  they  were  no  less  necessary  for  the 
first  ages  than  for  the  latter.  If  they  did  not,  they  are  now 
as  little  necessary  as  ever.  And  it  avails  nothing  to  plead 
the  authority  of  the  church  ;  for  whatever  authority  may  be 
ascribed  to  the  company  which  is  so  called,  it  has  not  enough 
to  make  that  necessary  which  in  reality  is  not  so  ;  to  shut  up 
what  God  has  opened,  to  contract  that  which  he  has  dilated, 
or  to  bind  that  which  he  has  loosed.  If  God  will  save  us, 
without  belief  of  the  mass  or  of  purgatory,  the  church  would 
do  well  to  renounce  them  ;  would  she  not?  God  will  judge 
us  by  his  own  will  and  word,  and  not  by  the  fantastical  con- 
ceits or  imaginations  of  men. 


216  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XV. 

But  I  return  to  the  apostle,  who  shows  us,  in  the  third 
place,  what  is  the  object  of  his  preaching;  "  Warning  every 
man,  and  teaching  every  man."  It  is  very  probable  that 
the  false  teachers  who  would  seduce  the  Colossians,  to  colour 
that  observation  of  the  law  which  they  recommended, 
alleged  that  the  apostles  themselves  left  the  Jews  the  use  of 
circumcision,  and  the  practice  of  legal  abstinences  ;  and  that 
if  Paul  acted  otherwise,  it  was  towards  some  only.  I  consider 
that  it  is  properly  to  this  we  must  refer  and  oppose  his  re- 
peating here  three  times,  "warning  every  man,  and  teaching 
every  man,  that  he  might  present  every  man  perfect  in  Christ." 
He  thus  repeats  this  word,  to  show  that  his  preaching  was  the 
same  and  uniform  throughout,  that  he  declared  to  all  men  but 
one  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  he  preached  him  indifferently  both 
to  Jews  and  Gentiles,  Greeks  and  barbarians  ;  God  having 
given  for  them  all  but  one  and  the  same  gospel,  as  he  has  set 
up  but  one  sun  in  the  universe  to  shine  on  all  mankind.  I 
declare,  says  he,  the  same  Christ  unto  all,  as  Saviour  and  Ee- 
deemer  of  the  world.  There  is  no  man  to  whom  I  preach  any 
other  thing.  By  which  he  gives  a  secret  blow  to  the  doctrine 
of  these  seducers,  which  was  particular,  and  not  preached 
either  by  the  holy  apostle,  or  by  any  of  his  fellows.  It  is 
probable  also  that  he  aimed  to  show  here  in  his  way  the  ex- 
tent of  his  charge,  which  enclosed  all  men  on  earth  within 
its  compass;  there  being  no  one  to  whom  he  had  not  autho- 
rity to  preach  the  gospel,  and  whom  he  was  not  commissioned 
to  admonish  and  teach  ;  according  as  he  says,  in  his  Epistle 
to  the  Romans,  "  I  am  a  debtor  both  to  the  Greeks,  and  to  the 
barbarians  ;  both  to  the  wise,  and  to  the  unwise,"  Rom.  i. 
14.  This  he  repeats,  in  order  to  establish  the  power  which 
he  presently  afterwards  uses  to  admonish  the  Colossians,  and 
to  condemn  the  seducers.  For  he  shows  thereby  that  there  is 
no  person,  however  learned  he  may  otherwise  be,  who  is  not 
his  scholar  for  this  heavenly  wisdom,  and  ought  in  this  re- 
spect to  be  subject  to  his  instructions,  and  to  learn  of  him 
the  mysteries  of  the  gospel.  As  if  he  had  said  that  God  has 
raised  him  to  the  doctoral  chair  of  the  universe,  and  made 
him  his  public  and  universal  herald,  who  should  be  listened 
to  by  every  man  in  the  world.  From  whence  it  follows,  that 
these  pretended  masters  of  the  Colossians,  who  would  intrude 
to  teach  them  after  their  mode,  thwarted  the  institution  of 
God  ;  and  that  before  they  commenced  the  instruction  of 
others,  they  should  first  have  learned  of  the  apostle  the  true 
mysteries  of  the  wisdom  of  God.  I  acknowledge  that  there 
is  not  one  of  the  ministers  of  God  who  has  now  this  great  ex- 
tent of  authority  that  the  apostle  here  with  truth  ascribes  to 
himself  Nevertheless,  each  of  them  ought  to  do  in  his  dis- 
trict what  the  apostle  did  in  his,  to  admonish  and  to  teach 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  217 

every  man,  whoever  he  may  be,  in  all  wisdom,  to  have  but 
one  and  the  same  gospel  for  all  ;  not  a  pleasing  doctrine,  or, 
as  it  is  commonly  called,  a  velvet  gospel,  for  the  rich,  and 
another  quite  different  for  the  poor  ;  but  to  treat  them  all 
without  respect  of  persons,  not  concealing  anything  from  the 
one  which  has  been  discovered  to  the  others.  Each  one  ought 
to  teach  the  small  as  well  as  the  great,  to  admonish  the  great 
as  well  as  the  small  ;  to  edify  them  all  in  common,  without 
despising  the  littleness  of  the  one,  or  fearing  the  greatness  of 
the  other. 

But  let  us  see,  in  the  last  place,  what  is  the  end  of  this 
preaching  Jesus  Christ.  "  Whom  we  preach,"  says  the  apostle, 
"  warning  every  man,  and  teaching  every  man  in  all  wisdom, 
that  we  may  present  every  man  perfect  in  Jesus  Christ."  This 
was  the  apostle's  aim,  this  was  the  design  of  his  labours,  even 
to  present  all  those  who  heard  him  holy  and  unreprovable 
unto  Jesus  Christ  ;  to  put  them  into  such  a  condition  by  his 
preaching,  as  that  they  might  appear  before  the  throne  of 
grace  without  confusion.  He  expresses  it  elsewhere  in  other 
terms  ;  namely,  when  he  says  to  the  Corinthians  in  particular, 
*'  I  have  espoused  you  to  one  husband,  that  I  may  present  you 
as  a  chaste  virgin  to  Christ,"  2  Cor.  xi.  2.  Here  he  uses  pre- 
cisely the  same  word  as  that  in  our  text.  You  know  that 
there  are  two  sorts  of  perfection  ;  one  of  a  believer's  minority, 
the  other  of  his  full  age  ;  according  as  the  apostle  distinguishes 
our  times  in  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  chap.  xiii. 

11.  The  one,  that  which  we  have  here  below,  during  the 
course  of  our  pilgrimage.  The  other,  that  which  we  shall 
have  in  heaven,  our  true  country.  This  latter  is  a  perfection 
every  way  complete  ;  such  as  comprehends  all  the  degrees  of 
knowledge,  holiness,  and  glory  which  our  nature  is  capable 
of  possessing.  The  former  is  a  perfection  begun,  having  all 
the  parts  of  sanctification  and  consolation  which  are  necessary 
in  our  present  frailty,  but  not  yet  brought  to  its  completion, 
or  to  its  highest  degrees.  The  one  is  simply  and  absolutely 
called  perfection  ;  the  other  is  so  named  with  respect  to,  and  in 
comparison  with,  either  the  state  in  which  we  and  other  unre- 
generated  men  were,  and  still  are,  or  the  condition  of  our  age. 
The  apostle  means  the  first  when  he  confesses  that  he  is  not 
already  perfect  ;  he  speaks  of  the  second  when  he  says,  "  Let 
us  therefore,  as  many  as  be  perfect,  be  thus  minded,"  Phil.  iii. 

12,  15.  And  both  are  the  end  of  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. 
For  the  design  of  Paul,  and  of  all  true  ministers  of  the  Lord, 
is  by  this  means  to  guide  the  faithful  to  eternal  salvation  ; 
that  is,  to  the  last  and  highest  degree  of  these  two  kinds  of 
perfection.  And  so  the  nearer  eft'ect  of  their  preaching,  and 
which  immediately  follows  it,  is  the  believer's  perfection  on 
earth  ;  the  farther  and  more  remote  effect  of  it,  which  necessarily 

28 


218  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XV. 

and  inMliblj  results  from  the  first,  is  his  perfection  in  heaven. 
Moreover,  this  first  perfection,  to  which  preaching  immediately 
tends,  consists  chiefly  of  two  parts,  knowledge  and  sanctifica- 
tion, faith  and  charity  ;  and  though  there  be  many  defects  in 
both,  yet  if  you  compare  them  with  the  vision  and  glory  of 
heaven,  they  are,  even  at  present,  perfect  in  some  degree,  in- 
asmuch as  the  true  believer  wants  not  any  of  the  knowledge 
and  habits  which  are  necessary  to  salvation.  And  it  is  to 
this  the  apostle  reduces  it,  when  he  restrains  the  perfection  he 
speaks  of  to  Jesus  Christ  ;  "  that  we  may  present,"  says  he, 
"every  man  perfect  in  Jesus  Christ."  It  is  to  his  abundance 
that  we  owe  our  perfection,  inasmuch  as  he  gives  us  all  that 
we  have  of  it  by  his  Spirit,  and  supplies  that  which  we  want 
of  it  by  the  riches  of  his  merit.  The  apostle  considers  the 
believer's  perfection  here  in  its  whole  extent  ;  that  is,  with 
regard  both  to  faith  and  holiness.  He  particularly  intends 
the  first  ;  for  it  seems  to  me  evident  that  he  has  an  eye  to  the 
error  of  the  seducers,  who  added  the  observation  of  the  Mosai- 
cal  law,  the  worshipping  of  angels,  and  such  other  traditions, 
to  the  instructions  of  the  gospel,  as  if  the  faith  of  christians 
was  imperfect  without  them.  Paul,  to  overthrow  these  perni- 
cious doctrines,  seasonably  establishes  this  fact,  that  the  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel  is  enough  to  render  every  man  perfect  who 
receives  it  with  faith,  and  that  there  is  no  need  either  of  Moses 
or  of  angels,  of  the  ceremonies  of  the  one,  or  of  the  services 
of  the  other  ;  that  Jesus  Christ,  in  whom  we  are,  is  abundantly 
suf&cient,  without  the  assistance  of  any  other.  But  though 
this  is  the  apostle's  direct  aim,  yet  in  that  perfection  of  which 
he  speaks,  together  with  fulness  of  faith,  he  comprises  pure- 
ness  of  manners  and  of  worship,  which  inseparably  depend  on 
it,  and  without  which  that  faith  cannot  possibly  be  perfect. 

Such  is  the  sense  of  these  words  of  Paul,  from  which  we 
may  learn  two  things  before  we  proceed  further.  The  first 
is  the  perfection  and  sufiiciency  of  the  doctrine  preached  by 
the  apostles.  For  since  the  end  to  which  it  tended  was  to 
make  the  hearer  of  it  perfect,  it  is  evident  that  it  had  in  it  all 
that  was  necessary  to  convey  this  perfection  ;  there  being  no 
probability  that  God  would  have  put  a  means  into  the  hands 
of  his  servants  which  was  not  sufficient  to  reach  the  end  ;  such 
a  fault  being  incompatible  with  his  infinite  wisdom  and  power. 
But  it  is  evident  that  the  apostles'  preaching  could  not  have 
made  the  faith  of  their  hearers  perfect,  if  they  had  omitted  in 
preaching  any  of  those  particulars,  the  belief  of  which  is 
necessary  to  salvation.  It  must  be  concluded,  therefore,  that 
not  one  of  them  was  omitted.  Consequently,  it  is  clear  by 
the  same  argument,  that  all  the  traditions  which  men  advance 
at  this  day  are  unprofitable.  For  what  service  can  they  do  us, 
since  we  may  be  "  perfect  in  Jesus  Christ"  without  them  ?     It 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  219 

cannot  be  said  tliat  they  were  a  part  of  the  things  which  the 
apostles  preached.  First,  the  very  men  who  defend  them  dare 
not  affirm  it  of  most  of  them,  it  being  notorious  that  they  rose 
up  by  degrees  very  long  after  the  apostles'  times.  Secondly 
because  Paul  himself  describes  to  us  the  matter  of  his  preach- 
ing; "  We  preach  Christ,"  says  he;  confining  it  wholly,  as  you 
see,  to  the  mystery  of  our  Saviour,  with  which  these  traditions 
have  no  more  connection  than  those  of  the  seducers,  who  sought 
to  mingle  divers  ceremonies,  and  the  worshipping  of  angels, 
with  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  traditions  he  afterwards 
refutes.  And  lastly,  because  the  apostle  elsewhere  gives  to 
Scripture  the  same  sufficiency  which  he  here  ascribes  to  his 
preaching,  saying  that  "all  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration 
of  God,  and  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  &c.,  that  the  man  of  God 
may  be  perfect,"  2  Tim.  iii.  16,  17.  But  it  is  clear  that  these 
pretended  traditions  are  not  to  be  found  at  all  in  Scripture. 
Surely  then  it  is  also  manifest  that  they  are  unnecessary  to 
make  our  faith  -perfect. 

But,  on  the  same  grounds,  it  is  apparent  again,  how  contra- 
ry to  Paul  the  doctrine  of  Rome  is.  For  he  says  that  the  de- 
sign of  his  preaching  was  to  make  every  "  man  perfect  in  Je- 
sus Christ  ;"  Rome,  on  the  contrary,  allows  this  perfection 
only  to  clerks,  in  the  first  place,  and  next  to  monks  ;  not 
reckoning  that  the  people  (whom,  by  an  odious  name  which  the 
apostle  Paul  never  gives  but  to  pagans  or  the  profane,  they  call 
seculars,  and  men  of  the  world,  in  opposition  to  men  of  the 
church)  can  or  should  seek  to  arrive  at  perfection.  And  the 
presumption  of  monks  is  grown  so  high,  that  there  are  no 
longer  any  but  persons  hooded  and  clothed  in  their  manner 
who  are  called  religious  men,  or  religious  women  ;  as  if  every 
man  who  is  a  true  christian  were  not  also  truly  religious. 
And  again,  they  call  their  condition  only  the  state  of  perfec- 
tion, as  if  all  the  rest  of  the  faithful  were  but  abortives  and 
imperfect  productions.  And  though  this  vanity  is  beyond 
measure  injurious  to  all  other  christians,  yet  their  partisans 
suffer  it,  and  the  majority  of  them  seem  well  pleased  with  it  ; 
imagining,  under  this  pretence,  that  there  are  none  but  monks 
who  are  obliged  to  be  perfect,  and  that,  as  for  themselves,  who 
are  in  the  world,  it  is  not  their  part  to  aspire  so  high  ;  and,  in 
effect,  the  greater  number  so  freely  dispense  with  this  neces- 
sity, that  truly  there  is  reason  to  call  them  seculars  indeed. 
But  the  holy  apostle  here  overthrows  in  two  words  the  arro- 
gance of  the  one,  and  the  security  of  the  other.  As  to  the 
former,  he  tells  us  he  preached  the  gospel  that  he  might  ren- 
der his  hearers  perfect  ;  he  clearly  shows  us,  that  for  our 
guidance  to  perfection  we  have  no  need  of  the  rules  either  of 
Francis,  or  Dominic,  or  Bruno,  or  Loyola,  or  the  many  other 
pretended  regulars,  who.  as  it  were,  outvying  each  other,  daily 


220  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XV. 

set  forth  some  new  doctrine  before  the  world.  The  Lord  Je- 
sus has  provided  long  since  for  our  perfection,  giving  us  a 
most  complete  and  very  easy  rule  to  attain  it,  after  which  it  is 
an  extreme  rashness  to  attempt  the  establishment  of  another. 
Follow  that  rule,  christian,  embrace  it,  and  proceed  constantly 
in  the  way  of  holiness  which  it  has  prescribed  you,  and  be  as- 
sured that  by  so  doing  you  shall  not  fail  of  arriving  at  perfec- 
tion, though  you  wear  not  Francis's  frock  and  hood,  or  Loyo- 
la's little  band.  But  the  apostle  here  no  less  condemns  the 
security  of  those  who  are  called  seculars,  than  the  vanity  of 
such  as  style  themselves  religious.  For  he  says  expressly  and 
universally  that  his  design  is  to  "  present  every  man  perfect 
in  Christ  Jesus."  He  will  have  no  other  disciples.  He  owns 
none  for  his  scholars  but  such  as  aim  at  perfection,  such  as  re- 
solve to  obtain  it,  and  labour  after  it  daily.  If  you  remain 
secular,  and  in  a  state  of  imperfection,  his  preaching  has  not 
wrought  its  effects  in  you  ;  and  as  you  have  no  part  in  that 
perfection  to  which  he  would  lead  you  in  this  life,  no  more 
shall  you  have  part  in  that  to  which  he  desires  to  conduct  you 
in  the  life  that  is  to  come.  There  is  but  one  sort  of  christians, 
even  those  who,  having  believed  the  gospel,  mortify  the  deeds 
of  the  body,  and  crucify  their  flesh  with  its  affections,  and 
who,  forgetting  the  things  which  are  behind,  advance  some 
steps  daily  towards  the  mark  and  prize  of  their  calling  ;  such 
christians  has  Paul,  whose  language  respecting  it  you  are  now 
hearing,  prevailed  to  present,  by  the  efi&cacy  of  his  preaching, 
perfect  in  Christ  Jesus.  It  is  a  mistake,  it  is  a  folly,  to  fancy 
that  any  others  are  christians.  These  double  or  middling 
christians,  who  would  at  once  be  both  christians  and  world- 
lings, disciples  of  heaven  and  of  earth,  have  no  more  place 
in  the  reality  of  nature  than  in  the  Scriptures  of  God. 
If  you  would  have  a  place  among  the  perfect  ones  of  the  life 
to  come,  be  betimes  among  the  perfect  of  this  life.  There  is 
no  ascending  to  the  one  of  these  perfections  but  by  the  other. 
If  you  will  be  one  day  in  the  number  of  full-grown  men  of 
Jesus  Christ,  be  now  in  the  number  of  his  children.  Walk  in 
faith  and  in  love  during  this  pilgrimage,  if  you  would  aspire 
to  the  vision  and  glory  of  the  heavenly  country. 

II.  But  it  is  now  time,  my  brethren,  having  spoken  of  his 
preaching,  to  say  something  to  you,  in  the  second  place,  of  the 
apostle's  labour  and  conflicts.  "  Whereunto  I  also  labour, 
striving  according  to  his  working,  which  worketh  in  me 
mightily." 

Surely  there  is  no  christian  that  does  not  meet  in  the  way 
to  heaven  with  many  thorns,  which  the  flesh,  the  world,  and 
the  devil  sow  there  ;  for  these  cannot  suffer  any  one  to  under- 
take so  glorious  a  design  without  crossing  him  to  the  utmost 
of  their  power.     Yet,  among  all  the  faithful,  there  are  none 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  221 

that  have  more  labours  and  conflicts  to  undergo  than  the  mi- 
nisters of  the  gospel.     This  high  office,  besides  being  very 
painful  itself,  draws  the  hatred  and  persecutions  of  the  enemy- 
more  especially  upon  them  ;  and  again,  among  all  those  whom 
God  has  honoured  with  this  divine  employment,  it  must  be 
acknowledged  that  the  apostles  are  the  men  who  had  most 
difficulties  to  surmount  and  afflictions  to  wade  through.     All 
our  strivings  for  the  truth  are  but  children's  play,  in  compari- 
son with  the  combats  which  these  great  warriors  had  to  sus- 
tain.    For  who  does  not  know  that  in  every  work  of  import- 
ance the  beginning  is  always  much  more  difficult  than  the  pro- 
gress and  prosecution  ?     The  apostles  broke  up  the  ground  in 
which  we  labour  ;  they  opened  and  levelled  the  race  in  which 
we  run  ;  they  with  infinite  pain  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
house  which  we  build.     The  business  at  that  time  was  to  over- 
throw paganism,  to  demolish  Judaism,  to  fill  up  great  deeps 
and  to  level  mountains  ;  whereas  we  enter  upon  a  work  al- 
ready settled  and  fixed.     They  went  through  a  country  where 
there  was  neither  way  nor  path,  nor  anything  favourable  to 
them  ;  whereas  we  go  in  the  track  which  they  have  made.    To 
all  this  we  must  add  the  great  extent  of  their  charge,  which 
enclosed  the  whole  universe,  and  obliged  them  to  take  care  of 
all  the  nations  of  the  world  ;  whereas  we  labour  each  of  us  in 
a  small  parcel  of  this  great  and  vast  heritage  of  the  Son  of 
God.     What  shall  I  say  of  the  persecutions  which  Satan  raised 
up  and  brought  upon  them  in  all  quarters,  animating  all  the 
powers  of  the  world  against  them,  and  subtlely  engaging  them 
in  this  war,  some  by  a  zeal  for  the  religion  of  their  fathers, 
others  by  reasons  of  state  ;  some  by  a  jealousy  for  reputation, 
others  by  their  passion  for  pleasures  and  vices  ?     To  over- 
come so  many  difficulties,  and  to  advance,  as  they  did,  a  work 
whose  success  was,  in  appearance,  as  impossible  as  if  they  had 
undertaken  to  displace  the  bounds  of  the  world,  and  to  change 
mountains  into  seas,  it  was  evidently  necessary  that  these  holy 
men  should  toil  in  an  extraordinary  manner,  and  strive  with 
a  far  greater  vigour  than  that  possessed  by  any  of  the  rest  of 
the  faithful.     But  though  they  all  applied  themselves  to  such 
service  with  an  indefatigable  and  courageous  earnestness,  and 
with  an  admirable  constancy  of  mind,  yet  Paul  particularly 
signalized  himself  among  those  blessed  patriarchs  of  the  new 
people  and  Israel  of  God  ;  for  with  respect  to  labour,  which  he 
mentions,  first,  none  of  them  preached  Christ  with  more  fer- 
vour, none  of  them  pressed  men  to  yield  themselves  to  him 
with  more  vehemency,  none  began  with  more  alacrity,  nor 
went  on  with  more  assiduity.     Never  was  tongue  more  active, 
nor  pen  more  divine,  nor  mind  more  vigilant,  than  his.     He 
alone  traversed  as  many  countries  as  all  the  rest  together.    He 
visited  all  nations,  sowing  the  gospel  everywhere,  watering  it 


222  AN  EXPOSITION"   OF  [SEKM.   XV. 

nigbt  and  day  with  incredible  pains,  by  his  speech,  by  his 
tears,  and  by  his  cares.  He  had  no  sooner  achieved  one  con- 
quest than  he  enterprised  another  ;  and  the  end  of  one  labour 
was  to  hira  but  the  beginning  of  another.  Never  did  ambition 
or  avarice,  though  the  most  restless  of  our  passions,  cause  men 
of  the  world  half  the  anxiety  sustained  by  the  apostle  in 
bringing  mankind  to  the  perfection  which  the  Lord  Jesus  pro- 
mised. And  as  the  inclination  which  the  sun  has  to  commu- 
nicate his  comfortable  beams  to  all  creatures  keeps  him  in  per- 
petual motion,  without  permitting  him  to  have  one  moment's 
rest  ;  so  Paul's  love  for  souls,  and  his  ardent  desire  to  shed 
abroad,  in  every  direction,  the  light,  life,  and  blessedness  with 
which  his  Master  had  stored  him,  pressing  him  both  day  and 
night,  caused  him  to  pursue  his  course  without  ceasing,  and  to 
circulate  continually  about  mankind,  presenting  his  treasures 
sometimes  to  one  country,  and  sometimes  to  another,  passing 
all  the  days  he  lived  in  this  glorious  activity.  Neither  did  he 
at  all  exaggerate  when  he  said  to  the  Corinthians,  being  com- 
pelled to  it  by  the  false  assertions  of  his  calumniators,  that  he 
had  laboured  more  abundantly  than  any  of  the  rest,  1  Cor.  xv. 
10.  That  part  of  his  history  which  Luke  has  given  to  us  in 
the  Acts  justifies  the  truth  of  his  words,  and  the  fourteen  di- 
vine Epistles  which  he  has  left  us,  and  which  make  up  part  of 
his  admirable  labours,  as  clearly  show  us  how  the  case  really 
stood. 

His  strivings  or  conflicts  were  not  less  than  his  ministerial 
labours.  For  by  them  he  means  the  perils  and  sufferings  which 
the  discharge  of  his  apostleship,  and  the  preaching  of  the  gos- 
pel, caused  him  every  hour  to  experience,  and  which  he  fre- 
quently compares  to  the  combats  which  were  at  that  time  so- 
lemnized in  Greece  ;  because  those  who  engaged  in  them  had 
various  pains  and  inconveniences  to  suffer,  as  he  shows  at 
large  in  the  9th  chapter  of  the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians, 
ver.  25 — 27.  He  had  more  enemies  to  sustain  than  any  of  the 
rest  ;  there  were  Jews  and  pagans  without,  seducers  and  false 
brethren  within.  It  makes  us  tremble  only  to  read  the  perse- 
cutions and  obstructions  which  he  received  from  these  quar- 
ters. He  himself  has  drawn  up  a  little  catalogue  of  them,  in 
which  he  represents  to  us  through  what  depths  of  afflictions  he 
had  passed,  and  was  still  daily  passing  ;  being  pursued,  out  of 
measure,  both  by  his  own  countrymen,  and  also  by  the  Gen- 
tiles. He  was  beaten,  imprisoned,  scourged,  stoned  ;  he  was  in 
shipwrecks  on  the  sea,  in  dangers  and  deaths  upon  the  land. 
He  was  sometimes  at  the  mercy  of  robbers  in  deserts,  and  at 
others  beset  round  in  cities,  both  with  weapons  of  enemies,  and 
the  ambushments  of  false  friends.  He  was  reduced  to  naked- 
ness, to  cold,  to  hunger,  and  thirst.    It  is  this  hard  and  terrible 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  223 

chain  of  labours  and  sufferings  to  which  he  here  alludes,  when 
he  says,  "  Whereunto  I  also  labour,  striving." 

But,  oh  the  deep  humility  of  this  holy  man  !  he  immedi- 
ately  gives  the  glory  of  these  marvellous  exploits  to  the  grace 
and  assistance  of  the  Lord  Jesus  alone.  I  labour  and  strive, 
says  he,  "according  to  his  working,  which  worketh  in  me 
mightily."  He  exercises  the  same  modesty,  elsewhere,  when, 
having  said  that  he  had  "  laboured  more  abundantly  than  they 
all,"  he  presently  corrects  himself,  and  adds,  "  yet  not  I,  but 
the  grace  of  God  which  was  with  me."  It  is  the  invincible 
force  of  this  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  which  he  calls  here  "  his 
working  ;"  and  he  says  that  it  works  in  him  "  mightily,"  or 
with  power,  to  signify  the  admirable  effects  which  it  produced 
in  him  ;  first,  in  that  it  raised  up  in  him  the  light  of  know- 
ledge, the  love  of  holiness,  charity  towards  the  Lord's  flock, 
and  such  prudence  and  wisdom  as  were  necessary  for  the  in- 
struction and  government  of  souls.  Secondly,  in  that  it  en- 
dued him  with  a  more  than  human  courage,  with  an  immov- 
able constancy  and  firmness,  both  that  he  might  sustain  the 
burden  of  such  great  and  continual  labour,  and  patiently  and 
cheerfully  bear  the  persecutions  and  temptations  which  were 
still  let  loose  against  him;  the  Lord  overruling  these  things, 
which  tended  to  frustrate  his  purposes,  for  his  glory  and  the 
advancement  of  his  work,  as  he  promised  him,  that  his  strength 
should  be  made  perfect  in  his  weakness.  Thirdly,  in  accom- 
panying the  apostle's  preaching  with  divers  miracles,  which 
ravished  men,  and  gave  authority  to  his  words,  as  he  expressly 
testifies  in  another  place  :  "  1  will  not  dare  to  speak  of  any 
of  those  things  which  Christ  hath  not  wrought  by  me,  to  make 
the  Gentiles  obedient,  by  word  and  deed,  through  mighty 
signs  and  wonders,"  Rom.  xv.  18,  19.  Lastly,  this  divine  ef- 
ficacy of  our  Saviour  also  magnificently  appeared  in  the  suc- 
cess with  which  he  crowned  the  labours  of  Paul  ;  opening  the 
hearts  of  those  who  heard  him,  and  causing  his  voice  to  enter 
into  them,  notwithstanding  all  the  impediments  of  nature, 
with  such  a  miraculous  blessing,  that  he  made  his  gospel  to 
abound  from  Jerusalem,  and  round  about  even  to  Illyricum, 
subduing  nations,  and  converting  them  gloriously  to  the  ser- 
vice of  his  Master.  It  is  this  that  he  here  represents  to  the 
Colossians,  when  he  says,  "  I  labour,  striving  according  to  his 
working,  which  worketh  in  me  mightily."  And  it  excellently 
conduces  to  his  design,  which  is  to  show  the  truth  of  the  gos- 
pel he  preached,  which  shone  forth  clearly  in  those  many  mir- 
acles, they  being  as  seals  by  which  the  Lord  confirmed  it. 

This  great  example  especially  concerns  those  whom  God 
has  called  to  the  sacred  ministry  of  his  house  ;  and  it  shows 
them,  on  one  hand,  how  painful  their  office  is;  that  it  is  a 
work,  (as  the  apostle  says  when  addressing  Timothy,)  a  work,  I 


224  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XV. 

say,  rather  than  a  dignity  ;  a  labour,  and  not  a  recreation  ;  for 
the  proper  discharge  of  which  they  must  toil  and  strive,  watch 
in  all  things,  endure  afflictions,  and  do  the  work  of  evange- 
lists, 1  Tim.  iii.  1  ;  2  Tim.  iv.  5.  And  it  teaches  them,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  they  must  not  be  discouraged  by  those  great 
difficulties,  but  trust  in  the  grace  of  Christ,  and  expect  from 
the  sole  efficacy  of  his  assistance  that  light,  that  strength,  that 
patience  and  constancy,  which  is  requisite  for  finishing  so  la- 
borious a  course,  since  it  is  he  alone  who  renders  us  meet  for 
these  things  ;  strengthening  us  in  weakness,  comforting  us  in 
trouble,  encouraging  us  in  difficulties,  sustaining  us  under 
assaults,  and  so  conducting  us,  that  though  we  are  nothing  of 
ourselves,  yet  in  him  we  can  do  all  things,  who  makes  us  able 
ministers  of  the  new  testament,  2  Cor.  iii.  5. 

But  though  Paul's  example  particularly  respects  pastors,  yet 
it  appertains  also  to  all  true  christians  in  general,  since  there  is 
not  one  of  them  who  is  not  the  Lord's  servant,  who  has  not 
the  management  of  some  of  his  talents,  and  who  is  not  called 
to  labour  and  combat.  Let  us  meditate,  then,  all  of  us  in 
common,  both  upon  the  preaching  and  labour  of  this  great 
apostle,  and  jointly  make  our  improvement  of  them.  He  still 
at  this  day  declares  to  us  the  same  Christ,  whom  he  before 
preached  to  all  the  nations  of  the  world.  Though  the  organs 
that  sound  it  to  you  be  incomparably  weaker  than  his  were, 
yet  it  is  his  word  that  you  hear,  the  same  word  and  the  same 
Christ  which  in  time  past  converted  the  universe.  The  same 
Paul  whose  voice  had  then  so  much  efficacy,  speaks  yet  to 
you  daily.  He  addresses  to  you  the  same  doctrine,  he  sets 
before  you  the  same  wisdom,  he  admonishes  and  teaches 
every  man  among  you.  Do  not  abuse  so  great  a  blessing,  do 
not  frustrate  the  true  and  just  effects  of  this  holy  man's  labour. 
The  end  of  his  preaching  is,  that  you  all  may  be  perfect.  This 
is  the  mark  to  which  he  calls  you  all  in  general.  Say  not  to  me 
that  he  speaks  to  some  only.  I  warn,  says  he,  and  teach  every 
man,  that  I  may  render  every  man  perfect  in  Jesus  Christ. 
Object  not  the  employments  which  you  have  in  the  world,  nor 
the  duties  to  w^hich  your  family  and  your  affairs  confine  you. 
If  they  be  incompatible  with  that  perfection  which  the  apos- 
tle requires  of  you,  you  must  renounce  them.  It  is  an  extreme 
folly  to  excuse  oneself  from  being  happy.  This  ought  to  be 
the  first  and  last  of  our  cares;  and  if  we  cannot  attain  it  but 
by  quitting  honours,  by  losing  riches,  by  retrenching  our  de- 
lights, yea,  as  our  Lord  says,  by  plucking  out  our  own  eye,  or 
cutting  off"  our  foot  or  our  hand  ;  it  is  better  to  forego  all  this, 
than  keep  it,  to  be  cast,  at  our  departure  hence,  into  the  torment 
of  eternal  fire.  But  these  are  vain  and  mere  frivolous  pre- 
tences to  palliate  our  negligence.  If  we  have  truly  received 
Jesus  Christ  into  our  hearts,  neither  a  wife,  nor  children,  nor 


CHAP.  I.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  225 

a  family,  nor  an  estate,  nor  the  honest  and  lawful  employ- 
ments of  the  world,  will  hinder  you  from  being  perfect.  The 
fear  of  God,  honest  deportment,  plain  dealing  and  justice, 
charity  and  beneficence,  and,  in  a  word,  the  holiness  in  which 
our  perfection  consists,  is  not.  incompatible  with  any  of  these 
things.  For  I  ask  you.  Is  it  your  business  or  your  calling 
which  obliges  you  to  offend  God  and  injure  men — to  pollute 
your  body  with  the  filth  of  infamous  pleasures — to  defraud  or 
to  rob  your  neighbour — to  drown  your  whole  life  in  luxury, 
in  debauches,  and  in  slothfulness  ?  No,  no,  christian,  excuse 
not  yourselves  by  such  pretences.  The  affairs  of  your  family 
and  of  your  trade  are  altogether  innocent  of  your  faults. 
They  rather  invite  you  to  honesty  and  innocency  than  solicit 
you  to  vice.  It  is  nothing  but  the  rage  of  your  ungoverned 
passions  that  causes  this  disorder.  It  is  nothing  but  your  am- 
bition, your  covetousness,  your  pride,  your  effeminateness  and 
delicacy,  which  turns  you  away  from  christian  perfection.  To 
obtain  it  there  is  no  need  that  you  should  retire  into  a  desert 
or  a  cloister,  nor  that  your  habits  or  your  food  should  be  dif- 
ferent from  those  of  the  people  among  whom  you  live  ;  there 
needs  for  this  nothing  but  a  retirement  from  vice,  and  a  sin- 
cere renunciation  of  the  practice  of  it,  plucking  its  lusts  from 
your  heart,  changing  your  life,  and  not  your  dwelling,  your 
conduct,  and  not  your  clothes.  And  this  it  is,  my  beloved 
brethren,  in  which  we  must  labour  and  strive.  The  design 
to  which  I  call  you  is  great  and  painful,  and  no  less  difficult 
than  the  conquest  of  the  world,  the  business  of  Paul's  apos- 
tleship.  For  there  is  no  duty  more  severe  than  that  of 
renouncing  our  passions,  or  more  difficult  than  that  of  over- 
coming ourselves.  It  is  much  more  easy  to  wear  a  cowl,  or  a 
hair-cloth,  and  to  blacken  the  body  with  blows,  yea,  to  kill 
oneself,  than  to  put  off  the  desires  of  the  flesh.  Labour  then 
earnestly  and  assiduously,  since  you  have  undertaken  so  dif- 
ficult a  task.  Employ  all  your  time  in  it  ;  let  no  day  pass 
without  engaging  in  it  ;  watching  and  praying,  mortifying  all 
the  members  of  your  old  man,  with  a  true  penitence  ;  reading 
the  word  of  God,  and  meditating  upon  it  ;  embracing  his 
promises,  exercising  yourselves  in  the  study  and  practice  of 
those  good  and  holy  works  which  he  has  recommended  to  us. 
The  design  is  great,  and  you  are  weak.  But  the  Lord  Jesus, 
in  whom  you  have  believed,  is  almighty,  and  all-merciful.  He 
still  has  the  same  power  which  before  converted  the  world  by 
the  hand  of  Paul.  If  you  labour  in  his  work  with  such  zeal 
as  his  apostle  did,  he  will  also  communicate  his  graces  unto 
you.  He  will  display  his  virtue  upon  you.  He  will  work 
powerfully  in  you.  He  will  bruise  Satan  under  your  feet,  and 
crucify  your  flesh  by  the  efficacy  of  his  own.  He  will  vivify 
your  spirit  by  the  light  of  his.  He  will  cause  you  to  triumph 
29 


226  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XY. 

over  your  enemies.  He  will  comfort  you  in  the  afflictions 
which  you  shall  suffer  for  so  good  a  cause.  He  will  guide  you 
in  all  your  ways.  And  after  the  labour  and  the  combat, 
will  crown  you  on  high  in  the  heavens  with  that  glory 
and  immortality,  with  which  all  the  pains  of  the  present 
life  are  not  worthy  to  be  compared.  So  be  it  ;  and  unto 
him,  as  also  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  only 
true  God,  blessed  for  ever,  be  honour  and  glory,  to  ages  of 
ages.    Amen. 


CHAP.  II.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  227^ 


SERMON  XVI. 
CHAPTER  II. 

VERSES   1,  2. 

For  I  would  that  ye  knew  what  great  conflict  I  have  for  you,  and 
for  them  at  Laodicea,  and  for  as  many  as  have  not  seen  my  face 
in  the  flesh;  that  their  hearts  might  he  comforted,  being  knit  to- 
gether in  hve,  and  unto  all  riches  of  the  full  assurance  of  under- 
standing, to  the  acknowledgment  of  the  mystery  of  God,  and  of 
the  Father,  and  of  Christ. 

Dear  brethren,  as  gardeners  and  husbandmen  are  not  satis- 
fied with  sowing  good  seed  in  the  ground  which  they  have  pre- 
pared, but  also  take  care  to  eradicate  the  weeds  which  might 
choke  or  injure  the  good  plants  ;  so  in  the  spiritual  husbandry 
of  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  not  enough  that  the  ministers  of  his  gospel 
cast  his  divine  word,  the  good  and  saving  seed  of  our  regenera- 
tion, into  the  souls  of  men  ;  they  must  also  exert  themselves  to 
weed  and  cleanse  this  spiritual  soil  committed  to  their  cultiva- 
tion ;  extirpating  those  bad  and  pernicious  weeds  of  error  and 
false  doctrine,  which,  springing  up  of  themselves,  or  being  pri- 
vily sown  by  an  enemy's  hand,  would  mar  all  this  divine  till- 
age. Hence  the  apostle  Paul,  having  in  the  1st  chapter  of  this 
Epistle  very  effectually  established  the  truth,  as  you  have  heard, 
proceeds  now  in  this  2nd  chapter,  the  beginning  of  which  we 
have  read,  to  refute  and  reject  the  errors  which  certain  false 
workers,  ministers  of  Satan,  were  artfully  endeavouring  to  in- 
troduce ;  that  this  people,  as  a  field  or  a  garden  of  God's,  being 
cleared  of  all  worthless  and  noxious  seed,  the  precious  grain  of 
the  gospel,  which  the  apostle  had  sown  there,  might  take  root 
and  spring  up,  and  grow  at  large,  covering  and  crowning  it  all 
over  with  the  flowers  and  fruits  of  incorruption,  which  are 
sincere  piety  and  true  sanctity,  no  strange  plant  being  mingled 
with  it.  These  seducers,  as  we  have  often  intimated,  taught, 
that  besides  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  of  which  they  made  profes- 
sion, there  was  also  a  necessity  for  observing  the  Mosaic  law, 
and  of  worshipping  of  angels,  and  of  practising  certain  kinds 
of  superstitious  discipline  and  mortifications  of  their  own  in- 
vention. And  to  render  all  this  the  more  acceptable,  they 
mingled  with  it  some  of  the  subtilties  and  vain  speculations  of 


228  AN   EXPOSITION   OP  [SEBM.  XYI. 

secular  philosophy.  This  is  the  weed  which  the  apostle,  the 
church's  holy  husbandman,  now  roots  up  out  of  his  Lord's 
field  ;  fortifying  the  Colossians  against  the  craft  of  such  men  ; 
and  divinely  showing  them  how  full  and  sufficient  was  the 
doctrine  of  his  gospel;  how  unprofitable,  and  even  plainly 
dangerous,  were  the  additions  made  by  these  seducers.  This 
you  will  hear  in  the  course  of  the  chapter.  The  two  verses 
which  we  have  read,  and  the  three  or  four  following,  are  as  the 
entrance  or  gate  of  this  controversy.  In  these  the  apostle  is 
preparing  the  hearts  of  the  Colossians  to  receive  his  instruc- 
tions, by  placing  before  them  the  evidences  of  his  ardent  desire 
for  their  salvation.  In  the  1st  verse,  he  declares  his  great 
anxieties  for  them  and  for  their  neighbours  :  "I  would  that  yQ 
knew  what  great  conflict  I  have  for  you,"  &c.  Then  he  adds, 
in  the  following  verse,  the  design  or  the  cause  of  this  conflict: 
"  That  their  hearts  might  be  comforted,"  &c.  These  two  points 
we  purpose  to  handle  in  the  present  discourse,  by  the  assist- 
ance of  the  grace  of  Christ  :  Paul's  care  and  conflict  for  the 
Colossians  and  the  Laodiceans  ;  then  his  design,  or  the  end  for 
which  he  underwent  all  this  trouble  for  them. 

I.  In  reference  to  the  first  of  these  two  points,  you  may  re^ 
member  that  the  apostle  affirmed,  in  the  end  of  the  preceding 
chapter,  that,  to  discharge  the  ministry  which  God  had  com-, 
mitted  to  him,  he  laboured  and  fought  according  to  the  energy 
that  wrought  powerfully  in  him.  Now  he  descends  from  gene-, 
ralities  to  a  particular  instance  ;  and  having  spoken  definitely- 
of  the  labour  he  endured  for  the  edification  of  all,  he  tells  the 
Colossians  of  the  great  anxiety  he  felt  for  them  in  particular; 
adding,  "  For  I  would  that  ye  knew  what  great  conflict  I  have, 
for  you,  and  for  thoee  of  Laodicea."  It  is  not  without  cause, 
says  he,  that  I  profess  to  strive  and  labour  for  the  edification 
of  the  faithful.  For,  not  to  allege  other  proofs  of  it  to  yo% 
God  knows,  and  I  also  desire  you  to  know,  that  I  sustain  a 
great  conflict  for  you  and  your  neighbours.  Laodicea,  which 
he  speaks  of,  was  the  metropolis  of  Phrygia,  and  nigh  to  Colosse, 
which  was  situated  in  the  same  province.  The  vicinity  of 
these  two  cities  was  the  cause  of  a  particular  intercourse  be- 
tween the  churches  which  God  had  formed  in  them  ;  and  hence 
the  apostle  afterwards  salutes  the  Laodiceans  by  name,  and 
orders  the  Colossians  to  impart  this  Epistle  to  them.  John 
also,  in  the  Apocalypse,  makes  mention  of  the  church  of  Lao- 
dicea ;  and  it  is  one  of  the  seven  churches  of  Asia  to  which  the 
Lord  Jesus  commanded  him  to  write  in  his  name.  And  by  the 
epistle  which  he  thereupon  wrote,  and  which  is  registered  in 
the  Apocalypse,  it  appears  that  there  were  much  laxity,  and 
coldness,  and  many  defects  in  that  flock.  Whether  such  cor- 
ruption had  obtained  permission  there  as  early  as  Paul's  own 
time  ;  or  whether,  as  I  judge  more  probable,  it  slipped  in  after- 


/CHAP,  il]  the   epistle   TO   THE   COLOSSI AXS.  229 

wards,  through  the  carelessness  of  the  faithful  and  the  craft  of 
foes  ;  it  is  very  probable  that  Laodicea  was  troubled  at  this 
time  with  the  same  evils  that  the  Colossians  were,  and  that 
these  seducers  who  endeavoured  to  infect  the  one  applied  them- 
selves also  to  the  other.  Therefore  the  apostle  would  have  this 
Epistle,  as  a  preservative  against  the  venom  of  these  false 
teachers,  to  be  communicated  to  those  of  Laodicea;  a  proof 
that,  since  they  had  need  of  the  same  remedies,  they  were 
threatened  with  the  same  maladies. 

But  to  the  Colossians  and  the  Laodiceans,  whom  he  here  ex- 
pressly names,  he  adds  indefinitely  all  those  who  have  not  seen 
his  face  in  the  flesh.  His  name  was  so  very  celebrated  among 
Christians,  that  there  could  hardly  be  one  of  them  who  had  not 
heard  of  him,  and  who  did  not  know  him  by  report,  and  con- 
sequently had  seen  him  in  heart  and  in  spirit.  But  he  speaks 
of  those  only  who  had  not  seen  him  present  in  the  flesh,  whe- 
ther by  these  words  he  means  all  the  faithful  in  general,  of 
every  cast  and  country,  who  had  never  enjoyed  his  presence, 
(for  we  know  that  the  care  of  this  eminent  apostle  extended  to 
them  all,)  or  whether  he  speaks  of  the  faithful  in  Phrygia  or  in 
Asia  only,  which,  in  my  opinion,  is  more  likely.  For  as  it  was 
impossible  that  Paul  and  the  other  apostles  should  personally 
visit  every  place,  they  often  sent  evangelists  as  their  assistants 
and  coadjutors,  to  travel  in  various  parts  for  the  conversion  of 
souls.  And  so,  though  the  apostle  had  traversed  the  greatest 
part  of  Asia  Minor,  and  honoured  many  of  its  principal  cities 
with  his  presence  and  preaching,  and  especially  the  province 
of  Phrygia,  (as  we  gather  from  the  book  of  the  Acts,  chap.  xvi. 
6  ;  xviii.  23,)  yet  it  is  probable  that  there  were  still  many  cities 
to  which  he  had  not  been  able  to  go  in  person.  Expositors, 
both  ancient  and  modern,  for  the  most  part,  conclude  from  these 
words  of  Paul  that  he  had  not  yet  visited  the  city  of  Colosse 
nor  the  city  of  Laodicea  when  he  wrote  this  Epistle  ;  and  they 
suppose  that  he  had  converted  those  people,  and  founded 
churches  among  them,  by  the  ministry  of  Epaphras.  Nor  can 
it  be  denied  but  that  the  words  give  us  some  apparent  ground  so 
to  conceive.  For  saying  that  he  "  had  a  great  conflict"  for  the 
Colossians  and  the  Laodiceans,  and  for  all  those  who  had  not 
seen  his  face  in  the  flesh,  he  seems  to  enrol  the  Colossians  and 
the  Laodiceans  among  those  who  had  never  seen  him.  Never- 
theless there  are  ancient  authors,*  and  than  whom  none  are 
more  eminent  for  profound  learning,  as  well  as  for  acuteness 
and  solid  judgment,  who  think  otherwise,  and  hold  that  Paul 
had  been  both  at  Colosse  and  at  Laodicea  ;  thinking  it  impro- 
bable that  he  should  have  twice  gone  through  Phrygia,  as  Luke 
expressly  states,  and  not  have  seen  those  two  cities,  the  princi- 

*  Theodoret,  in  his  Preface  to  this  Epistle  and  on  the  place  itself. 


230  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XVI. 

pal  ones  of  that  country.  And  for  these  words,  "  and  all  those 
which  have  not  seen  my  face  in  the  flesh,"  they  conceive  them 
to  be  added,  not  to  rank  the  Colossians  and  the  Laodiceans  with 
such  as  had  not  seen  the  apostle,  but,  on  the  contrary,  to  distin- 
guish and  separate  them  from  others  who  had  not  ;  as  if  Paul 
had  said  that  he  had  a  great  conflict,  not  only  for  them,  but 
even  for  those  who  had  never  seen  his  face  in  the  flesh.  But 
after  all,  this  difference  is  of  no  great  importance  ;  and  as  we 
have  no  other  means  for  deciding  the  point,  we  forbear  to  in- 
sist on  it,  leaving  every  one  at  liberty  to  take  either  way  of  the 
two,  neither  of  them  damaging  the  truth  of  faith  or  holiness  of 
life.  And  thus  we  have  seen  who  they  were  for  whom  the  apos- 
tle sustained  the  great  conflict  of  which  he  here  speaks. 

Consider  we  now  the  conflict  itself.  By  this  he  means,  I 
doubt  not,  first  and  principally,  that  care,  and  solicitude,  and 
thoughtfulness  which  the  consideration  of  these  churches  drew 
upon  him.  For  though  their  faith  and  constancy  afforded  him 
much  satisfaction,  and  encouraged  his  hope,  yet  when  he  cast 
his  eyes  upon  the  great  temptations  that  surrounded  them,  the 
hatred  and  persecutions  of  the  world,  the  seducements  and 
artifices  of  false  teachers,  and  when  he  reflected  on  the  weak- 
ness of  human  nature,  he  could  not  but  fear  lest  so  many 
things,  and  those  of  so  much  force,  should  draw  them  off  from 
piety.  Love  is  not  without  apprehension,  no,  not  in  the 
greatest  safety;  how  much  less  in  the  midst  of  so  many  dangers! 
The  apostle  elsewhere  assures  us  that  the  affection  which  he 
bore  to  the  faithful  was  so  great,  that  he  sympathized  in  all 
their  miseries,  and  felt  as  if  he  had  suffered  them  himself.  The 
care  which  I  have  of  all  the  churches,  says  he,  keeps  me  be- 
sieged from  day  to  day.  "  Who  is  weak  and  I  am  not  weak? 
who  is  offended,  and  I  burn  not  ?"  2  Cor.  xi.  29.  And  in  the 
3rd  verse  of  the  same  chapter  he  represents  to  us  the  great 
anxiety  he  felt  for  the  Corinthians  in  particular:  "I  fear  lest 
by  any  means,  as  the  serpent  beguiled  Eve  through  subtlety, 
so  your  minds  should  be  corrupted  from  the  simplicity  which 
is  in  Christ."  Just  the  same  he  apprehended  for  the  Colossians 
and  Laodiceans,  and  other  christians  in  Asia,  that  is,  lest  the 
frauds  and  artifices  of  seducers  should  confound  their  faith,  and 
spoliate  among  them,  as  they  had  done  in  the  church  of  the 
Oalatians,  as  appears  by  the  Epistle  which  he  wrote  them  on 
the  occasion. 

Yet  these  just  fears  which  oppressed  the  mind  of  the  apostle 
were  not  his  whole  conflict.  For  under  this  word  he  comprises 
also  all  that  he  did  to  divert  the  danger  which  he  apprehended. 
First  he  was  perpetually  in  prayer  for  the  safety  of  these  dear 
churches  ;  and  as  Moses  in  olden  time  upon  the  mountain 
ceased  not  to  lift  up  his  hands  to  the  Almighty  for  the  victory 
of  Israel,  engaged  at  that  time  in  battle  with  Amalek  ;  so  this 


CHAP,  il]  the   epistle   TO   THE   COLOSSIAN-S.  231 

great  apostle,  from  that  high  station  where  Jesus  Christ  had 
set  him  in  his  church,  continually  presented  his  supplications 
and  sighs  to  heaven  for  the  good  success  of  the  conflicts  in 
which  his  Master's  troops  were  engaged.  He  writes,  "  We 
pray  always  for  you,"  2  Thess.  i.  11.  "  I  always  make  request 
for  you  all  in  all  my  prayers,"  Phil.  i.  4.  "  We  cease  not  to 
pray  for  you,  and  to  desire  that  you  may  be  filled  with  the 
knowledge  of  his  will  in  all  wisdom  and  spiritual  understand- 
ing," Col.  i.  9.  To  prayer  he  added  action  ;  courageously 
attacking  error  on  all  occasions  ;  refuting  seducers,  and  ex- 
posing the  vanity  of  their  doctrine  and  the  malignity  of  their 
design,  not  only  by  word  of  mouth,  but  also  by  writing,  as  we 
see  by  those  divine  Epistles  of  his  which  remain  with  us,  and 
which  abound  in  evidences  of  his  great  earnestness  against 
these  false  apostles.  And  as  he  courageously  assails  the  enemy, 
so  he  smartly  appeals  to  the  faithful  ;  reproving  them,  ad- 
monishing and  encouraging  them  to  necessary  firmness  and 
constancy.  He  proceeded  with  so  much  magnanimity,  that  he 
spared  not  Peter  himself,  who,  having  fallen  through  weakness 
and  pliancy  into  certain  things  which  seemed  to  favour  error, 
Paul  boldly  engages  him,  and  with  much  freedom  shows  him 
his  fault,  as  elsewhere  he  has  narrated.  Gal.  ii.  In  short,  he 
omitted  none  of  the  duties  of  a  valiant  and  vigilant  captain, 
either  against  the  foe,  or  towards  his  friends  and  fellow 
soldiers,  as  we  may  see  in  his  writings.  But  his  combat  did 
not  terminate  here.  He  often  came  to  blows,  cheerfully  suf- 
fering for  this  cause  all  the  persecutions  which  the  rage  of  the 
Jews  and  the  malice  of  seducers  could  contrive  and  form  against 
him.  And,  indeed,  the  very  chain  with  which  he  was  loaded, 
and  the  prison  he  was  in  when  he  wrote  this  Epistle,  made  a 
part  of  this  combat  of  his  ;  it  being  clear,  by  the  history  of  the 
Acts,  that  nothing  had  more  inflamed  the  hatred  of  the  Jews 
against  him,  who  cast  him  into  this  affliction,  than  the  zeal 
which  he  showed  everywhere  against  the  corruptions  of  those 
persons  who  wished  to  retain  the  ceremonies  of  the  Jewish  law  ; 
and  hence  it  is  that  he  told  the  Colossians,  chap.  i.  24,  he  suf- 
fered for  them  ;  because  in  effect,  it  was  for  maintaining  their 
liberty,  and  the  liberty  of  other  Gentiles  converted  to  the 
gospel,  and  for  the  keeping  of  their  faith  pure  from  all  corrup- 
tive leaven,  that  he  fell  into  this  wearisome  suffering.  Such 
was  Paul's  conflict  for  these  faithful  people. 

Dear  brethren,  admire  the  zeal  and  the  love  of  this  holy  man. 
He  was  in  the  prison  of  Nero  ;  he  stood,  as  we  may  say,  upon 
the  scaffold,  and  had  his  head  on  the  block,  being  indicted  for 
a  matter  which  concerned  his  life.  And  even  in  this  state  his 
heart  is  in  pain  for  the  churches  of  Colosse  and  Laodicea,  and 
for  those  besides  which  had  never  seen  him.  Their  danger 
troubled  him  more  than  his  own.    Neither  prison  nor  death 


232  AN"  EXPOSITION  OP  [SERM.  XVL 

was  able  to  extinguish  or  diminish  his  affection,  or  to  make 
him  lay  aside  the  least  of  his  cares  ;  having  so  great  a  combat 
against  his  own  person  upon  his  hands,  he  leaves  it,  and  on  so 
pressing  an  occasion  labours  and  fights  for  others.  Certainly 
nothing  can  be  imagined  more  elevated  or  more  ardent 
than  this  love.  We  may  truly  affirm  of  it  what  is  said  in  the 
song  of  Solomon,  his  "  love  is  strong  as  death,"  and  his 
"jealousy  is  cruel  as  the  grave  :  the  coals  thereof  are  coals  of 
fire,  a  most  vehement  flame.  Many  waters  cannot  quench  it. 
neither  can  floods  drown  it." 

But  observe  again  the  prudence  and  suitable  procedure  of 
this  holy  man,  in  representing  these  things  to  these  faithful 
people  for  so  good  an  end.  Having  to  treat  with  them  on  im- 
portant matters,  and  to  decry  errors  which  seduction  had 
painted  over  with  the  deceitful  colours  of  philosophy  and 
eloquence,  that  he  might  dispose  their  hearts  to  give  him  due 
audience,  and  gain  his  remonstrances  a  necessary  credit  and 
authority,  he  sets  before  them  at  the  entrance  the  cares  that 
he  had  for  their  salvation,  the  conflicts  he  sustained  for  them, 
and  all  the  effects  of  that  sacred  amity  he  had  towards  them. 
As  a  captain,  who,  to  keep  his  soldiers  firm  in  their  duty, 
represents  to  them  his  watchings,  and  his  labours,  and  his 
cares  for  their  preservation  ;  and,  in  sum,  all  the  marks  of  his 
affection  to  them  ;  or  rather  as  a  tender  mother,  who,  to  with- 
draw her  dear  children  from  giving  ear  to  seducers,  shows  them 
her  fears,  her  solicitudes,  and  her  alarms,  the  yearning  of  her 
bowels,  and  all  that  she  does  or  suffers  for  them.  Such  is  the 
apostle's  holy  artifice  in  the  present  business  ;  and  it  is 
grounded  on  a  maxim  which  we  all  understand,  namely,  that 
we  believe  those  who  love  us,  and  are  concerned  for  our 
welfare,  much  more  than  those  who  are  indifferent  to  us.  He 
declares  to  them  his  pains  that  they  may  take  in  good  part  his 
remonstrances,  and  discovers  to  them  his  strong  affection  that 
they  may  receive  his  counsels.  His  aim  is  not  to  gain  renown, 
or  to  enhance  his  esteem  among  them,  (such  a  childish  vanity 
had  no  place  in  the  soul  of  this  great  man,)  but  merely  to 
Tender  his  instructions  the  more  effectual  to  the  Colossians. 

And  the  conflicts  which  for  this  end  he  mentions  to  them 
should  serve  in  like  manner  for  examples  to  us.  Let  ministers  of 
the  gospel  learn  by  them,  what  love  they  owe  their  flocks,  to 
what  cares  and  conflicts  their  office  obliges  them.  Let  nothing 
in  the  world  be  dearer  or  more  precious  to  them  than  the  salva- 
tion of  the  souls  committed  to  their  charge;  let  them  take  part 
in  their  joys  and  in  their  griefs;  let  them  feelingly  resent  their 
wounds,  apprehend  their  dangers,  labour  incessantly  for  their 
edification.  To  it  let  them  consecrate  the  thoughts  of  their 
mind,  and  the  words  of  their  mouth,  and  the  work  of  their 
pen,  and  the  actions  of  their  life;   yea,  their  blood  and  life 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  238 

itself,  if  there  be  need,  saying  with  clear  conscience,  as  the 
apostle  in  another  place  does,  "  As  for  me,  I  will  very  gladly 
spend  and  be  spent  for  your  souls,"  2  Cor.  xii.  15  ;  and 
"joy  to  be  offered  upon  the  sacrifice  and  service  of  your 
faith,"  Phil,  ii.  17.  Let  this  care  and  these  thoughts  fill 
their  hearts  day  and  night  ;  let  them  be  assured  that  there  is 
no  business,  no  incident,  no  peril  that  exempts  them  from  this 
duty  ;  no,  not  death  itself,  in  the  very  gates  of  which  they 
ought  to  mind  still  their  flock,  and  contend  for  them  by  their 
prayers  and  their  devout  wishes.  Such  is  the  faithful  love 
and  care  we  owe  you. 

"We  confess  that  without  this  watching  and  striving  for  your 
salvation  we  cannot  avoid  the  censure  and  chastisements  of 
the  supreme  Pastor.  Judge  if  it  be  not  reasonable  that  you 
should  affectionately  regard  those  whom  the  love  of  your  salva- 
tion engages  to  so  many  cares  and  labours,  and  if  it  be  not 
just  that  you  receive  their  instructions  with  I'everence,  and 
bearken  to  the  product  of  their  studies  with  attention  ;  that  you 
comply  with  their  zeal  for  your  edification,  and  attribute  much 
importance  to  their  counsels,  and  bear  with  their  fidelity,  and 
impute  to  their  affection  the  severity  of  their  remonstrances 
when  grief  and  fear  draw  from  them  complaints  and  cries 
against  your  behaviour  ;  that  you  console  them  in  their  anxious 
cares  for  you  by  your  gratitude,  and  above  all  by  your  pro- 
gress in  the  studious  pursuit  of  piety.  This  is  the  only  fruit 
which  they  crave  of  all  their  cares  and  their  conflicts;  they 
would  account  them  most  advantageously  recompensed  if  you 
do  but  profit  by  them  ;  if  they  perceive  by  the  purity  of  your 
manners,  and  the  sanctity  of  your  lives,  that  they  have  not 
laboured  in  vain.  But  do  not  imagine,  I  pray,  that  their  so- 
licitude discharges  you  of  all  care.  On  the  contrary,  it  shows 
you  with  what  earnestness  and  assiduity  you  should  labour 
for  your  own  salvation.  For  if  they  must  heed  your  affairs 
with  so  much  diligence,  what  zeal  should  you  put  forth  about 
them  yourselves  !  Their  exertion  may  awaken  and  animate 
you,  but  it  cannot  save  you  except  you  strive  yourselves. 
Their  conflict  will  win  you  no  crown,  if  you  take  no  part  in  it 
after  their  example.  Every  one  will  live  by  his  own  faith  ;  no 
person  be  crowned  for  the  zeal  of  his  pastor  or  his  brother. 
If  your  pastors  watch,  if  they  stand  on  their  guard,  if  they  la- 
bour and  fight,  blessed  be  God,  they  shall  receive  their  reward. 
But  their  labouring  will  not  excuse  your  loitering,  nor  will 
their  heedfulness  justify  your  neglects.  "  Every  man  shall 
bear  his  own  burden."  Others  may  give  you  the  example 
of  their  piety,  but  they  will  not  be  able  to  communicate  to  you 
its  recompenses. 

Let  us  then  employ  ourselves,  both  pastors  and  flocks,  about 
our  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling.  Let  us  all  combat 
30 


"234  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  XVI. 

rwith  Paul,  if  we  would  be  crowned  with  him.  Let  us  imitate 
his  love,  if  we  desire  to  partake  in  his  glory.  Let  us  extend 
our  love  and  our  solicitudes  as  he  did,  not  only  to  the  faithful 
whom  we  know,  but  even  to  those  whom  we  never  saw.  I 
confess  that  it  is  bodily  sight  and  presence  which  enkindles 
and  maintains  carnal  amities.  The  eyes  of  the  flesh  are  the 
authors  and  the  preservers  of  them.  But  in  christian  friend- 
ship it  is  otherwise  ;  it  is  the  Spirit  that  unites  them.  It  is 
his  eye  and  his  light  that  originate  and  perpetuate  them.  For 
since  it  is  properly  Jesus  Christ  and  his  gospel  that  love  re- 
gards, it  is  evident  that  it  ought  to  embrace  all  those  who 
bear  the  marks  of  them,  whether  they  be  absent  or  present. 
The  distance  of  time  and  place  do  not  hinder  this  sacred  com- 
merce. The  apostle  strives  even  for  those  who  had  never  seen 
him.  Let  us  also  love  all  true  christians,  and  expand  our 
affections  to  those  whom  many  seas  and  many  mountains  sever 
from  us.  Let  us  strive  for  them  by  prayer,  and  do  them  (how- 
ever far  off  from  us)  all  the  services  of  which  our  love  is  capa- 
ble; labouring  with  holy  tenderness  for  the  salvation  and 
edification  of  each  other. 

IL  Having  considered  Paul's  conflict,  let  us  now  examine 
the  end  and  design  of  it.  Whence  is  it,  holy  apostle,  that  thou 
art  so  very  solicitous  for,  and  boldest  these  Colossians  and 
Laodiceans,  and  even  those  who  never  saw  thee,  so  near  thy 
heart  ?  Why  does  this  carefulness  follow  thee  to  the  very 
prison,  and  enter  there  to  aggravate  and  imbitter  thy  personal 
sufferings?  Why  labou rest  thou  so  for  them?  To  the  end, 
that  their  hearts  may  be  comforted,  they  being  joined  "  together 
in  love,  and  unto  all  riches  of  the  full  assurance  of  understand- 
ing, to  the  acknowledgment  of  the  mystery  of  God,  and  of  the 
Father,  and  of  Christ."  Thus  the  apostle  answers  our  demand. 
I  am  in  pain,  he  says,  for  their  consolation  and  their  faith,  I 
fight  to  secure  to  them  this  treasure,  and  to  prevent  the  enemy's 
snatching  out  of  their  hands  so  precious  and  so  necessary  a 
possession.  By  saying  that  he  fights  for  them,  that  they  may 
keep  these  graces,  he  shows  that  they  were  in  danger  of  losing 
them,  if  their  enemies,  that  is,  the  seducers  and  false  apostles, 
should  accomplish  their  design,  and  persuade  them  to  receive 
-the  errors  which  they  taught.  Indeed,  their  doctrine  of  man's 
justification  by  ceremonies  and  observances,  whether  legal  or 
human,  is  incompatible  with  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  disturbs 
the  comfort  of  believers,  breaks  the  bond  of  love,  deranges  and 
confounds  the  mystery  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  bereaves  him  of  his 
glory,  and  of  his  plenteous  grace  ;  representing  him  as  poor 
and  scanty,  and  as  needing  the  succour,  either  of  Moses,  or  of 
philosophy  and  the  superstition  of  men,  to  give  us  salvation. 
The  apostle  names  three  things  which  he  wishes  for  these  be- 
lievers, and  which  he  would  keep  for  them  by  his  cares  and 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  235 

conflicts  :  consolation  of  heart,  union  in  love,  and  the  riches 
of  a  full  certainty  of  understanding,  or,  as  he  expresses  the 
same  thing  in  other  terras,  a  knowledge  "  of  the  mystery  of 
God,  and  of  the  Father,  and  of  Christ." 

The  first  of  these,  comfort  of  hearty  is  the  happiness  of  be- 
lievers on  earth.     For  it  is  that  calm  and  tranquillity  which 
their  souls  enjoy  amidst  the  tempests  of  this  life,  when  they 
sweetly  repose  themselves  on  their  Master's  word,  and  are  as- 
sured of  his  salvation,  notwithstanding  the  menaces  and  perse- 
cutions of  the  enemy,  and  their  failures  and  imperfections. 
All  heresy  and  error  in  religion  necessarily  disturb  this  con- 
solation, because  they  shake  the  truth  and  certainty  of  the 
evangelical  doctrine  on  which  it  is  founded.     But  the  error 
which  the  apostle  sets  himself  to  oppose  struck  particularly 
at  this  part  of  our  salvation  ;  depriving  the  conscience  of  that 
peace  which  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  produces  ;  and  casting  it  into 
a  miserable  agitation,  by  making  justification  to  depend  on  I 
know  not  what  observances,  that  are  either  vain  and  unprofita- 
ble, or  even  impious  and   pernicious.     This  it  is  that  every- 
where animates  Paul  to  fight  with  vigour.     The  faithful  could 
not  receive   this  error  without  losing  their  true  consolation, 
that  is,  their  only  heart's  good.     And  this   should  make  us 
jealous  for  the  purity  of  the  gospel,  and  solicitous  to  keep  it 
free  from  all  admixture  of  error.     Let  us  not  hearken  to  those 
who  tell  us,  that  if  what  they  have  added  to  the  gospel  dis- 
pleases us,  yet  we  cannot  deny  that  they  retain  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  foundation  of  our  salvation  in  him.     This  is  a  most 
obvious  delusion.     I  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  gives  salvation 
and  consolation  ;  but  he  gives  it  to  them  who  embrace  him  as 
he  presents  himself  to  us  on  his  cross  and  in  his  gospel  simply, 
without  adulteration  and  composition.     If  you  will  have  either 
vice  or  superstition  with  him,  he  will  avail  you  nothing,  save 
to  augment  your  condemnation:  as  food,  however  good  and 
wholesome,  will  no  less  than  kill  you,  if  it  be  mingled  with 
poison.     We  must  either  receive  Jesus  Christ  alone,  or  re- 
nounce his  salvation.     There  is  no  possibility  of  conjoining 
him  with  the  world,  or  with  superstition.     And  this  verity, 
that  our  hearts  cannot  have  true  and  solid  comfort  but  in 
Jesus  Christ  alone,  is  so  evident,  that  the  erroneous  themselves, 
when   closely   pressed,    are    constrained   to   acknowledge   it. 
After  sufficient  dispute  about  the  merit  of  their  works,  and 
large  boast  of  the  worth  of  their  satisfactions,  and  of  the  value 
of  their  pontifical  indulgences,  and  of  the  intercession  of  their 
saints,  the}'-  confess  that  by  reason  of  the  uncertainty  of  our 
own  righteousness,  the  safest  course  is,  to  put  all  our  confi- 
dence solely  in  the  mercy  of  God.*     In  other  cases,  which 

*  Bellarmin.  of  Justif.  1.  5.  c.  7. 


236  AN  EXPOSITION  OP  [SERM.  XVI. 

concern  our  amusement  only,  I  think  a  man  may  sometimes 
without  blame  choose  the  longest  and  most  hazardous  way. 
In  the  case  of  our  salvation,  it  is  doubtless  an  excess  of  folly 
not  to  take  the  safest.  As  by  your  own  confession,  my  doc- 
trine, or  rather  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel,  is  the  safer,  suffer 
me  to  return  to  it,  and  to  pity  your  imprudence,  who  amuse 
the  world  with  that  which  yourself  confess  has  less  safety  and 
more  hazard. 

But  I  return  to  the  apostle,  who  having  said  that  he  desires 
for  these  faithful  people,  "that  their  hearts  might  be  com- 
forted ;"  adds,  secondly,  his  prayer  for  their  union  in  love, 
"  being  knit  together  in  love."  Their  seducers  troubled  their 
union,  and  casting  in  a  new  doctrine  among  them  as  a  matter 
of  contention,  ruined  as  far  as  it  was  possible  their  fraternal 
concord  ;  drawing  them  into  diversity  of  opinions,  from  whence 
arises  contrariety  of  affections.  To  prevent  this  disorder,  and 
preserve  union  in  charity  among  them,  the  apostle  had  so 
great  a  conflict.  For  as  the  sea  is  peaceable  and  united  during 
a  calm,  but  when  the  winds  begin  to  rage  it  rises  in  waves 
that  violently  dash  against  each  other  ;  so  false  teachers,  which 
are  as  the  winds,  the  hurricanes  of  hell,  no  sooner  beat  upon 
a  church  than  they  disturb  its  peace,  and  put  all  its  members 
into  commotion  ;  disuniting  them,  deranging  them,  and  ma- 
king them  miserably  clash  with  each  other,  to  their  common 
ruin,  and  the  joy  of  their  enemy.  But  Paul  teaches  us  that 
the  mutual  conjunction  of  believers  in  love  is  necessary  for 
the  consolation  of  their  hearts;  "that  their  hearts  may  be 
comforted,  they  being  knit  together  in  love."  Indeed,  what 
joy  and  what  comfort  can  a  pious  person  have  in  the  trouble 
of  division  ?  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  source  of  our  joy,  does 
not  communicate  himself  to  any  but  such  as  have  genuine 
love,  who  abide  conjoined  in  his  body  by  the  bands  of  one 
and  the  same  faith  and  love. 

Finally,  the  third  benefit  which  the  apostle  desires  to  pre- 
serve among  the  Colossians  and  their  neighbours,  is  the 
abounding  of  a  full  assurance  of  understanding  :  "being  knit 
together  in  love,  and  unto  all  riches  of  the  full  assurance  of 
understanding,  to  the  acknowledgment  of  God,  and  of  the 
Father,  and  of  Christ."  This  order  well  deserves  our  atten- 
tion. For  these  three  things  which  he  has  here  associated  are 
of  such  a  nature,  that  the  first  depends  upon  the  second,  and 
the  second  upon  the  third  ;  consolation  upon  union  in  love, 
and  union  in  love  upon  knowledge.  This  last  is  as  the  first 
upon  which  love  is  erected,  and  love  as  the  second,  which  sus- 
tains the  third,  that  is,  consolation.  Of  these  three  jewels,  one 
cannot  be  had  without  the  others.  And  as  the  consolation 
of  the  Lord  cannot  be  enjoyed  without  the  sweetnesses  of  love, 
so  love  cannot  be  had  without  the  illuminations  of  know- 


CHAP.  II.]  THE  EPISTLB  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  237 

ledge.  But;  tbe  apostle  does  not  simply  name  that  knowledge 
which  he  desires  in  the  faithful  ;  he  describes  it  in  an  orderly 
way,  according  to  his  usual  manner,  and  intimates  as  he  pro- 
ceeds the  principal  qualities  which  it  ought  to  have.  These 
he  briefly  comprises  in  the  following  words,  "  all  riches  of  the 
full  assurance  of  understanding  ;"  that  is,  to  express  the  He- 
braism in  the  idiom  of  our  own  language,  all  abundance  of 
understanding,  with  full  assurance  and  satisfaction. 

He  would  have,  then,  first,  that  the  knowledge  of  a  christian 
be  "  understanding  ;"  that  is,  that  he  should  perceive  and  see 
in  the  clearness  of  celestial  light  those  verities  which  God  has 
revealed  to  us:  not  that  we  are  bound  to  comprehend  them 
all,  and  penetrate  the  nature  of  them  to  the  utmost  depth  ; 
that,  as  they  are  in  general  divine  and  supernatural,  would 
be  impossible  ;  but  that  we  ought  to  know  them  as  far  as 
they  are  revealed,  because  otherwise  we  should  every  moment 
be  liable  to  delusion,  and  might  take  the  vain  traditions  of 
men  for  things  taught  of  God.  Here  we  see  how  far  that 
blinded  faith,  so  satisfactory  to  our  adversaries,  is  from  the 
knowledge  of  a  believer.  This  faith,  if  interrogated  about 
evangelical  truth,  refers  us  to  the  church  for  an  answer,  being 
ignorant  all  the  while  of  what  it  believes,  and  consequently 
has  not  a  spark  of  understanding.  Black  is  not  more  con- 
trary to  white,  nor  darkness  to  light,  than  this  phantasm  of  faith, 
shall  I  say,  or  of  ignorance,  to  the  knowledge  which  the 
apostle  here  requires.  He  would  have  the  faithful  to  be  in- 
telligent ;  these  people  understand  nothing,  nay,  boast  of 
their  ignorance,  imagining  that  it  is  not  without  merit.  It  is 
therefore  the  faith,  not  of  a  christian,  away  with  such  a 
thought  ;  nor  of  the  collier,  as  they  call  it  ;  no,  nor  of  the  man 
endued  with  reason  ;  but  the  faith  of  a  brute,  which  has  no 
understanding,  as  the  psalmist  sings. 

Secondly,  the  apostle  wishes  us  to  possess  not  merely 
"understanding,"  but  "riches,"  yea,  "all  riches  of  understand- 
ing ;"  that  is.  a  great  and  perfect  abundance  of  knowledge, 
that  we  may  be  rich  in  this  kind  of  wealth,  that  we  may  be 
ignorant  of  none  of  the  mysteries  of  divine  truth;  that  we 
know  not  only  its  elements  or  its  first  principles,  but  also 
all  the  practical  inferences  resulting  from  it  which  are  neces- 
sary to  regulate  our  lives,  and  to  guard  us  from  the  snares  of 
Satan  around  us.  If  we  do  not,  how  shall  we  discern  the 
voice  of  the  chief  Shepherd  from  the  voice  of  a  stranger,  to 
flee  from  the  one  and  follow  the  other  ?  Here  you  see  again 
how  contrary  to  the  doctrine  of  this  holy  man  are  the  preach- 
ing and  practice  of  those,  the  Eomanists,  who  license  their 
people  to  be  ignorant,  and  censure  them  who,  not  contented 
with  the  first  and  plainest  lessons  of  Christianity,  study 
the  depths  of  this    saving    wisdom,    outrageously  decrying 


238  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XVI. 

this  laudable  desire,  as  if  it  were  the  way  to  heresy  and 
hell. 

Thirdly,  Paul  would  have  this  intelligence  of  a  believer  not 
only  to  abound,  but  also  to  advance  to  an  entire  certainty  and 
"  assurance,"  a  word  which  he  often  employs  to  express  a  full 
and  an  assured  persuasion  of  those  things  which  we  believe  to 
be  sure  and  indubitable.  For  though  matters  of  faith  are  not 
laid  open  to  the  senses  or  the  reason  of  men,  yet  the  truth  of 
them  is  so  evident,  so  beautiful,  and  so  well  defined,  that  as 
soon  as  those  clouds  of  passion  and  prejudice  which  hide  it 
from  the  eyes  of  our  understanding  are  dissipated  by  the  hand 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  it  beams  forth  and  shines  into  our  hearts 
with  exceeding  brightness,  and  makes  itself  to  be  believed 
and  embraced  for  what  it  is  indeed.  Thus  must  it  be  known 
with  certainty,  and  not  with  doubting,  that,  as  the  apostle  says 
in  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  "  we  henceforth  be  no  more 
children,  tossed  to  and  fro,  and  carried  about  with  every  wind 
of  doctrine,  by  the  sleight  of  men,  and  cunning  craftiness, 
whereby  they  lie  in  wait  to  deceive,"  Eph.  iv.  14.  Whereby 
you  see  how  false  is  the  opinion  of  Eome  which  makes  the 
belief  of  Christianity  to  depend  upon  the  authority  and  testi- 
mony of  her  prelates.  I  pass  by  the  extreme  weakness  and 
vanity  of  this  pretended  foundation  ;  this  has  been  proved  by 
a  thousand  experiments.  Whatever  it  be  in  other  respects, 
this  is  manifest,  that  since  they  fasten  the  people's  knowledge 
there,  they  are  bound  to  confess  that  their  faith  ought  to 
change  as  the  doctrines  of  their  prelates  change.  It  follows 
that  their  faith  is  not  certain  nor  assured  ;  not  such  a  know- 
ledge as  the  apostle  requires  in  us,  whose  property  is  such, 
that  though  Paul  himself,  or  angels  from  heaven,  should  come 
and  preach  the  contrary,  it  would  continue,  even  under  such 
a  supposai,  still  firm  and  unmoved  ;  and  would  rather  anathe- 
matize apostles  and  angels  from  heaven,  than  let  go  that 
divine  verity  which  it  has  believed  and  known  ;  so  strong  is 
the  sense  that  it  has  of  its  excellency. 

The  apostle,  having  thus  described  the  nature  of  true  faith, 
or  a  christian's  understanding,  lastly,  confines  it  within  the 
bounds  of  its  true  subject,  when  he  adds,  "  the  knowledge  of 
the  mystery  of  God,  and  of  the  Father,  and  of  Christ."  This 
restriction  is  necessary,  because  seducers  boast  of  their  tradi- 
tions too,  as  if  they  were  a  piece  of  wisdom  worthy  of  our 
faith,  and  without  doubt  the  false  teachers  whom  the  apostle 
opposes  acted  in  this  manner.  To  arm  us  against  their  vanity, 
he  declares  expressly  that  the  understanding  which  he  requires 
of  us  is  a  knowledge  not  of  what  philosophers  talk  in  their 
schools  about  the  nature  of  the  world,  nor  of  what  seducers 
produce  from  their  vain  imaginations,  but  only  of  the  gospel 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  without  which  there  is  nothing  but 


CHAP.   II.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  239 

error  and  folly.  He  calls  it  a  secret,  or  a  mystery,  because  it 
was  a  verity  hidden  with  God,  and,  as  we  have  already  said, 
incomprehensible  to  our  minds.  He  says,  that  it  is  "  the  mys- 
tery of  God  our  Father,"  both  because  he  is  the  Author  of  it, 
who  graciously  has  revealed  it  to  us,  and  because  therein  he 
has  manifested  himself,  discovering  to  us  in  the  gospel  all  that 
we  need  to  know  of  his  nature  and  will  for  the  attainment  of 
salvation.  He  adds,  finally,  "  and  of  Christ,"  for  the  same 
reasons  ;  for  it  is  the  Lord  Jesus  who  brought  this  holy  doc- 
trine from  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  and  set  it  in  our  view  by 
the  ministry  of  his  servants  ;  and  it  is  he  also  who  is  the 
principal  subject  of  it,  as  our  only  Mediator,  without  whose 
teaching  and  merit  it  is  impossible  to  have  any  part  in  true 
happiness.  Of  this  mystery  of  Christ  Jesus  the  apostle  de- 
sired that  the  Colossians  might  have  a  full,  firm,  and  distinct 
knowledge,  in  order  to  abide  knit  together  by  charity,  and  by 
this  means  enjoy  true  and  solid  consolation.  This  is  the  trea- 
sure which  he  is  afraid  lest  they  should  lose.  To  preserve  it 
to  them  he  submits  to  so  much  pain  and  engages  in  so  many 
conflicts. 

Dear  brethren,  his  desire  teaches  us  our  duty.  Since  we 
aspire  to  the  same  happiness  the  Colossians  before  us  possessed, 
since  we  serve  the  same  Master  and  live  under  the  same  disci- 
pline, let  us  labour  to  get  and  keep  for  ever  the  same  good 
things  which  the  apostle  wisheth  them.  God  of  his  great 
mercy  liberally  offers  them  to  us,  and  the  fault  will  be  ours  if 
we  do  not  partake  of  them.  As  for  the  knowledge  of  his 
mystery,  he  presents  us  the  treasury  of  it  in  his  holy  Scrip- 
tures, This  source  of  light  is  not  shut  up  and  inaccessible  to 
you,  as  it  is  to  a  great  part  of  the  world,  and  even  to  many 
who  call  themselves  christians;  but  open  and  manifest.  Draw 
out  of  it  the  wisdom  of  heaven,  reading,  studying,  and  search- 
ing those  divine  books  night  and  day.  We  do  not  envy  you 
this  sweet  and  happy  communication,  as  the  pastors  of  our 
adversaries  envy  their  flocks  ;  we  wish,  as  of  old  Moses  did, 
that  all  God's  people  were  prophets.  It  is  a  science  that  ad- 
mits all  ages,  all  sexes,  and  all  conditions  of  men  ;  the  Author 
of  this  holy  doctrine  having  so  attempered  it,  that  it  is  adapted 
to  the  capacity  of  every  sort  of  persons.  There  are  in  it 
deeps  to  exercise  and  humble  the  greatest  minds  ;  there  are 
facilities  to  instruct  and  content  the  least.  It  is  an  abyss 
where  elephants  may  swim,  and  a  shallow  where  lambs  may 
wade.  But  as  all  are  capable  of  this  science,  so  there  is  no 
person  for  whom  it  is  unnecessary.  It  is  the  key  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  the  spring  of  piety,  the  root  of  sanctity, 
the  seed  of  true  life.  Study  it  carefully.  Hearken  to  its  teach- 
ing here,  meditate  on  it  at  home  with  deep  intent,  beseeching 
God  with  prayers  and  tears  to  open  your  hearts  and  write  his 


240  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  XVL 

doctrine  in  them.  Be  not  satisfied  with  having  learned  some 
points  of  it.  Take  no  rest  till  you  know  all  its  wonders  ;  till 
you  have  attained  not  simply  understanding,  but,  as  the  apostle 
speaks,  "  all  riches  of  understanding." 

Urge  not  to  me  that  vain  and  cold  excuse,  which  is  in  the 
mouths  of  many,  that  you  are  not  ministers,  and  therefore  do 
not  need  extensive  knowledge.  These  Colossians  were  no 
more  ministers  than  you,  and  yet  you  see  what  the  apostle  de- 
sires for  them  ;  and  afterwards  he  will  enjoin  that  the  word 
of  Christ  dwell  plenteously  in  them  in  all  wisdom.  Why,  are 
you  less  exposed  to  temptations  because  you  are  not  minis- 
ters ?  Are  the  devil  and  the  world  less  ardent  or  less  obstinate 
in  assailing  you  ?  We  are  all  engaged  in  the  same  war,  and 
have  all  need  of  the  same  arms.  Ought  captains  and  officers 
only  to  be  armed  ?  Is  it  not  necessary  for  private  soldiers  ? 
The  knowledge  of  the  mysteries  of  the  gospel  is  the  armour 
of  all  christians,  and  the  Scripture  is  the  public  magazine 
whence  both  of  them  should  fetch  it.  But  that  it  may  do  you 
service  in  time  of  need,  this  knowledge  must  be  also  deeply 
radicated  in  your  hearts.  You  must  have  it  with  a  "  full  as- 
surance," as  the  apostle  speaks.  It  should  not  lightly  float  in 
your  head,  to  be  plucked  away  by  an  enemy,  on  the  first  occa- 
sion ;  it  must  be  engraven  on  your  heart  with  a  pen  of  iron, 
and  the  point  of  a  diamond  ;  that  is,  you  should  be  so  firmly 
persuaded  of  it,  that  nothing  may  be  able  to  efface  it  or  en- 
feeble your  belief  of  it.  I  know  well  every  one  boasts  that 
he  is  so.  But  there  is  a  great  difference  between  words  and 
things.  Show  it  me  by  your  lives,  and  I  will  credit  it.  If 
you  be  fully  persuaded  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  how  is  it 
that  you  have  not  the  love  which  it  most  absolutely  demands  ? 
How  do  you  hate  men  whom  it  commands  you  to  love,  and 
love  the  vices  which  it  enjoins  you  to  hate  ?  Let  us  lay  aside 
words,  and  possess  in  deed  that  "  full  assurance  of  under- 
standing" which  the  apostle  wishes  for  us.  This  is  the  true 
way  for  us  to  continue  "  knit  together  in  love;"  to  conflict 
with  and  overcome  our  enemies  ;  to  edify  and  preserve  our 
friends  ;  to  attract  those  that  are  without,  to  retain  those  that 
are  within  ;  to  enjoy  consolation  in  all  the  trials  of  this  world, 
and  in  the  end  to  obtain  the  salvation  and  the  glory  of  the 
next,  through  the  grace  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  ; 
to  whom,  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  true  and 
only  God,  be  all  honour,  praise,  and  glory  to  ages  of  ages. 
Amen. 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  241 

SEKMON  XVII. 

TERSE   3. 

Li  tvhom  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge. 

Ignorance  of  the  natures  and  qualities  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
is  the  source  of  all  the  errors  and  heresies  which  have  exer- 
cised the  christian  church  from  its  beginning  down  to  this 
day.  And  as  Paul  said  of  the  rulers  of  the  Jews,  that  if  they 
had  known  the  true  wisdom,  they  would  never  have  crucified 
the  Lord  of  glory,  1  Cor.  ii.  7,  8  ;  so  may  we  say  of  the  au- 
thors of  all  the  false  and  pernicious  doctrines  which  men  have 
wished  to  introduce  into  religion,  that  if  they  had  duly  known 
Jesus  Christ,  they  would  never  have  troubled  the  church.  I 
pass  by  the  scourges  of  the  first  ages,  the  impiety  of  the  Arians 
and  the  Dokites,  the  extravagancies  of  the  Nestorians  and  the 
Eutychians,  together  with  their  innumerable  branches  ;  they 
all  evidently  sprung  from  ignorance  of  the  true  being  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  strike  directly  at  him,  attacking  either 
his  divine  or  his  human  nature,  some  attributing  to  him  a 
created  and  imperfect  divinity,  and  others  an  imaginary  and 
chimerical  humanity  ;  while  others  impugned  his  person  by 
dividing  or  confounding  the  two  natures  which  are  united  in 
it.  From  the  same  source  have  come  those  abuses  and  disor- 
ders in  the  following  ages,  which  gradually  raising  themselves 
from  weak  and  obscure  beginnings,  have  at  last  obtained  a 
superiority,  and  suffocated  the  genuine  simplicity  and  purity 
of  the  gospel.  Hence  proceeded  that  invocation  of  saints 
which  is  at  this  day  practised  throughout  all  the  Romish  com- 
munion. Hence  issued  that  second  sacrifice  which  they  call 
the  sacrifice  of  the  altar,  and  wherein  the  heart  of  religion  is 
made  to  consist.  If  men  had  rightly  known  the  excellence 
of  our  Lord's  mediation,  and  the  extensive  efficacy  of  his 
cross,  they  would  never  have  addressed  themselves  to  any  other 
intercessor,  never  have  had  recourse  to  any  other  oblation. 
From  this  ignorance  also,  as  from  a  common  spring  of  error, 
have  flowed  in  among  people  the  dogmas  of  the  satisfactions 
and  merits  of  condignity,  and  congruity,  and  indulgences,  and 
the  rules  and  oddly  various  discipline  of  monks,  and  in  sum, 
all  superstitions.  If  people  had  well  known  who  Jesus  Christ 
is,  they  would  have  been  assuredly  content  with  his  satisfaction, 
and  infinite  merit,  with  that  eternal  indulgence  which  he  has 
obtained  for  all  who  believe,  and  with  the  perfection  of  his 
gospel.  Hence  again  has  arisen  the  setting  up  of  another 
head  in  the  militant  church,  to  be  there  as  the  vicar  and  co- 
31 


242  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XVII. 

adjutor  of  Jesus  Christ.  If  this  Jesus  whom  the  Father  has 
given  and  placed  over  all  things  for  a  Head  to  the  church,  if 
the  fulness  of  his  power,  and  wisdom,  and  infinite  love,  had 
been  well  known,  never  had  this  second  monarchy  been  erected 
in  his  kingdom.  In  a  few  words,  we  may  say  to  these,  and  to 
all  others  who  err  in  religion,  as  once  our  Lord  himself  said 
to  the  Samaritan,  John  iv.  10,  If  you  knew  the  gift  of  God, 
and  who  this  Jesus  is  that  speaks  to  you  in  his  Scriptures,  you 
would  seek  all  your  salvation  in  him  alone,  and  demand  of 
none  but  him  any  of  the  things  that  are  necessary  for  the  re- 
freshment and  consolation  of  your  souls.  Judge,  faithful 
brethren,  how  much  it  concerns  us  to  know  him  well,  and,  to 
have  him  ever  before  our  eyes.  The  knowledge  of  Christ  is 
an  adequate  security  from  error.  With  what  solicitude  the 
apostle  exhibits  him  to  us  !  With  what  affection  he  displays 
to  us  all  the  wonders  of  this  great  and  divine  subject  !  He 
has  before  described  him  to  the  Colossians  in  a  sublime  man- 
ner, and,  to  attach  their  hearts  entirely  to  him,  shown  them 
that  in  him  is  found  all  fulness.  But  with  this  he  is  not  satis- 
fied. He  now  proceeds  to  inform  them  in  the  text,  that  in 
him  "  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge."  In 
these  few  words  there  is  a  vast  extent  of  meaning  and 
truth  ;  we  will  therefore  employ  the  whole  of  this  exercise  in 
explaining  them,  if  God  permit;  observing  in  order  all  that 
shall  seem  necessary  for  the  elucidation  of  the  text,  and  the 
instruction  and  edification  of  your  souls, 

I  know  well  that  the  relative  word  here  translated  "  whom  " 
means  lohich  as  well  as  whom  ;  and  may  be  referred  either  to 
Jesus  Christ,  or  to  the  mystery  of  God,  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
ceding verse.  If  referred  to  the  latter,  then  we  understand 
the  apostle  to  say  that  in  this  m3'-stery  are  hidden  all  the  trea- 
sures of  wisdom  ;  and  I  admit  that  the  words  so  construed  ex- 
press a  great  truth,  for  most  certainly  our  Lord's  gospel,  here 
called  his  "  mystery,"  is  an  inexhaustible  treasury  of  all  saving 
wisdom  and  knowledge.  But  we  are  not  obliged  to  admit  this 
interpretation  ;  and  in  my  mind  it  is  more  pertinent,  and  ap- 
posite to  the  scope  of  the  apostle,  to  refer  this  word  to  the 
name  of  Christ,  which  immediately  preceded,  and  that  the 
apostle's  meaning  is,  that  these  treasures  are  hidden  in  Jesus 
Christ.  But  you  perceive  that  these  two  senses  differ  very  im- 
materially from  each  other.  For  a  right  conception  of  the 
text,  we  must  first  refute  the  exposition  which  some  have 
given,  and  then  assert  its  true  meaning.  Some  think  Paul 
would  say  that  Jesus  Christ  knows  all  things,  and  is  so  rich 
and  so  abundant  in  knowledge,  that  he  is  ignorant  of  nothing. 
This  is  to  mistake  the  apostle's  intention.  But  that  which 
they  add  is  yet  worse.  For  from  this  bad  interpretation  they 
deduce  a  false  and  dangerous  doctrine  ;  concluding  from  our 


CHAP,  II.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  243 

Saviour's  possessing  all  the  treasures  of  knowledge,  that  the 
infinite  wisdom  of  his  divinity  was  actually  transfused  into 
his  human  nature  ;  and  consequently  all  the  other  properties 
also  of  the  divine  nature,  as  its  omnipotence,  its  infinity,  and 
its  omnipresence  :  since  there  is  the  same  reason  for  all  these 
attributes  of  God,  which  are  so  inseparable  that  none  can 
have  one  of  them  without  possessing  the  rest.  Behold,  I  be- 
seech you,  how  prolific  is  error,  and  how  truly  it  was  said  by 
one  of  the  ancient  sages  of  the  world,  that  one  falsity  or  ab- 
surdity being  admitted,  many  others  necessarily  follow.  That 
■which  has  led,  or,  to  speak  more  accurately,  which  has  drawn, 
these  authors  into  this  long  series  of  errors,  is  no  more  than 
their  false  opinion  about  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist.  They 
incommodiously  and  unreasonably  suppose  that  the  flesh  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  present  in  the  bread  ;  and  this  absurdity  gra- 
dually prepared  them  for  others  still  worse.  For,  disrelishing 
the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  which  the  Romanists  era- 
ploy  to  uphold  this  real  presence  of  our  Lord's  body,  and  de- 
servedly rejecting  it,  as  full  of  absurdities  and  contradictions, 
but  still  determined  to  retain  their  own  false  preconception, 
they  have  endeavoured  to  maintain  it  by  the  aid  of  another 
error,  scarcely  inferior  to  it,  namely,  that  of  ubiquity,  affirm- 
ing that  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  is  everywhere  present,  and 
consequently  in  the  eucharistical  signs.  To  defend  a  thing  so 
strange,  and  so  contrary  to  sense,  to  reason,  and  to  Scripture, 
they  have  advanced  the  notion  that  the  flesh  of  Christ,  through 
its  personal  union  with  the  divinity,  has  really  received  all  its 
properties.  I  mean  that,  in  assuming  flesh,  the  Son  of  God 
has  rendered  it  omnipotent,  immense,  and  infinite;  a  doctrine 
which  has  induced  them  to  corrupt  divers  passages  of  the  word 
of  God,  that  they  might  form  out  of  them  some  prop  for  their 
error.  This  is  not  the  place  for  a  full  refutation  of  their  doc- 
trine, nor  for  an  adequate  expression  of  our  sorrow,  that  per- 
sons, who  in  other  particulars  rejoice  in  the  light  of  truth, 
should  in  this  instance  continue  in  darkness.  Would  to  God 
that  we  could  bury  in  eternal  oblivion  a  fault  which  has  caused 
so  much  scandal  in  Christendom  !  I  shall  very  briefly  treat 
the  subject  of  the  text  in  hand,  and  their  abuse  of  it  in  favour 
of  their  opinion. 

I  say,  then,  that,  in  reasoning  on  this  topic,  they  commit 
two  observable  faults  :  the  one,  that  they  do  not  correctly  state 
the  apostle's  meaning  ;  and  the  other,  that  their  inference  is  not 
deduciblefrom  the  premises.  And  to  begin  with  the  latter  of 
these,  they  infer  that  which  is  not  deducible  from  their  pre- 
mises ;  for  although  there  is  an  infijiity  of  science  and  know- 
ledge in  Jesus  Christ,  it  no  more  follows  that  his  human  soul 
understands  and  knows  all  the  things  that  God  knows,  than 
because  there  is  an  eternal  divinity  in  Jesus  Christ,  it  follows 


244  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XVII. 

that  his  flesh  is  an  eternal  divinity  ;  or  from  his  having  created 
the  world,  that  his  flesh  created  it.  This  (if  indeed  we  may- 
compare  human  things  with  divine)  is  as  inadmissible  as  it 
would  be,  that  the  body  of  man  is  immortal  and  intelligent, 
because  he  possesses  within  him  an  immortal  intellect.  For 
as  in  man  there  are  two  substances,  the  soul  and  the  body, 
which,  though  united  in  the  same  subject,  yet  severally  con- 
serve their  own  properties  ;  the  soul  its  spirituality  and  invis- 
ibility, and  the  body  its  visibility  and  palpability;  the  one  a 
capacity  to  understand  and  to  will,  the  other,  not  :  so  there  are 
two  natures  in  Jesus  Christ,  which,  though  personally  united, 
are  not  commingled  or  confounded.  Each  of  them  retains  its 
essential  and  original  qualities,  and  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
divine  nature  continues  eternal,  infinite,  omnipotent,  and  om- 
niscient ;  and  the  human  created  in  time,  bounded  in  place, 
and  endowed  with  a  limited  strength,  power,  and  knowledge. 
When  we  say  of  man  in  general  that  he  possesses  understanding 
and  sense,  that  he  has  a  visible  or  invisible  essence,  that  he  is 
mortal  or  immortal,  we  assign  each  of  these  attributes  only  to 
that  part  of  his  nature  to  which  it  corresponds,  and  do  not  con- 
fusedly apply  them  to  both  ;  so,  if  the  apostle  had  said  (as  I 
grant  he  truly  might)  that  there  is  in  Jesus  Christ  an  infinity 
of  power  or  knowledge,  that  infinity  should  be  referred  to  his 
divinity,  and  not  to  his  humanity.  For  Jesus  Christ  being 
very  God,  blessed  for  ever  with  the  Father,  who,  in  this  respect, 
can  question  whether  he  is  omnipotent  and  omniscient  ?  But 
it  is  not  thence  inferrible  that  he  is  so  likewise  in  regard  of  his 
human  nature.  And  for  any  to  deduce  it  from  that  attribu- 
tion is  as  impertinent  reasoning,  as  if,  because  there  is  in  Je- 
sus Christ  a  flesh  conceived  and  born  of  the  blessed  virgin, 
and  which  was  infirm  and  crucified,  you  would  infer  that  his 
divinity  was  also  born  of  the  holy  virgin,  and  was  fastened  to 
the  cross. 

But  though  it  were  granted  them,  that  "  all  the  treasures  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge  "  are  hid  in  the  human  soul  of  Jesus 
Christ,  still  they  could  not  legitimately  infer  from  such  an  ad- 
mission that  the  knowledge  of  his  soul  is  infinite,  and  the 
same  with  that  of  God.  We  confess  that  this  blessed  soul, 
having  had  the  honour  to  be  personally  united  to  the  eternal 
Son  of  God,  has  in  consequence  been  adorned  with  all  the  ef- 
fulgence of  knowledge  and  wisdom  of  which  its  nature  is  ca- 
pable ;  so  that  it  may  be  said  in  this  respect  that  all  these  trea- 
sures are  hidden  in  it,  and  that  its  knowledge  far  surpasses  the 
knowledge  of  men  and  angels,  both  for  its  extent,  and  for  its 
perspicuity  and  certainty.  But  as  the  nature  of  the  subject  in 
which  it  properly  resides  is  finite,  itself  is  also  necessarily 
finite  ;  whereas  the  knowledge  of  the  Father  and  of  his  eternal 
Word  is  infinite,  even  as  their  nature  is  infinite.     And  it  is  to 


CHAP.  II.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  245 

no  purpose  to  reply,  that  according  to  this  statement  the  hu- 
man nature  of  Jesus  Christ  will  have  no  advantage  above  the 
saints,  of  whom  it  may  be  said  in  this  sense  that  "  all  the  trea- 
sures of  wisdom  "  are  hidden  in  them,  since  God,  who  dwells 
in  them,  has  an  infinite  knowledge  and  wisdom.  For  this  con- 
sequence is  evidently  false.  First,  by  reason  of  the  extreme 
difference  between  the  graces  communicated  to  the  saints,  and 
the  gifts  of  light  and  knowledge  infused  into  the  soul  of  our 
Saviour.  Secondly,  by  reason  of  the  infinite  difference  be- 
tween their  persons  ;  for  though  God  dwells  in  the  saints  by 
his  grace,  yet  no  one  of  the  saints  is  God  ;  whereas  the  eternal 
Word  so  dwells  in  the  humanity  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  the  same 
one  who  is  man  is  also  truly  God  ;  these  two  natures  being  so 
strictly  united,  that  they  are  only  one  and  the  same  person. 
From  this  reason,  it  may  be  rightly  said,  that  if  the  word  of 
the  Father  is  almighty  and  eternal,  as  most  assuredly  it  is, 
omnipotence,  and  eternity,  and  infinity  are  in  Jesus  Christ  ;  for 
he  is  truly  the  Word  of  the  Father  :  but  it  cannot,  however, 
be  inferred  from  this,  that  Peter  (for  example)  or  Paul  pos- 
sessed infinite  power  or  wisdom,  because  God  dwelt  in  them  : 
God  dwelt  not  personally  in  them,  so  that  each  of  them  was 
God,  but  only  by  the  grace  of  his  Spirit. 

I  add,  in  the  second  place,  that  all  this  reasoning  is  foreign 
to  the  scope  of  the  apostle,  whose  object  they  have  misappre- 
hended. For  his  intention  here  is  not  to  speak  of  what  Jesus 
Christ  knows.  What  would  this  conduce  to  the  end  that  he 
had  proposed  to  himself,  namely,  our  confirmation  in  the  gos- 
pel, and  the  fortifying  us  against  those  traditions  and  specula- 
tions which  false  teachers  would  add  to  it,  that  we  might  reject 
them  and  content  ourselves  with  this  Jesus  Christ,  whom  the 
Father  presents  to  us  in  his  word  ?  Who  sees  not  that  the 
knowledge  of  all  things,  which  our  Lord  has  in  himself,  is  al- 
together extraneous  to  this  purpose  ?  For  the  thing  in  ques- 
tion is  what  we  must  know  to  serve  God  aright,  and  be  saved 
in  the  sequel.  But  Jesus  Christ  does  not  reveal  to  us  in  the 
gospel  all  that  he  knows  either  as  God  or  as  man.  And  so 
from  his  knowing  all  things,  it  follows  not  that  it  is  enough 
for  us  to  embrace  his  gospel.  For  (will  the  false  teachers  say) 
though  he  know  all  for  his  own  part,  yet  he  has  not  discovered 
in  the  gospel  which  his  apostles  preach  unto  us  all  that  is  ne- 
cessary for  us  to  believe  or  to  practise. 

What  then,  you  will  inquire,  is  the  true  sense  of  these 
words  ?  Dear  brethren,  it  is  not  hard  to  discern,  if  you  afford 
ever  so  little  attention  to  the  thing.  The  apostle  considers  the 
Lord  Jesus  here,  not  simply  and  absolutely,  but  as  he  is  set 
forth  and  revealed  to  us  in  his  gospel,  as  far  as  he  is  the  sub- 
ject of  the  apostle's  preaching  and  the  object  of  our  faith.  In 
this  respect  he  says  that  "  all  the  treasures   of  wisdom  and 


246  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XVII. 

knowledge  "  are  hid  in  him  ;  meaning  that  this  Christ,  who  is 
present  with  us  in  the  gospel,  is  an  object  so  rich  and  so  di- 
vine, that  he  contains  all  the  matter  of  wisdom  in  him  ;  that 
all  the  verities  composing  it  are  fully  and  abundantly  found  in 
him  ;  so  that,  to  acquire  wisdom,  there  is  no  need  of  studying 
anything  but  Christ.  If  we  do  but  know  him,  we  shall  be  ig- 
norant of  nothing.  If  I  should  say  that  the  treasures  of  wis- 
dom or  natural  science  are  hid  in  the  world,  my  meaning 
would  be,  not  that  the  world  knows  verities  which  appertain 
to  this  science,  but  that  it  contains  them  ;  that  it  is  a  theatre 
where  they  are  exposed  to  our  view  ;  and  that  by  the  study  of 
it  we  may  learn  them.  Or  were  I  to  say  that  man  is  the  trea- 
sury of  all  the  knowledge  of  living  creatures,  I  should  not  in- 
tend that  man  knows  them,  but  that  he  exhibits  it.  being  as  an 
exact  model  and  pattern  of  all  that  the  nature  of  living  crea- 
tures comprehends  ;  so  that  by  careful  studying  and  medita- 
ting on  him,  we  may  learn  all  that  can  be  known  of  them.  In 
this  very  manner,  by  saying  that  in  Christ  "  are  hid  all  the 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,"  the  apostle  shows  us 
what  is  the  knowledge,  not  that  Christ  has  in  himself,  but 
which  he  is  able  to  give  to  us  ;  not  what  he  knows,  but  what 
he  makes  us  to  know  ;  he  being  as  it  were,  an  abyss  of  won- 
ders, in  which  are  found  all  the  riches  of  that  heavenly  truth 
in  the  knowledge  of  which  true  wisdom  consists.  From 
whence  the  inference  he  aims  to  make  upon  it  clearly  flows, 
namely,  that  we  ought  to  shut  our  ears  against  every  other 
doctrine,  however  plausible  and  probable.  For  as  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  magazine  and  the  treasury  of  all  wisdom,  in 
whom  is  found  all  that  we  ought  to  know  not  only  for  neces- 
sity, but  even  unto  plenitude,  who  sees  not  that  it  is  extreme 
folly  for  men  to  turn  themselves  another  way,  or  trouble  their 
heads  about  the  study  of  any  other  object  ?  And  so  this  wis- 
dom and  this  knowledge  of  which  the  apostle  speaks  is  meant, 
not  the  cognizance  which  the  Lord  has,  either  as  Grod  or  as 
man  ;  but  that  knowledge  of  divine  things  which  is  requisite 
for  us,  if  we  would  attain  to  salvation,  and  in  the  possession 
of  which  consists  the  true  perfection  of  our  nature.  And  when 
he  says  that  the  treasures  of  this  wisdom  are  hid  in  him,  his 
meaning  is  not  that  these  divine  things  are  known  to  our 
Lord,  (such  a  conception  would  be  frigid  and  impertinent,)  but 
that  they  are  all  displayed  and  set  forth  in  him  ;  that  they 
dwell  in  him,  that  they  are  found  there  ;  that  they  are  enclosed 
and  to  be  seen  in  him,  through  the  veil  of  the  infirmity 
of  his  cross,  which  in  a  manner  overspreads  and  hides  them. 
This  is,  in  my  judgment,  the  true  and  genuine  sense  of  the 
apostle's  expression. 

Let  us  now  examine  each  of  its  terms,  all  of  them  admira- 
ble, elegant,  and  rich,  and  afterwards  consider  the  truth  of 


CHAP,  il]         the   epistle   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  247 

them.  First,  he  calls  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  which  are 
in  Jesus  Christ  "  treasures,"  to  intimate  both  their  excellence 
and  abundance;  the  word  treasure  importing  both  these. 
You  know,  we  properly  call  such  a  collection  a  treasure  as 
contains  things  not  worthless,  as  dust  or  chaff;  but  pre- 
cious and  exquisite,  as  gold  and  silver,  and  precious  stones, 
and  jewels.  The  term  signifies  ahundance  also.  For  you 
will  not  say  that  that  man  has  a  treasure  who  has  but  two 
or  three  pieces  of  gold  or  silver,  or  a  diamond,  or  four  or 
five  emeralds.  To  have  a  treasure  is  to  have  a  considerable 
mass  of  rare  and  precious  things.  And  by  this  the  truths 
which  Jesus  Christ  exhibits,  and  of  which  he  afïbrds  us  the 
knowledge,  are  distinguished  from  those  elsewhere.  Many 
and  various  kinds  of  knowledge  are  discoverable  by  other 
means,  but  they  are  comparatively  of  no  value.  They  do  not 
make  a  treasure.  This  worthy  title  appertains  only  to  rare 
and  precious  things.  But  the  truths  which  Jesus  Christ 
teaches  those  who  study  him  are  so  many  pearls  of  inestimable 
price  ;  they  are  divine  jewels,  such  as  neither  the  barbarous 
sea-coasts,  nor  the  mines  of  the  New  World  yield  ;  such  as 
neither  the  heavens,  nor  the  earth,  nor  any  of  the  store-houses 
of  nature,  can  furnish.  But  abundance  also  is  in  the  matter 
before  us  as  well  as  worth.  I  admit  that  some  of  these  pre- 
cious truths  are  hid  in  the  world,  and  in  man  himself,  and  that 
we  may  extract  them  from  those  sources  by  attention  and  med- 
itation ;  as  appears  by  the  knowledge  which  some  heathens 
acquired  who  read  no  other  book.  I  grant  too  that  the  an- 
cient tabernacle  of  Moses  afforded  a  far  more  ample  store.  But 
what  is  all  this,  in  comparison  of  that  abundance  of  wisdom 
and  knowledge  presented  to  us  by  Jesus  Christ  ?  Most  cer- 
tainly, in  him,  and  in  him  only,  can  this  divine  treasure  be 
found.  And,  for  the  fuller  discovery  of  the  immeasurable 
abundance  of  his  exhaustless  riches  to  us,  the  apostle  contents 
not  himself  with  calling  it  a  treasure.  He  says  "  treasures,"  in 
the  plural  ;  so  great  and  vast  is  the  opulence  of  this  divine 
subject.  Yea,  he  says  not  simply  "treasures,"  but  "all  the 
treasures,"  to  show  us  that  there  is  nothing  grand,  or  exqui- 
site, or  precious  but  what  is  found  in  him. 

Now  in  the  progress  of  his  discourse  Paul  subjoins  what 
those  treasures  are  which  are  in  Christ  ;  "  the  treasures  of  wis- 
dom and  knowledge."  Away,  ye  covetous,  who  never  hear 
the  mention  of  treasures  but  ye  fancy  those  of  the  world  ;  which 
(to  say  the  truth)  are  but  piles  of  dross  and  masses  of  earth, 
only  varied  a  little  in  form  and  colour  from  the  other  parts  of 
this  vile  and  low  element.  The  jewel  of  which  the  treasury  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  full  is  of  an  infinitely  more  precious  nature  than 
the  metals  you  adore  ;  it  is,  saith  the  apostle,  "  wisdom  and 
knowledge."     The  term  "wisdom"  is  honourable  among  men  ; 


248  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XVII. 

and  though  ignorant  of  the  thing,  yet  they  respect  the  name  ; 
confessing  that  it  is  strictly  apposite  only  to  such  kinds  of 
knowledge  as  are  at  once  sublime  and  useful,  divine  and  salu- 
tiferous.  Surely,  to  adhere  to  this  their  own  definition  of  it, 
it  is  clear  that  no  one  of  all  the  sciences  which  they  have  learned 
in  the  world  by  the  strength  of  their  own  spirit  deserves  to  be 
called  wisdom.  For  either  they  are  low,  and  of  things  of  small 
elevation,  as  the  skill  of  their  trades,  which  have  no  employ- 
ment but  on  the  earth  ;  or  at  least  they  are  vain  and  unprofita- 
ble, as  that  which  they  tell  us  of  the  heavens  and  their  motions, 
of  nature  and  its  mutations,  of  numbers  and  figures,  and  the 
measuring  of  bodies.  For  what  service  do  they  derive  from 
that  science  of  which  they  so  contemptuously  boast  ?  Are  they 
in  any  degree  the  happier  for  it,  or  aught  the  more  assured  by 
it  ?  They  themselves  vilify  it,  and  confess  that  all  of  it  yields 
those  that  excel  most  in  it  but  a  very  slender  profit.  Will  you 
call  useless  industry  by  the  name  of  wisdom,  and  count  him 
a  judicious  man  who  busies  himself  to  no  purpose?  On  the 
contrary,  is  it  not  characteristic  of  a  fool  to  be  amused  in  things 
of  nought,  and  to  toil  for  that  which  affords  no  benefit,  as  chil- 
dren that  pursue  their  own  shadows  and  chase  butterflies? 
What  then  is  that  wisdom  which  is  truly  worthy  of  so  illustri- 
ous a  name?  Dear  brethren,  it  is  evidently  the  knowledge  of 
truths  necessary  to  our  salvation,  those  truths  that  can  make 
us  happy,  and  preserve  peace  and  consolation  in  our  souls,  and 
conduct  us  through  the  accidents  of  this  life  to  the  possession 
of  that  supreme  felicity  which  is  naturally  the  desire  of  all  men. 
It  is  this  kind  of  knowledge  that  the  apostle  means.  It  is  this 
which  by  way  of  excellence,  he  calls  "  wisdom,"  as  alone  de- 
serving the  name,  while  all  other  kinds  of  knowledge  lie  far 
beneath  it.  The  word  "knowledge,"  which  he  adds,  I  think 
we  need  not  sever  from  wisdom,  as  if  they  were  necessarily  two 
different  things.  I  know  that  critics  have  distinguished  them  ; 
some  affirming  that  wisdom  is  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  di- 
vine things,  and  knowledge  the  philosophy  of  man  and  of  hu- 
man affairs  ;  while  others  maintain  that  wisdom  relates  to  things 
to  be  believed,  and  knowledge  to  things  to  be  done.  But,  to 
speak  candidly,  I  much  doubt  whether  the  apostle  ever  thought 
of  these  petty  subtilties  ;  for  the  word  "  knowledge  "  in  the  ori- 
ginal generally  signifies  all  knowledge,  and  we  have  no  reason 
to  restrain  its  application  to  moral  or  terrestrial  things.  I 
judge  it  therefore  more  accordant  with  the  simplicity  of  these 
divine  authors  to  take  the  words  "  wisdom  and  knowledge  "  in 
nearly  the  same  sense,  and  to  say  that  the  latter  was  added  only 
to  enlarge  and  enrich  one  and  the  same  conception  ;  as  if  the 
apostle  had  said  that  there  is  neither  wisdom  nor  knowledge, 
nor  any  true  and  saving  knowledge,  but  it  is  in  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 


CHAP.  II.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  249 

In  fine,  it  must  be  observed  that  he  says  these  treasures  are 
"hid"  in  Christ.  This  is  a  very  apt  prosecution  of  his  meta- 
phor. For  treasures  are  not  exposed  to  the  view  of  all.  They 
are  locked  up  in  cabinets,  or  concealed  in  remote  places,  or 
buried  under  ground,  to  secure  them  from  the  eyes  and  hands 
of  men.  As  this  is  usually  done,  the  apostle  has  very  elegantly 
used  this  word  in  the  matter  before  him,  and  the  more  so,  as 
something  analogous  may  be  observed  in  the  dispensation  of 
Jesus  Christ,  God  has  not  indeed  any  such  design  as  avari- 
cious men  have,  nor  has  he,  fearing  lest  people  should  see  and 
seize  his  treasure,  actually  hid  it  from  them,  to  prevent  their 
sharing  it.  Far  be  it  from  us  to  entertain  a  thought  so  injuri- 
ous to  the  goodness  and  liberality  of  this  sovereign  Lord,  who 
sent  his  Son  into  the  world  for  no  other  end  than  to  save  the 
world,  and  delights  in  nothing  more  than  in  seeing  us  search 
into  his  treasuries,  and  enrich  ourselves  with  his  good  things, 
and  who  has  also  clearly  and  magnificently  displayed  in  his 
Christ  all  his  heavenly  wealth,  calling  him  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness, that  is,  the  most  visible  and  most  remarkable  object 
in  the  universe.  He  has  sent  his  servants  in  all  directions  to 
discover  him  to  mankind,  and  from  the  tops  of  the  highest 
places  to  call  all  men  to  a  participation  of  this  treasure  of  light. 
Now  both  his  brightness  and  their  voice  have  spread  abroad  so 
gloriously,  that  it  may  be  justly  said,  Light  has  been  in  the 
world,  but  the  world  perceived  it  not,  John  i.  Wherefore  the 
apostle  says,  that  "  if  our  gospel  be  hid,  it  is  hid  to  them  that 
are  lost,"  and  whose  understandings  the  god  of  this  world  hath 
blinded,  (that  is,  the  unbelieving,)  that  the  light  of  the  gospel 
of  the  glory  of  Christ  might  not  shine  unto  them,  2  Cor.  iv.  3, 
4.  Here  you  see  he  attributes  all  the  fault  of  worldly  men  in 
not  discerning  the  excellency  of  this  treasure  to  their  own 
blindness,  caused  by  the  darkenings  and  malice  of  Satan,  and 
not  to  the  obscurity  or  concealment  of  the  treasure  itself;  to 
which  he  gives  a  quite  contrary  name,  calling  it  light,  yea,  a 
glorious  light,  that  is  to  say,  great  and  sparkling.  Why  then 
does  he  say  that  the  treasures  of  wisdom  are  hid  in  him — for  it 
seems  he  should  say,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  are  manifested 
in  him,  that  they  shine  out  and  appear  clearly  in  him  ?  I  an- 
swer, that  both  his  statements  are  true,  but  in  different  respects. 
For  if  you  consider  the  thing  in  itself,  the  treasures  of  wisdom 
are  manifested  to  us  in  Jesus  Christ;  and  he  who  is  purified 
by  divine  grace  sees  them  in  him,  and  acknowledges  them  as 
soon  as  he  sees  him  as  the  gospel  represents  him.  But  if  you 
have  respect  to  the  eyes  and  perceptions  of  men,  obscured  and 
corrupted  by  sin  as  they  naturally  are,  I  confess,  it  is  hard  for 
them  to  discern  in  Jesus  Christ  those  riches  of  wisdom  and 
knowledge  which  the  Father  has  deposited  in  him,  and  that 
this  proceeds  in  part  from  that  veil  of  meanness  and  infirmity 
32 


250  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  XVII. 

whicli  is  as  it  were  thrown  over  him.  This  led  Paul  to  say 
that  Christ  crucified,  whom  he  preached,  was  to  the  Jews  a 
stumbling-block,  and  to  the  Greeks  foolishness,  though  to  the 
faithful  who  were  called  he  was  the  power  and  the  wisdom  of 
God.  Therefore,  it  being  necessary  for  our  salvation  that  he 
should  be  born,  and  live  in  poverty  on  the  earth,  and  at  length 
suffer  the  death  of  the  cross,  which  surpassed  all  other  deaths 
for  cruelty  and  ignominy,  the  Father  who  sent  him  in  this  form, 
clothed  with  this  mean  and  mournful  mantle,  that  affrights  men, 
has  both  manifested  and  hid  his  treasures  in  him.  He  has 
manifested  them  in  him,  as  it  is  in  him  and  by  him  that  he 
exhibits  to  us  whatever  is  necessary  to  be  known  for  the 
attainment  of  salvation;  he  has  hidden  them  in  him,  as  he  has 
covered  this  treasure  with  such  a  veil,  as  by  its  poor  and 
contemptible  appearance  deters  men,  and  makes  them  say, 
as  Isaiah  prophesied,  "  He  hath  no  form  nor  comeliness  ;  and 
when  we  shall  see  him,  there  is  no  beauty  that  we  should 
desire  him,"  Isa.  liii.  2.  But  they  who  have  their  eyes  puri- 
fied by  light  from  on  high,  discern  under  this  appearing  sim- 
plicity and  humility  all  celestial  riches  in  their  stateliest  and 
most  glorious  form.  This  is  the  apostle's  meaning  when  he 
says  that  these  treasures  are  hid  in  Christ.  He  informs  us  that 
we  must  not  stop  at  that  infirmity  and  vacuity  which  at  first 
sight  appears  in  him,  and  disgusts  vain  and  earthly  minds,  but 
must  look  within,  and  contemplate  the  great  wonders  which 
God  has  there  manifested  for  our  complete  instruction  and  con- 
solation. 

Hitherto  we  have  examined  the  words  of  this  text.  It  re- 
mains that  we  now  consider  the  truth  in  it.  This  we  shall  do 
in  a  very  summary  way.  For  the  prosecution  of  this  rich  sub- 
ject in  its  whole  extent  is  above  the  ability  of  man  or  angel  to 
be  worthily  performed,  so  great  is  its  height  and  depth.  But 
we  will  briefly  touch  its  chief  heads.  Man's  true  wisdom  in 
his  present  state  is  to  know  his  misery,  with  the  means  to 
escape  it  ;  and  his  felicity,  with  the  way  that  he  must  take  to 
attain  it.  As  for  our  misery,  nature  indeed  has  given  us  some 
perception  of  it,  for  there  is  scarcely  a  man  in  the  world  who 
sees  not  some  depravation  and  irregularity  in  himself,  and 
whose  conscience  does  not  reproach  him  with  his  faults,  and 
threaten  him  with  the  judgment  of  supreme  justice.  The  law 
has  taught  us  much  more  of  it,  representing  God  to  us  as  armed 
with  inexorable  severity  against  sinners,  and  fulminating  his 
curse  upon  them.  But  beside  that  these  kinds  of  knowledge 
are  weak,  and  are  easily  smothered  in  security,  there  is  this 
sorrow  with  them,  that,  having  showed  us  our  misery,  they  do 
not  inform  us  of  the  remedy  ;  so  that  if  they  be  necessary  to 
draw  us  out  of  that  folly  wherein  the  most  are  plunged,  (who 
confidently  sleep  amid  the  tempest,  and  presume  they  are  well, 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  25Î 

while  they  have  a  mortal  imposthume  in  their  brain  or  in  their 
heart,)  yet  it  cannot  be  said  that  they  are  sufficient  to  make  us 
wise,  seeing  that  for  the  just  possession  of  this  title  a  man  must 
know  not  only  his  malady,  but  also  the  means  to  cure  it.  But 
even  the  knowledge  of  this  would  not  be  sufficient  ;  for  we  de- 
sire not  only  deliverance  from  evil,  but  also  the  fruition  of  good, 
yea,  the  chief  good.  But  neither  the  light  of  nature,  nor  even 
the  light  of  the  law,  reveals  to  us  what  this  supreme  felicity  is, 
which,  without  distinctly  knowing  it,  we  earnestly  desire;  so 
far  are  they  from  showing  us  the  way  to  it.  But  those  verities 
which  are  necessary  to  render  us  wise  are  found  clear]  y  and  in 
all  their  plenitude  in  Jesus  Christ,  as  he  is  proposed  to  us  in. 
the  gospel.  As  to  our  misery,  he  declares  it  exactly  to  us,  not 
by  dubious,  inarticulate  sounds,  as  nature  does,  nor  by  circui- 
tions  and  essays,  as  the  law  did  ;  but  by  the  fullest  and  most 
impressive  way  of  information  that  the  world  ever  heard,  even 
crying  aloud  to  us  from  that  cross  to  which  our  sins  had  nailed 
him  :  Behold,  ye  sons  of  men,  how  horrid  are  your  crimes,  since 
it  was  necessary  for  the  washing  them  away  that  I  should  come 
down  from  heaven  and  shed  my  blood.  Behold  how  great  and 
irreparable  was  your  fall,  since  there  was  none  in  heaven  or 
earth  that  could  raise  you  up  again  but  myself.  As  much  as 
the  life  of  the  Son  of  God  is  more  precious  than  the  life  of  all 
mankind,  so  much  clearer  is  the  proof  which  his  death  gives 
us  of  the  horror  of  sin,  than  that  which  we  might  take  from  the 
death  of  all  that  ever  sinned,  though  we  should  see  them  stricken 
down  together,  and  punished  by  the  avenging  justice  of  God. 
But  if  this  great  Saviour  makes  us  so  feelingly  perceive  the 
wretchedness  of  our  misery,  his  design  is  only  to  make  us  the 
more  ardently  desire  and  embrace  the  remedy  which  he  offers 
us,  fully  prepared  from  that  same  cross  to  which  he  was  fast- 
ened for  us. 

I  grant  that  the  forbearance  and  kindness  of  God  in  his  con- 
duct to  men,  sinful  as  they  were,  might  give  them  some  gleam 
of  hope,  and  that  his  promises  under  the  former  covenant  had 
much  confirmed  it.  But  the  sword  of  his  justice  dreadfully 
flaming  in  the  hand  of  the  law  perplexed  them  not  a  little,  and 
they  found  it  extremely  difficult  to  reconcile  his  inflexible  right- 
eousness witti  the  mercy  that  was  necessary  for  them.  Jesus 
Christ  has  removed  all  these  difficulties,  and  exhibits  to  us  in 
his  cross  the  solution  of  all  our  doubts.  Fear  nothing,  sinner, 
says  he,  I  have  compensated  the  justice  of  God,  and  satisfied 
his  law.  Boldly  trust  his  promises,  and  approach  his  throne 
with  full  assurance.  This  blood,  which  has  opened  the  en- 
trance for  your  admission,  is  not  the  blood  of  a  beast,  nor  an 
earthly  ransom  ;  it  is  the  blood  of  God,  a  ransom  of  infinite 
value,  more  than  sufficient  to  take  away  your  sins,  however 
infinite  may  be  their  demerit.     But  you  will  say,  This  is  not  all 


252  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XVH. 

I  need  for  my  consolation.  I  acknowledge  tbat  Christ  suf- 
ficiently assures  me  of  the  pardon  of  my  sins.  What  security 
does  he  give  me  against  the  numerous  foes  who  are  always  at- 
tendant on  my  path,  the  world,  the  evil  angels,  and  flesh  and 
blood?  But,  christian,  does  not  the  same  cross  which  has 
merited  your  pardon  give  you  also  clear  and  undoubted  evi- 
dence of  your  safety  during  the  whole  course  of  your  life  ?  For 
since  you  know  that  God  has  delivered  up  his  only  Son  to 
death  for  you,  how  can  you  fear  that  he  will  withhold  from  you 
any  of  the  cares  of  his  providence  ? 

But  this  is  not  all.  Christ  Jesus,  who  shows  us  these  excel- 
lent and  sacred  truths  in  his  death,  engraven,  as  it  were,  in 
capital  letters  on  his  cross,  holds  up  before  our  eyes  others  of 
no  less  importance  in  his  resurrection.  Believers,  neither  the 
pardon  of  your  sin,  nor  the  assistance  of  God  during  your 
life,  would  be  sufficient  for  you  ;  for  after  all,  death  will  swal- 
low you  up  as  well  as  unbelievers.  See  then  further  in  your 
Jesus  the  truth  that  is  necessary  to  complete  your  consolation. 
By  committing  his  spirit,  at  the  point  of  death,  into  the  Fa- 
ther's hands,  he  teaches  you  that  God  will  receive  your  souls 
when  you  depart  out  of  the  world  ;  and  by  rising  again  on 
the  third  day  following,  he  assures  you  that  your  bodies  shall 
one  day  be  raised  out  of  the  dust  ;  and  by  ascending  to  hea- 
ven, he  assures  you  that  there  you  shall  be  transported,  both 
in  soul  and  body,  to  live  and  reign  there  with  him  in  eternal 
glory.  As  for  the  way  which  you  must  take  to  arrive  at  this 
high  happiness,  his  whole  life  and  his  death  have  clearly  marked 
it  out  to  you,  and  he  still  shows  it  you  from  that  lofty  throne 
whereon  he  is  set.  Tread  in  my  steps,  he  says,  if  you  would 
be  exalted  to  my  glory.  Follow  the  example  of  my  innocence 
and  of  my  love,  if  you  desire  to  partake  of  the  honours  of 
my  kingdom.  I  have  borne  injuries  with  calmness  and  pa- 
tience ;  I  have  constantly  obeyed  my  Father  even  unto  my 
death  on  the  cross,  and  you  see  the  honour  wherewith  he  hath 
crowned  me.  Imitate  my  obedience,  and  you  shall  receive  my 
recompense. 

This  is  the  lesson  which  the  Lord  Jesus  gives  us,  showing  us 
incomparably  more  clearly  than  the  frame  or  government  of 
the  world,  or  the  Mosaical  dispensation,  ever  did,  both  the 
justice  of  God,  that  we  may  dread  him,  and  the  power  and 
wisdom  of  God,  that  we  may  reverence  him,  and  his  mercy, 
that  we  may  love  and  serve  him  with  all  the  strength  of  our 
souls;  serve  him,  I  say,  not  with  the  sacrifices  of  ancient 
Judaism,  nor  with  the  feeble  and  childish  devotions  of  super- 
stition, but  with  a  pure  and  holy  heart,  with  works  worthy 
of  him,  with  an  ardent  zeal,  a  sincere  love,  a  constant  integ- 
rity and  honesty,  a  profound  patience  and  humility,  an  im- 
movable hope  and  confidence  :  these  are  the  verities  which 


CHAP.  II.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  258 

constitute  true  wisdom  ;  all  of  tliem,  as  you  see,  high  and  sub- 
lime, but  in  like  degree  useful  and  saving.  Here  is  no  in- 
quiry about  the  nature  of  elements,  of  animals,  of  plants,  or  of 
meteors  :  nor  of  the  motions  of  the  sun,  or  of  the  moon,  or 
of  the  other  planets  ;  but  of  the  being,  and  the  counsels,  and 
the  conduct  of  that  great  and  most  high  God,  who  made  and 
formed  all  those  things,  and  in  comparison  of  whom  heaven 
and  earth  are  but  an  atom  of  dust.  The  research  is  not  about 
numbers  and  figures,  which  can  neither  diminish  your  miser- 
ies, nor  make  your  souls  happy  ;  but  of  your  peace  with  God, 
of  your  consolation  in  this  life,  and  of  your  glory  and  immor- 
tality in  the  next.  It  is  this  which  Jesus  Christ  teaches  us, 
that  divine  crucified  person  who  died  and  rose  again  for  ua. 
It  is  this  he  shows  us,  represented  in  high  and  splendid  col- 
ours through  all  the  pieces  of  his  mystery.  Whatever  nature 
and  the  law  might  discover  of  the  edges  and  first  lineaments 
of  this  celestial  wisdom,  it  is  he  alone  who  has  exhibited  to 
us  the  whole  body,  and  showed  us  its  entire  frame  and  struc- 
ture. We  conclude,  then,  as  the  apostle  saith,  that  it  is  verily 
in  him  that  "  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge"  are 
hidden. 

Let  us  embrace  this  conclusion  with  firm  belief;  and  let 
us  bless  God,  first,  that  he  has  vouchsafed  to  give  his  Christ 
to  mankind,  and  particularly  that  he  has  communicated  him 
to  us,  mercifully  presenting  him  in  his  word  and  in  his  sacra- 
ments. Next,  let  us  implore  him  to  open  our  eyes  more  and 
more,  that  we  may  discern  these  rich  and  precious  "  treasures 
of  wisdom  and  knowledge"  which  he  has  hid  in  him.  Let 
not  the  vileness  of  his  cross,  nor  the  veil  of  his  infirmity,  nor 
the  simplicity  of  his  gospel,  and  these  sacraments  wherein  he 
is  offered  to  us,  offend  us.  This  very  thing,  if  we  consider 
it  as  we  ought,  makes  up  one  principal  part  of  the  wonder  ; 
and  that  we  may  rightly  know  and  value  this  treasure,  let  us 
cleanse  our  minds  from  the  clay  and  mire  of  the  world,  let  us 
purify  our  understandings,  and  rid  them  of  the  sentiments 
and  opinions  of  the  world,  which,  being  fastened  to  its  own 
dung,  prize  nothing  but  the  lustre  of  its  false  honours,  and  the 
vanity  of  its  perishing  riches,  and  the  delight  of  its  unseemly 
pleasures.  Let  us  once  set  free  our  souls  from  these  sordid 
and  servile  passions,  and  acknowledge,  as  experience  will  com- 
pletely justify  us  in  doing,  that  it  is  an  extreme  error  and 
folly  to  seek  our  happiness  in  such  wretched  things.  Let  us 
lift  up  our  eyes  unto  wisdom,  and  desire  the  possession  and 
embrace  the  study  of  it.  It  is  the  jewel  and  ornament  of  our 
nature.  In  this  consists  our  whole  dignity.  Without  this 
men  scarcely  differ  from  beasts  ;  nay,  in  some  sort  are  in  a 
worse  condition,  as  sinking  beneath  themselves,  and  falling 
into  the  utmost  misery.     But  let  us  be  solicitous  that  we  take 


254  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SEKM.  XVII. 

not  a  shadow  for  substance,  and  a  phantasm  for  true  wisdom. 
Be  not  deceived.  This  wisdom  is  only  in  Christ  Jesus.  All 
that  pretended  wisdom  which  obtains  the  acclamation  and  ap- 
plause of  the  multitude,  whether  in  the  courts  or  in  the  schools 
of  the  world,  is  but  masked  folly,  a  disguised  extravagance, 
and  a  painted  error,  which  neglects  all  that  is  essential  to  our 
welfare,  and  amuses  us  with  things  which  have  no  bearing  on 
our  real  happiness,  the  true  end  of  wisdom.  Let  us  seek  it 
therefore  in  Jesus  Christ  alone.  In  him  you  will  find  the  true 
substance  of  it. 

They  who  possess  treasures  often  visit  them,  and  have  their 
hearts  always  where  they  are.  In  like  manner  meditate  night 
and  day  on  this  divine  Saviour,  "in  whom  are  hid  the  trea- 
sures of  wisdom  and  knowledge."  Consider  him,  pry  into 
him,  and  diligently  sound  him.  He  is  an  abyss  of  good  things. 
Let  your  hand  be  ever  there,  and  draw  thence  by  faith,  study, 
and  meditation,  all  that  is  necessary  for  you.  Let  your  whole 
life  be  taken  up  in  the  continual  handling  of  these  divine 
jewels,  in  admiring  the  beauty  and  using  the  brightness  of 
them.  Let  it  be  all  the  passion  of  your  souls,  the  matter  of 
your  joys,  and  the  consolation  of  your  troubles.  If  you  have 
not  those  false  good  things  which  the  world  so  much  glories 
in,  remember  that  you  have  the  treasures  of  heaven,  the  por- 
tion of  angels,  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  happiness. 
Take  heed  that  none  bereave  you  of  so  rich  a  possession. 
Shut  your  ear  against  the  prattle  and  plausible  discoursings 
of  seducers.  Preserve  this  treasure  courageously  against  their 
attempts  ;  nor  be  content  to  have  it  only,  communicate  it  to 
your  neighbours  ;  lay  forth  the  wonders  of  it  before  their 
eyes,  adorning  all  the  parts  of  your  life  with  it.  Let  the  inno- 
cence, and  holiness,  and  sweetness,  and  humility  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  shine  out  in  it.  Let  these  be  your  pearls,  and  your 
jewels,  and  your  oi'naments  before  men,  which  may  constrain 
them  to  acknowledge  that  Jesus  Christ  dwells  in  the  midst 
of  you,  and  to  say,  "  Of  a  truth  this  nation  is  a  wise  and 
understanding  people."  Above  all,  instruct  your  children  in 
this  knowledge.  Leave  them  this  wisdom  for  an  inheritance. 
Such  a  portion  is  enough  to  make  them  happy  ;  whereas  with- 
out this  they  cannot  possibly  be  other  than  fools  and  wretches, 
though  you  should  leave  them  all  the  wealth  of  the  east  and 
west. 

Finally,  as  the  apostle  assures  us  that  "  all  the  treasures  of 
wisdom"  are  in  Jesus  Christ,  let  us  be  satisfied  with  him  alone, 
and  contemn  the  vanity  of  those  who,  under  any  kind  of  pre- 
tence, would  circulate  for  wisdom  doctrines  that  are  foreign, 
and  without  the  sphere  of  Christ.  Let  us  not  so  much  as  give 
them  the  hearing.  It  is  warrant  enough  for  us  to  reject  them, 
that  they  form  no  part  of  the  treasure  of  Jesus  Christ.    I  stand 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  255 

not  to  inquire  whether  they  are  true  or  false,  useful  or  hurtful. 
It  suffices  me  that,  whatever  they  be  otherwise,  they  are  not 
in  Christ.  Nothing  is  to  be  received  in  religion  but  what 
comes  out  of  this  treasury.  God  who  has  given  it  us  in  his 
abundant  mercy,  and  who  calls  us  to  partake  also  of  it  the 
next  Lord's  day,  grant  us  to  preserve  it  pure  and  entire,  to 
possess  it  with  joy  and  respect  in  this  world,  and  reap  the 
full  fruit  of  it  in  that  which  is  to  come.     So  be  it. 


SERMON  XVIII. 

VERSES  4,   5. 


And  this  I  say,  lest  any  man  should  beguile  you  with  enticing 
words.  For  though  I  he  absent  in  the  flesh,  yet  am  I  ivith  you 
in  the  spirit,  joying  and  beholding  your  order,  and  the  steadfast- 
ness of  your  faith  in  ChriM. 

As  men  naturally  love  and  desire  only  those  things  which 
have  an  appearance  of  good,  so  they  believe  only  those  which 
have  a  semblance  of  truth  ;  and  they  withdraw  their  affection 
from  the  former  as  soon  as  they  clearly  discover  their  worthless- 
ness,  and  their  credence  from  the  latter  the  instant  they  per- 
ceive that  they  are  untrue.  Hence  being  prepossessed  upon 
some  general  and  confused  knowledge,  with  conceit  that  the 
enjoyment  or  belief  of  a  thing  would  be  advantageous  to  them, 
they  wish  it  may  prove  good  and  true;  evidently  presuppo- 
sing that  otherwise  their  very  nature  could  not  permit  them 
to  love  it  or  believe  it.  This  is  observable  even  in  children, 
who  are  the  sincerest  and  most  natural  map  of  the  motions  of 
our  nature.  For  when  their  nurses  tell  them  anything,  they 
ask  if  it  be  true  ;  and  if  the  tale  please  them,  they  are  troubled 
when  they  perceive  that  it  is  no  more  than  a  tale,  and  wish  it 
were  true,  that  they  might  believe  it.  So  deeply  imprinted  in 
the  mind  of  all  reasonable  creatures  is  this  sacred  and  inviola- 
ble principle  of  their  nature,  that  nothing  is  believed  but 
what  is  thought  to  be  true.  This  advantage  which  truth 
naturally  has  over  falsehood  compels  its  very  enemies  to 
counterfeit  its  mark  and  wear  its  livery.  For  they  are  aware 
that  their  errors  and  falsehoods  can  find  no  entrance  among 
men,  except  they  assume  the  appearance  of  truth.  Even  as 
coiners,  that  they  may  put  off  their  copper  and  lead,  give  it 
the  colour  and  resemblance  of  gold  and  silver,  and  counterfeit 
the  image  and  stamp  of  a  lawful  prince  ;  or  as  they  who  would 


256  AX  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XVIII. 

travel  through  an  enemy's  country,  privily  disguise  themselves 
with  the  enemy's  badges  ;  so  seducers,  well  knowing  that  the 
understanding  of  man  is  the  proper  and  lawful  kingdom  of 
truth,  where  nothing  passes  but  under  its  sanction  and  mark, 
paint  and  disguise  the  fictions  which  they  propagate,  and  give 
them,  as  finely  as  they  can,  the  countenance  and  colour  of 
truth,  that  by  means  of  this  false  resemblance  they  may  pass 
current  among  men,  who  would  reject  them  immediately  if 
they  saw  them  in  their  own  natural  likeness.  There  have  ever 
been  a  great  multitude  of  these  cheats  in  the  world,  persons 
who,  urged  forward  by  ambition,  or  some  other  particular 
interest,  strive  to  bring  their  fancies  and  dreams  into  reputa- 
tion. But  as  the  christian  religion  comprises  the  best  and 
most  important  truths  in  the  world  ;  so  there  never  was  any 
system  which  impostors  and  the  erroneous  have  more  laboured 
to  corrupt,  by  decrying  some  of  its  true  doctrines  on  one  hand, 
and  by  intermingling  falsehoods  on  the  other.  And  as  all  the 
artifice  of  such  unhappy  wits  tends  only  to  confound  truth  and 
falsehood  ;  so  ought  we  to  employ  the  utmost  of  our  industry 
that  we  may  effectually  sever  them,  and  so  discern  them  as 
never  to  take  the  ono  for  the  other. 

This  discerning,  dear  brethren,  is  one  of  the  most  important 
duties  of  our  life.  It  is  loss  to  take  copper  for  gold,  and  bad 
money  for  good  ;  and  it  is,  moreover,  ignorance,  ever  shameful, 
sometimes  not  a  little  hurtful,  to  receive  an  error  for  truth  in 
philosophy  and  in  civil  life.  But  yet  the  loss  and  shame  that 
accrue  from  all  this  kind  of  cheats  reach  no  further  than  the 
present  time  ;  whereas  the  consequences  of  those  impostures 
which  we  suffer  in  religion  extend  even  to  eternity.  For  this 
cause  the  holy  apostle  often  warns  the  faithful,  to  whom  he 
writes,  to  beware  of  them,  and  most  cautiously  to  try  all  things, 
that  they  may  not  be  inveigled  by  seducers,  nor  receive  their 
traditions  for  truths,  desiring  every  sincere  and  real  christian 
to  have  his  senses  exercised  and  habituated  to  discern  between 
good  and  evil,  Rom,  xvi.  17  ;  1  Thess.  v.  21  ;  Eph.  iv.  14  ; 
Heb.  V.  14,  You  may  have  observed  in  the  text  that  this  is 
che  happiness  which  he  wishes  and  would  procure  to  the 
Colossians,  of  not  being  drawn  in  by  the  fair  speeches  of  those 
seducers  that  courted  them.  He  had  before  largely  represented 
to  them  the  abundance  and  excellency  of  the  benefits  of  their 
Lord  and  Saviour  ;  and  he  protested  again  in  the  verse  imme- 
diately prior  to  our  text,  as  you  may  remember,  in  our  last 
sermon  on  this  subject,  that  "  in  Jesus  Christ  are  hid  all  the 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge."  Now  he  shows  them 
his  design  in  his  immediate  recurrence  to  a  theme  of  which  he 
seemed  to  have  sufficiently  treated  in  the  preceding  texts. 
Now  "  this  I  say,  that  none  may  deceive  you  with  words  of 
persuasion."     And  to  show  that  he  did  not  vainly  or  rashly 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  25T 

undertake  this  task,  he  apprizes  them  in  the  following  verse 
of  the  knowledge  that  he  had  of  their  state,  it  being  as  really 
before  his  eyes  as  if  he  had  been  at  Colosse.  "  For,"  says  he, 
"  though  I  am  absent  in  the  flesh,  yet  in  spirit  I  am  with  you,, 
joying  and  beholding  your  order,  and  the  steadfastness  of  your 
faith  in  Christ." 

Thus  we  have  two  points  to  handle,  that  we  may  give  you  a 
full  and  entire  understanding  of  this  text. 

First,  the  apostle's  study  that  these  christians  might  not  be 
seduced.     And, 

Secondly,  the  cognizance  he  took  of  their  present  state, 
though  in  body  he  was  far  distant  from  them. 

If  Grod  permit,  we  shall  briefly  consider  these  two  things, 
pointing  out  what  we  judge  useful  for  your  edification  and 
consolation  in  them. 

1.  The  first  of  these  points  the  apostle  expresses  in  these 
words,  "And  this  I  say,  lest  any  man  should  beguile  you  with 
enticing  words."  On  which  words  we  have  two  things  to  ex- 
amine :  the  danger  in  which  the  Colossians  were,  and  the  use- 
fulness of  the  apostle's  statement  to  preserve  them  from  incur- 
ring it.  The  danger  was  great,  and  the  evil  which  it  threatened 
grievous  and  mortal,  even  the  being  deceived  and  seduced  by 
the  enticing  words  which  false  teachers  used  in  this  wretched 
design.  There  never  was  any  servant  of  Christ  who  was  not 
beset  by  such  a  temptation.  As  soon  as  Satan  sees  the  truth 
of  the  gospel  anywhere  appear,  immediately  he  raises  up  im- 
postors to  corrupt  it,  and  to  alienate  those  who  embrace  it  from 
its  purity  and  simplicity.  But  especially  at  the  beginning  of 
Christianity,  when  it  was  first  preached  aud  founded  by  the 
holy  apostles,  there  arose  a  multitude  of  seducers,  who  did 
their  utmost  to  deprave  and  mar  this  divine  seed  of  salvation; 
and  the  devil  made  similar  attempts  in  our  fathers'  days,  when, 
perceiving  the  gospel  to  revive,  eager  instantly  to  obstruct  this 
holy  work,  he  speedily  brought  into  the  field  a  world  of  spirits, 
some  audacious  and  extravagant,  others  subtle  and  selfish, 
which  endeavoured  to  scandalize  or  to  seduce  the  simple;  those, 
by  the  prodigies  of  their  fond  imaginations  ;  these,  by  the 
plausible  appearances  of  their  false  accommodations.  But 
they  who  troubled  the  church  in  the  apostle's  time  addressed 
themselves,  among  others,  to  the  Colossians  in  particular,  as 
we  see  by  what  is  here  intimated,  and  by  what  is  more  fully 
stated  in  the  course  of  this  chapter.  He  does  not  name  them; 
but  his  saying,  "lest  any  man  should  beguile  you,"  is  a  suffi- 
cient evidence  that  there  were  some  craftsmen  of  this  quality 
about  them  who  laboured  to  insnare  them.  At  these  he  aims 
his  weapons,  and  against  the  force  of  their  seducements  he 
arms  the  Colossians.  He  shows  the  end  to  which  they  tended, 
the  deceiving  of  the  faithful;  and  the  means  they  used  to  effect 
it,  namely,  "  enticing  words." 
33 


258  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.   XVIII. 

The  term  lie  employs  to  express  the  first  of  these  signifies 
not  simply  to  deceive,  but  to  deceive  by  false  and  insnaring 
ratiocination.  For  these  bad  men,  knowing  well  that  others 
are  not  induced  to  embrace  or  avoid  anything  without  some 
reason,  our  nature  demanding  that  in  all  our  actions  and  mo- 
tives the  understanding  should  precede  the  will,  they  begin 
there  to  effect  our  ruin  ;  and  to  entangle  our  minds  in  their 
errors,  they  propose  us  reasons,  false  indeed,  but  appearing 
otherwise  ;  such  as  have  the  colour  and  countenance,  but  not 
the  essential  form  and  substance,  of  a  good  and  solid  argu- 
ment. This  the  word  paralogism,  here  used  by  the  apostle, 
properly  signifies.  It  is  a  sophism,  a  false  and  spurious  ar- 
guing which,  by  its  vain  appearance  and  fallacious  blaze, 
leads  men  to  error  ;  as  those  fatuous  fires,  which,  rising  some- 
times in  the  dark  of  night,  conduct  those  who  follow  them 
into  precipices.  Satan,  the  father  of  all  sophisters,  took  this 
course  first,  having  miserably  seduced  our  first  parents  by  the 
illusion  of  a  false  discourse,  the  vanity  of  which  experience 
clearly  demonstrated  ;  for,  that  he  might  corrupt  their  will, 
he  attacked  their  understandings  in  the  first  place,  and 
beguiled  them  that  he  might  destroy  them,  persuading  that 
the  forbidden  fruit  would  make  them  like  God.  All  whom 
he  has  in  succeeding  ages  employed  in  this  work  have  fol- 
lowed the  same  method.  No  heretic  ever  appeared,  either 
under  the  Old  or  the  New  Testament,  who  did  not  paint 
over  his  impostures  with  some  specious  reasons.  Only  this 
difference  may  be  observed  among  such  men,  that  some  act 
maliciously,  and  in  defiance  of  their  own  consciences  ;  others, 
through  ignorance.  The  former  sort  are  genuine  children  of 
the  devil,  and  the  most  execrable  of  all  men.  Conscious  that 
they  are  fighting  against  the  truth,  and  defending  error  by 
most  futile  reasons,  they  undauntedly  labour  in  this  unhappy 
design,  either  for  acquiring  glory  to  themselves,  or  for  creating 
trouble  to  teachers  of  truth,  to  whom  they  are  hostile.  Those 
of  the  other  sort,  who  do  it  through  ignorance,  have,  I  confess, 
less  guilt  and  wickedness,  but  they  are  no  less  dangerous  ; 
for  really  believing  the  errors  which  they  advance,  they  are 
the  more  ardent  and  strenuous  in  persuading  others  to  embrace 
them,  as  imagining  that  they  serve  them  when  they  indeed  de- 
stroy them,  and  that  they  edify  when  in  truth  they  ruin  them. 
Such  were  those  Jews  of  whom  Paul  bears  witness,  that  they 
had  a  zeal  of  God,  but  not  according  to  knowledge,  Eom.  x.  2. 
Thev  believed  the  error  which  they  recommended,  and  were 
caught  in  those  snares  in  which  they  sought  to  entangle 
others.  And  in  this  rank  we  must  place  the  most  of  those  of 
the  Eoman  communion,  who  labour  much  to  draw  us  into  their 
mistakes  ;  not  only  those  of  the  people,  but  also  many  of  their 
monks  and  of  their  doctors,  who  labour  to  deceive  others  be- 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  259 

cause  they  have  been  themselves  deceived,  having  run  into 
that  erroneous  persuasion  into  which  they  would  induce  us, 
and  confirmed  themselves  from  time  to  time  in  it,  by  those  so- 
phisms and  false  reasonings  which  they  offer  us,  and  which 
they  have  either  learned  of  their  instructors  or  invented  them- 
selves. We  must  equally  take  heed  of  both  these  sorts  of 
workers.  For  however  different  the  motive  of  their  acting 
may  be,  the  effect  of  it  is  ever  the  same,  even  seduction  and 
perdition.  And  as  poison  fails  not  to  kill  the  man  who  takes 
it,  though  it  have  been  ignorantly  given  him  by  a  person  that 
knew  it  not  to  be  poison,  who  perchance  partook  of  it  himself, 
thinking  it  a  remedy  ;  so  error,  from  whatever  hand  it  come, 
has  still  a  bad  effect  ;  and  the  opinion  they  have  of  it  who 
present  it  to  us  does  not  change  the  venom  of  it,  nor  impede 
its  corrupting  our  souls,  and  extingaishing  divine  life  in  us 
if  we  receive  it. 

But  the  apostle  also  points  out  the  means  which  false  teach- 
ers use  for  the  establishment  of  their  errors  :  That  none,  says 
he,  may  deceive  you  "  with  enticing  words."  These  he  calls, 
Eom,  xvi.  18,  in  the  same  case,  "  good  words  and  fair  speeches," 
and  declares  that  schismatics,  and  such  as  make  divisions  con- 
trary to  the  doctrine  we  have  learned,  seduce  "  the  hearts  of 
the  simple  by  good  words  and  fair  speeches."  These  he  names 
again  elsewhere  the  "enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom,"  1  Cor. 
ii.  4.  Under  these  terms  he  comprehends  all  the  advantages 
and  attractives  of  discourse,  all  that  it  has  in  it  which  is  apt 
to  touch  and  win  hearts  ;  as  either  probable  reasons,  with 
which  it  is  furnished,  or  beauty  of  terms  and  expressions,  or 
artificial  disposition  and  graceful  pronunciation.  Every  one 
knows  how  potent  are  these  charms  of  eloquence.  They  some- 
times dazzle  the  best  eyes,  and  deceive  the  firmest  minds. 
Eloquence  makes  things,  as  it  were  by  a  kind  of  enchantment, 
appear  quite  opposite  to  what  they  really  are,  and  gives  them 
colours  and  qualities  that  are  not  their  own  ;  it  makes  honey 
pass  for  wormwood,  and  wormwood  for  honey  ;  black  for  white, 
and  white  for  black.  It  can  subvert  a  cause,  however  good,  or 
establish  it,  however  bad.  There  is  no  ardour  which  it  cannot 
allay,  no  belief  which  it  cannot  agitate,  no  resolution  which  it 
cannot  break.  It  has  often  procured  condemnation  of  the  in- 
nocent, while  the  guilty  have  been  acquitted  with  applause. 
It  is  by  its  sleights  that  truth,  however  invincible  it  may  be, 
has  sometimes  seemed  to  be  vanquished.  To  its  adroitness 
and  stratagems  the  friends  of  error  and  falsehood  owe  the 
greatest  part  of  their  mendacious  triumphs.  For  feeling  their 
own  great  weakness,  they  commonly  have  recourse  to  this 
kind  of  sorcery,  that  they  may  carry  by  its  illusions  what  they 
could  never  win  by  genuine  and  legitimate  strength.  It  is  this 
that  maintains  sophisters,  and  wranglers,  and  mountebanks, 


260  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XVIII. 

and  seducers.  With  the  sophistry  and  loquacity  which  it 
lends  them,  they  audaciously  stand  up  and  oppose  the  clearest 
truths,  and  recommend  the  grossest  errors.  But  among  all 
the  busy  people  who  use  it,  none  more  perniciously  employ 
it  than  heretics  and  corrupters  of  religion.  This  false  rhe- 
toric is  their  principal  instrument  for  seducing  men.  Accord- 
ingly, it  is  evident  that  they  have  always  taken  it  up,  and 
scarcely  ever  assailed  the  truth  with  any  other  kind  of  weapon. 
And  it  must  be  confessed  that  they  handle  these  instruments 
with  wonderful  dexterity.  Never  was  cause,  in  matter  of 
religion,  more  sordid,  or  shameful,  or  feeble,  than  that  of 
the  pagans  ;  yet  they  who  pleaded  it  against  the  ancient 
christians  knew  so  well  how  to  disguise  it  with  the  colours 
of  their  false  reasons,  and  the  gloss  of  their  fine  words,  that 
they  made  it  pass  for  plausible  among  the  multitude,  and  ren- 
dered Christianity  ridiculous  to  them,  however  holy  and  lu- 
minous was  its  truth.  Those  heretics  which  arose  from  among 
christians  had  no  less  ability  and  art  to  recommend  their  im- 
postures, borrowing,  for  this  purpose,  from  the  philosophers 
and  orators  of  the  world,  the  subtilties  of  their  logic,  and  all 
the  colours  of  their  rhetoric.  There  are  still  extant  some 
pieces  of  both  in  the  books  of  antiquity  ;  as  the  discourses  of 
Celsus  in  Origen  :  of  Csecilius  in  Minutius  ;  of  Porphyrins 
and  Symmachus,  for  paganism  ;  various  writings  of  Tertullian, 
for  Montanism  ;  of  Faustus,  for  the  Manichees  ;  and  of  Julian, 
for  the  Pelagians,  in  Augustine.  It  is  wonderful  with  what 
dexterity  and  with  what  grace  and  eloquence  they  manage 
such  bad  and  infamous  subjects;  nor  can  I  read  them  without 
lamenting  that  so  many  excellent  and  highly  approvable  things 
should  be  miserably  profaned  in  the  service  of  error  ;  indeed 
one  cannot  but  groan  to  see  the  marble,  and  gold,  and  azure, 
and  precious  stones  employed  in  adorning  the  temple  of  an 
idol. 

I  wish  you  particularly  to  notice  this,  my  brethren,  that  you 
may  not  be  confounded  if  the  Romanists  at  this  day  are  able 
speciously  to  defend  a  very  bad  cause,  nor  be  much  moved  at 
the  ostentation  they  make  of  it,  who  are  not  ashamed  to  boast 
of  the  eloquence  and  subtlety  of  their  teachers,  as  if  this  were 
one  of  the  marks  of  truth.  I  freely  consent  to  the  praises 
they  give  them,  and  acknowledge  that  enticing  words  (as  the 
apostle  here  calls  them)  abound  on  their  side  ;  but  I  dare  af- 
firm, notwithstanding,  and  am  confident  that  every  intelligent 
and  dispassionate  person  will  agree  with  me,  that,  however 
subtle  and  eloquent  their  masters  are,  and  whatever  pains  they 
have  taken  for  the  better  colouring  and  burnishing  their  doc- 
trine, their  works  are  not  more  neat,  nor  more  polite,  nor  more 
specious  and  fair,  than  the  words  of  those  pagans  and  heretics 
whom  I  have  just  named;  yea,  to  speak  without  prejudice,  I 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  261 

believe  they  are  far  inferior  to  them.  Let  them  forbear  there- 
fore to  urge  for  a  mark  of  truth  an  advantage  which  is  com- 
mon to  them  with  pagans  and  heretics,  an  advantage  which 
the  most  infamous  causes  employ,  which  the  worst  ordinarily 
seek  after  more  earnestly  than  the  best  ;  so  much  more  cun- 
ning being  used  in  their  defence,  by  how  much  less  strength 
they  have  in  themselves. 

I  have  no  wish  to  decry  eloquence  and  acuteness,  or  preju- 
dice you  against  them,  as  if  they  were  never  engaged  except 
in  the  service  of  error  ;  I  willingly  acknowledge  they  are  ex- 
cellent graces  of  God,  and  that  he  gives  them  to  men  properly 
for  the  defence  of  truth,  and  surely  they  have  not  always  had 
the  misfortune  to  contend  for  falsehood.  They  have  often 
done  good  service  to  the  gospel,  and  employed  their  might  for 
its  glory,  both  heretofore  against  the  pagans  and  the  old  here- 
tics ;  and  in  our  times  against  those  of  Rome,  as  appears  by 
the  writings  both  of  the  fathers  and  of  our  own  learned  men  ; 
many  of  whom  are  in  this  respect  quite  equal  to  their  adver- 
saries, besides  their  having  the  principal  advantage,  that  is,  the 
truth  on  their  side.  Paul  himself,  who  here  condemns  words 
of  persuasion  when  they  recommend  error,  does  not  reject 
them  when  they  are  employed  in  the  service  of  truth.  And 
though  he  was  not  very  conversant  with  the  art  of  secular 
eloquence,  consequently  he  says  of  himself,  that  for  speech  he 
was  as  one  of  the  vulgar,  yet  his  discourses  want  no  strength 
nor  grace  ;  that  rich  heavenly  knowledge  which  abounded  in 
his  heart  giving  its  tincture  to  the  words  of  his  mouth.  That 
great  personage  indeed  felt  how  it  was,  who,  hearing  him 
speak,  was  pressed  with  the  force  of  his  discourse,  and  said 
aloud,  "  Almost  thou  persuadest  me  to  be  a  christian,"  Acts 
xxvi.  28.  All  my  aim  is,  that  since  error  oftentimes  abuses 
eloquence,  and  acuteness  is  used  against  the  truth,  as  evil  men 
use  other  gifts  of  God  to  evil  ends,  we  should  not  estimate  the 
value  of  any  cause  by  this  advantage,  nor  hastily  embrace  that 
party  that  defends  itself  with  the  best  and  most  persuasive 
words,  nor  reject  that  which  has  least  of  these  ornaments  in 
view.  As  innocence  is  not  always  the  best  clothed,  so  truth 
frequently  is  not  the  most  richly  decked.  And  though  of  it- 
self it  is  always  more  probable,  more  likely,  and  more  easily 
maintainable  than  falsehood,  as  one  of  the  ancient  sages  well 
observed  ;*  yet  sometimes  it  happens  through  the  sleight  of 
seducers,  by  the  false  light  in  which  they  set  it,  and  the  colours 
with  which  they  shadow  it,  that  it  looks  worse  in  the  eyes  of 
the  ignorant  than  a  lie.  Let  us  take  heed,  then,  of  their  sur- 
prising us,  and  so  well  fortif}?-  our  minds  against  their  illusions, 
that  we  may  never  reject  the  truth,  however  deformed  and  dis- 

*  Arist.  Rhetor.  1.  1.  c  6. 


262  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XVIII. 

gusting  it  may  appear  according  to  their  representations  of  it; 
nor  receive  a  delusion,  however  specious  and  plausible  they 
may  render  it.  Eemember,  that  that  Babylon,  the  mother  of 
error,  who  is  portrayed  before  us  in  the  Apocalypse,  chap, 
xvii.  4,  presents  its  abominations  unto  men  in  a  golden  cup  ; 
that  is,  she  gives  her  poisons  in  a  pleasing  vessel,  and  shuts  up 
and  hides  the  hideousness  of  her  impostures  under  very  fair 
and  specious  words.  Thus  those  seducers  formerly  acted  who 
solicited  the  Colossians  ;  their  errors  were  attended  with  per- 
suasive or  enticing  words  for  the  purpose  of  beguiling  them. 
This  is  the  danger  from  which  Paul  would  here  preserve 
them. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  means  which  he  puts  into  their 
bands  that  they  may  safely  guard  themselves  from  it.  This  I 
say  unto  you,  "  lest  any  man  should  beguile  you  with  enticing 
words."  Here  it  is  evident  that  what  he  saith  is  able,  if  duly 
improved,  to  keep  us  from  falling  into  seductive  error,  and  to 
frustrate  all  the  charms  of  its  fine  and  attractive  words.  What 
then  does  he  say  ?  What  is  that  holy  and  efficacious  speech 
which  can  dissipate  the  illusions  and  enchantments  of  error? 
Dear  brethren,  you  heard  it  in  the  exposition  of  the  preceding 
text,  where  this  holy  man  told  us  that  all  the  treasures  of  wis- 
dom and  knowledge  are  hid  in  Jesus  Christ  ;  such  is  the  apos- 
tle's meaning.  This  is  that  celestial  oracle  to  which  he  attri- 
butes this  great  virtue.  This  is  the  remedy  which  he  gives  us 
against  all  the  poisons  and  all  the  charms  of  seduction.  None 
of  the  weapons  or  the  wiles  of  error  can  bear  up  before  this 
sacred  word.  It  alone  is  sufficient,  if  we  use  it  as  we  ought, 
to  confound  and  annihilate  all  the  fictitious  wonders  of  the  elo- 
quence and  subtlety  of  false  teachers,  as  in  ancient  time  the 
rod  of  Moses  swallowed  up  all  the  rods  of  the  Egyptian  magi- 
cians. For  whoever  holds  fast  this  principle  in  his  heart,  that 
all  true  wisdom  and  knowledge  are  in  Jesus  Christ,  will  re- 
ceive nothing  out  of  Christ.  Being  satisfied  with  this  treasure, 
he  will  despise  all  other  things,  however  specious  and  plausi- 
ble. Seduction  will  do  little  by  displaying  its  arts  and  gilding 
and  painting  over  its  inventions  with  the  fair  colours  either 
of  ratiocination  or  of  eloquence.  It  will  get  no  ground  upon 
such  a  one,  since,  after  all,  the  thing  it  so  carefully  polishes  is 
not  in  Jesus  Christ,  out  of  whom  he  will  know  nothing.  He 
will  not  so  much  as  hear  the  babbling  of  error,  so  far  will  he 
be  from  being  affected  with  it.  He  will  shut  his  ear  against 
its  fine  words,  so  far  is  he  from  being  seduced  by  them.  Or  if 
he  please  to  cast  his  eye  upon  the  works  of  its  subtlety  and 
its  eloquence,  he  will  look  upon  them  as  spiders'  webs,  or  as 
jugglers'  feats,  which  amuse  us  and  beguile  our  senses,  but 
make  no  impression  on  our  hearts.  We  well  know  they  de- 
ceive us,  though  we  cannot  tell  how.     So  the  faithful  man  will 


CHAP.  II.]         THE   EPISTLE    TO   THE    COLOSSIANS.  263 

hold  that  for  a  deceit  and  illusion  which  leads  him  out  of 
Jesus  Christ,  though  he  does  not  see  wherein  the  sophism  of 
the  error  consists,  nor  is  able  easily  to  untie  its  knots. 

This,  dear  brethren,  is  the  sure  and  infallible  means  to  ex- 
clude and  to  expel  all  error  from  among  us.  Seducement  wins 
only  upon  those  who  betray  this  gate,  and  yield  that  there  may 
be  something  of  good  and  saving  importance  out  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  his  Scriptures.  When  once  it  has  this  ground 
given,  it  never  wants  paint  and  pretences  to  colour  its  delu- 
sions, and  to  render  even  those  plausible  and  likely  which  are 
otherwise  most  gross  and  extravagant.  Thus  those  traditions 
and  ceremonies  which  have  still  the  vogue  among  our  adver- 
saries were,  by  degrees,  obtruded  upon  christians; — the  invo- 
cation of  angels  and  of  departed  saints  ;  the  sacrifice  of  the 
altar,  and  the  veneration  of  relics  and  of  images  ;  the  visible 
head,  and  the  hierarchy,  and  the  infallibility  of  the  church  ; 
satisfactions,  and  the  merit  of  works  ;  prayers  and  services  in 
a  language  not  understood;  the  adoration  of  the  host;  com- 
munion in  one  kind  only  ;  purgatory,  suffrages  for  the  dead, 
and  many  other  such  things.  Thousands  of  colours  are  found 
to  paint  them  out,  and  recommend  either  the  belief  or  the 
practice  of  them  to  poor  people.  There  are  huge  books  made 
about  them,  full  of  wit  and  eloquence,  that  drive  the  matter  so 
far,  as  to  make  these  things  pass  for  the  principal  and  most 
useful  part  of  christian  devotion.  But  this  short  saying  of 
Paul's  is  enough  to  ruin  all  their  labours,  and  to  secure  us  from 
all  their  snares  :  "  In  Jesus  Christ  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge."  It  is  sufficient  for  me  to  have  him, 
since,  having  him,  I  have  all  that  appertains  to  true  wisdom. 
However  well  disputed,  and  however  eloquently  pleaded,  are  all 
your  traditions,  I  am  not  concerned  in  them,  seeing  I  have  the 
treasure  of  all  science  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  it  is  not  here 
alone  that  the  apostle  gives  us  this  lesson  for  freeing  ourselves 
from  the  entanglements  and  snares  of  error;  when  instructing 
the  Hebrews,  and  exhorting  them  not  to  be  carried  to  and  fro 
with  divers  and  strange  doctrines,  he  lays  before  them,  at  the 
entrance,  this  divine  principle,  that  "Jesus  Christ  is  the  same 
yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  for  ever,"  Heb.  xiii.  8. 

II.  But  it  is  now  time  to  come  to  the  second  part  of  our 
text,  in  which  the  apostle  declares  to  the  Colossians,  the  cog- 
nizance he  took  of  the  state  of  their  church.  "  For  though  I 
be  absent  in  flesh,  yet  am  I  with  you  in  the  spirit,  rejoicing 
and  beholding  your  order,  and  the  steadfastness  of  your  faith 
in  Christ."  This  is  the  reason  why  he  counsels  them  to  take 
heed  of  the  wiles  of  seducers,  and  so  carefully  puts  into  their 
hands  the  means  to  preserve  themselves.  For  some  might 
have  thought  it  strange,  that  being  so  far  from  them,  and  in  all 
probability  ignorant  of  their  condition,  he  should  give  them 


264  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.   XVIII. 

sucli  a  caution.  He  prevents  this  surmise,  and  answers,  that 
though  he  was  at  Rome,  yet  he  attended  to  what  was  doing  at 
Colosse  ;  the  affection  which  he  bore  them  obliging  him  to  in- 
terest himself  in  all  their  aflairs.  Wonder  not  (says  he)  that 
I  address  you  in  this  manner,  and  send  you,  from  so  great  a 
distance,  preservatives  against  seduction  ;  for  though  many 
seas  and  hills  sever  my  body  from  you,  yet  my  spirit  is  with 
you,  taking  part  in  all  that  befalls  you,  rejoicing  in  the  pros- 
perous estate  of  your  piety,  but  at  the  same  time  fearing  the 
attempts  of  those  enemies  which  I  see  around  you,  ready  to 
sow  the  tares  of  schism  and  error  upon  the  least  opening  they 
find  for  it. 

Some  refer  his  saying  that  he  was  in  spirit  with  the  Golos- 
sians  to  an  extraordinary  and  miraculous  operation  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  who,  replenishing  his  soul  with  light,  enabled 
him  to  see  occurrences  at  the  gi^eatest  distance  as  clearly  as  if 
he  had  been  present,  after  the  same  manner  that  God  had 
showed  Elisha  what  his  servant  Gehazi  did  with  Naaman  ; 
a  passage  which  accordingly  the  prophet  expresses  almost  in 
the  same  manner:  "  Went  not  mine  heart  with  thee,"  says  he 
to  Gehazi,  "  when  the  man  turned  again  from  his  chariot  to 
meet  thee  ?"  2  Kings  v.  26.  I  confess  indeed  that  God  could 
easily  have  made  known  to  Paul,  while  Nero's  prisoner  at 
Rome,  all  that  passed  in  the  church  of  Colosse,  with  as  much, 
yea,  more  certainty,  than  he  could  have  learned  by  personal 
observation  ;  and  have  also  revealed  to  him  the  whole  state 
of  other  churches  more  distant  from  Italy  ;  as  he  gave  to 
Ezekiel,  while  living  in  captivity  at  Babylon,  the  power  to 
see  the  most  secret  actions  of  the  Jews,  in  the  city  and  the 
temple  of  Jerusalem.  But  it  is  dangerous  to  argue  from  what 
God  can  do  to  what  he  does,  and  under  colour  of  some  slight 
probabilities  to  resolve  upon  things  which  his  word  does  not 
at  all  affirm  ;  and  as  we  may  not  multiply  miracles  without 
necessity,  I  think  it  best  and  safest  not  to  suppose  that  the 
apostle  was  in  this  very  extraordinary  manner  present  with 
the  Colossians.  but  to  interpret  his  words  simply  as  others 
do,  of  a  presence  in  respect  of  care  and  affection.  For  nothing 
is  more  common  in  all  languages,  than  to  say  that  our  minds 
are  in  those  places,  and  with  those  persons,  who  engage  our 
thoughts  and  affection.  This  gave  rise  to  the  common  observa- 
tion, that  the  soul  is  where  it  loves,  because  to  that  spot  it 
generally  directs  its  affections,  its  wishes,  and  its  reflections. 
And  in  this  sense  we  receive  what  the  apostle  says  to  the 
Corinthians,  that  though  absent  in  body,  he  was  present  with 
them  in  spirit,  1  Cor.  v.  3.  All  he  means  is,  that  his  bonds 
did  not  confine  his  spirit,  and  detain  it  a  prisoner  at  Rome  ; 
nor,  fora  single  hour,  contravene  his  concern  for  them,  and 
having  his  affections  and  thoughts  continually  among  them. 


CHAP,  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  265 

He  represented  to  himself  their  estate  as  vividly  as  if  they 
had  stood  before  him  ;  and  derived  from  this  lively  conception 
the  same  emotions  of  joy,  satisfoction,  and  fear,  that  the  sight 
of  them  would  have  produced  within  him.  So  that  there 
need  be  no  wonder  if,  having  them  so  deeply  engraven  on  his 
heart,  and  ever  present  to  the  eyes  of  his  mind,  he  became 
pained  for  them,  and  at  such  distance  prescribed  them  neces- 
sary precautions  and  preservatives  against  the  pleasant  but 
pernicious  poisons  of  error. 

Observe,  I  beseech  you,  this  holy  man's  prudent  and  apt 
procedure.  To  justify  the  care  which  he  took  of  them,  he 
does  not  urge  the  danger  they  were  in,  their  weakness,  or  the 
bad  inclinations  which  some  of  them  had  ;  this  discourse  would 
have  been  offensive,  as  showing  a  distrust  of  their  pietv  ;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  he  here  tells  them  of  the  prosperity  of  their 
spiritual  estate,  the  beauty  of  their  order,  and  the  constancy 
of  their  faith:  "Joying  and  beholding  your  order,  and  the 
steadfastness  of  your  faith."  Do  not  imagine,  says  he,  that  I 
have  an  ill  opinion  of  your  piety  because  I  so  earnestly  advise 
you  to  stand  fast;  I  am  very  well  satisfied  concerning  it,  and 
find  you  in  so  good  a  posture,  that  I  have  much  consolation 
at  it  ;  this  matter  being  so  pleasing  to  me,  that  it  fills  my  heart 
with  joy,  notwithstanding  the  sad  state  that  I  am  in.  But 
from  the  same  root  whence  springs  my  joy,  my  ardent  desire 
to  see  you  go  on  from  good  to  better  also  arises,  and  with  it 
the  solicitude  and  care  I  take  to  exhort  it,  because  it  would 
be  an  extreme  regret  and  displeasure  to  see  error  waste  or 
wound  so  fair  and  flourishing  a  church  ever  so  little.  See 
how  by  praising  them  he  obliges  them  to  regard  his  cautions, 
and  by  the  very  consideration  of  their  having  so  well  begun, 
more  and  more  engages  them  to  holy  perseverance  to  the  end. 
Thus  he  also  treated  the  Philippians  :  "  My  brethren,"  said  he 
to  them,  "  dearly  beloved  and  longed  for,  my  joy  and  crown, 
so  stand  fast  in  the  Lord,  my  dearly  beloved,"  Phil.  iv.  1. 

You  perceive,  without  my  indication,  that  when  he  says, 
"joying  and  beholding  your  order,"  the  meaning  is,  rejoicing 
to  see,  or  because  I  see,  your  order.  For  in  Scripture  language, 
and  even  in  common  speech,  the  particle  and  is  often  used  in 
this  sense,  and  signifies  because,  or,  forasmuch  as.  He  praises 
and  extols  two  things  in  these  faithful  persons,  in  which  the 
happiness  and  the  perfection  of  a  church  consist,  namely,  order, 
and  a  firm  and  constant  faith.  By  the  order  of  these  Colos- 
sians,  he  means  the  good  disposition  of  all  the  parts  of  their 
church,  the  vigilancy  of  the  pastors,  the  submission  and  obedi- 
ence of  the  flock,  their  joint  regard  of  discipline  ;  each  keeping 
themselves  within  the  bounds  of  their  vocation,  and  both  to- 
gether living  in  concord  and  good  intelligence,  honestly,  and 
without  scandal.     For  that  order  comprehends  also  purity  and 


266  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XVIII. 

holiness  of  life  the  apostle  evidently  shows  in  another  place, 
where,  to  signify  those  that  lead  a  scandalous  life,  he  says  that 
they  walk  disorderly,  2  Thess.  iii.  6.  He  praises  also  the  firm- 
ness of  their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  signifying  thereby  both  that 
full  persuasion  they  had  of  the  truth  and  divinity  of  his  gospel, 
and  their  constancy  to  hold  it  fast,  notwithstanding  the  assaults 
and  temptations  of  the  enemy.  This  faith,  dear  brethren,  and 
this  order  of  the  Colossians,  were  the  matter  of  the  apostle's 
joy,  and  the  cause  both  of  the  desire  he  had  to  see  them  perse- 
vere still  in  so  good  a  course,  and  of  the  advice  he  gave  them, 
not  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  beguiled  by  the  enticing  words 
of  seducers,  and  likewise  of  adding  that  preservative,  of  medi- 
tating incessantly  upon  the  treasures  of  wisdom  which  are  in 
Jesus  for  saving  themselves  from  this  destructive  danger. 

It  is  now  our  business  to  make  a  good  improvement  of  so 
excellent  a  lesson.  We  are  as  much  environed,  or  more  so, 
than  the  Colossians  formerly  were,  with  people  who  endeavour 
to  deceive  us  with  enticing  words,  who  daily  make  all  kind  of 
attempts  upon  our  faith,  and  do  not  forget  the  sophisms  of 
subtilty,  or  the  charms  of  eloquence,  presenting  error  to  us 
disguised  with  divers  specious  colours.  To  secure  our  minds 
from  their  illusions,  let  us  tell  them,  as  the  apostle  teaches  us, 
that  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  are  hid  in  that  Jesus  Christ 
whom  we  have  embraced  ;  that  he  is  sufficient  to  make  us  wise 
to  salvation;  and  that  we  need  to  know  none  but  him  to  obtain 
happiness.  If  with  fair  and  artful  words  they  represent  to  us 
the  necessity  of  an  expiatory  sacrifice,  for  recommending  that 
of  their  own  altars  ;  or  the  utility  of  satisfactions  to  make  us 
receive  theirs  ;  or  the  horror  of  sin,  which  has  no  entrance  into 
the  kingdom  of  God,  to  persuade  us  about  their  purgatory;  or 
the  need  we  have  of  an  intercessor,  to  induce  us  to  have  recourse 
to  a  mediation  of  angels,  and  of  departed  saints  ;  or  of  a  head, 
to  set  up  their  pope  :  let  us  answer  them,  that  we  have  all  this 
most  fully  in  Jesus  Christ  ;  that  his  cross  is  our  sacrifice,  his 
sufferings  our  satisfaction,  his  blood  our  purgation  ;  that  while 
we  possess  him,  we  shall  need  neither  an  intercessor  to  open 
the  throne  of  the  grace  of  God  to  us,  and  render  both  our  per- 
sons and  our  prayers  acceptable  to  him,  nor  a  head  to  govern 
and  preserve  us.  Let  us  account  all  that  would  turn  us  aside 
from  him,  or  place  any  part  of  his  treasure  anywhere  else  than 
in  him,  to  be  a  seduction  and  an  illusion. 

As  good  physicians  not  only  preserve  from  poisons,  but  also 
draw  profit  from  them,  by  making  them  remedies  ;  so  let  us 
not  content  ourselves  with  keeping  the  venom  of  seducements 
from  hurting  us;  let  us  treat  them  in  such  a  way  as  that  they 
may  serve  us.  Let  their  ardour  in  the  cause  of  error  inflame 
our  zeal  for  the  truth.  Let  their  pains-taking  and  industry 
sharpen  our  diligence  and  care.     Let  us  employ  that  acuteue^^s 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  267 

and  eloquence  to  the  defence  of  the  gospel  which  they  profane 
in  the  service  of  an  imposture.  Let  us  have  no  less  affection 
for  the  cause  of  God  than  they  have  for  the  matters  of  flesh  and 
blood.  And  instead  of  the  extravagance  of  some  who  love 
ignorance  and  rudeness,  because  error  abuses  knowledge  and 
eloquence,  let  us,  on  the  contrary,  thence  take  occasion  to  la- 
bour in  adorning  and  embellishing  truth,  that  even  in  this  re- 
spect falsehood  may  have  no  advantage  above  it. 

But  if  the  examples  of  enemies  should  be  of  use  to  us,  much 
more  ought  the  examples  of  brethren,  which  wholly  and  solely 
tend  to  our  edification.  Let  us  profit  by  that  of  the  Colossians, 
whose  faith  and  order  the  apostle  praises,  that  we  might  imi- 
tate them.  Let  us  put  our  church  into  such  a  state  as  may 
give  joy  to  the  Lord,  to  his  angels  and  to  his  ministers.  My 
brethren,  I  admit  that  your  faith  and  order  may,  in  some  de- 
gree, be  commended  without  flattery,  as  by  the  grace  of  Christ 
you  persevere  in  his  fear,  and  assiduously  rank  yourselves 
under  his  ensigns,  no  temptation  having  been  able  hitherto  to 
make  you  desert  these  holy  assemblies.  But  you  are  not  igno- 
rant that,  together  with  this  well  doing,  there  are  many  fail- 
ures among  us,  that  many  things  occur  in  our  congregations 
little  comporting  with  the  dignity  of  the  house  of  God  ;  and 
that  the  hardness  of  some  stifiens  itself  against  discipline,  the 
only  bond  of  order  ;  and  if  our  faith  is  steadfast  against  error, 
it  is  far  too  yielding  to  sin.  Dear  brethren,  I  had  rather  leave 
the  examination  of  it  to  your  own  consciences,  than  here  pub- 
lish our  sin  and  shame,  and  will  content  myself  with  telling 
you  that  the  apostle  banishes  out  of  heaven  the  immoral  as  well 
as  the  idolatrous,  1  Cor.  vi.  9,  10.  God,  who  has  granted  us  to 
persevere  in  the  profession  of  his  truth,  be  pleased  powerfully 
to  correct,  by  the  efficacy  of  his  gospel,  the  defects  with  which 
his  gentleness  has  hitherto  borne;  and  sanctify  us  so  effica- 
ciously, that  after  we  have  glorified  him  on  earth  by  our  good 
order  and  conversation,  and  the  fruits  of  a  firm  and  immov- 
able faith,  we  may  hereafter  receive,  in  heaven,  from  his  mer- 
ciful hand,  the  reward  and  crown  of  blissful  immortality,  in 
his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  who,  in  the  unity  of  the  Father,  and  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  liveth  and  reigneth,  the  only  God,  blessed  for 
ever.     Amen. 


268  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XIX 

SERMON  XIX. 

VEESES   6,  7. 

As  ye  have  therefore  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord^  so  walk 
ye  in  him  :  rooted  and  built  up  in  him,  and  stablished  in 
the  faith,  as  ye  have  heen  taught,  abounding  therein  ivith 
thanksgiving. 

As  man  naturally  loves  novelty  and  variety,  the  best  and 
most  wholesome  things  become  disgusting  to  him,  when  he  is 
compelled,  for  a  long  time,  to  continue  the  use  of  them. 
What  food  was  there  ever  in  the  world  better,  more  savoury, 
more  nourishing,  and  more  miraculous,  than  the  manna  where- 
with God  fed  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness,  pouring  it  down 
daily  from  heaven  upon  them  by  the  ministry  of  angels  ; 
whence  it  is  called  the  bread  of  heaven,  and  angel's  food? 
Nevertheless,  this  wretched  people  were  soon  discontented 
with  it,  disdaining  that  precious  gift  of  God,  and  foolishly  re- 
gretting the  fruits  and  fish  of  Egypt.  "  Our  soul,"  said  they, 
"  is  dried  away  :  there  is  nothing  at  all,  besides  this  manna,  be- 
fore our  eyes,"  Numb.  xi.  6.  Dear  brethren,  this  history  is  a 
fit  emblem  of  what  has  befallen  men  in  reference  to  Jesus 
Christ  and  his  gospel,  the  true  bread  of  heaven,  sent  down 
from  God  into  the  wilderness  of  this  world  for  the  eternal  nu- 
triment of  mankind  ;  of  which  that  ancient  manna,  as  you 
know,  was  the  figure,  as  he  himself  teaches  us  in  the  6th  of 
John.  For  our  nature  is  not  less  fastidious,  nor  has  it  an  ap- 
petite less  extravagant,  with  respect  to  the  doctrines  necessary 
to  feed  our  souls,  than  it  has  with  respect  to  the  meat  that  is 
ordained  for  the  refreshment  of  our  bodies.  The  truth  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  is  embraced  at  the  first  with  desire  and  appetite, 
every  one  admiring  the  excellency  of  this  heavenly  food, 
which  infinitely  exceeds  the  productions  of  the  earth.  But 
though  it  be  altogether  holy  and  salutiferous,  yet  because  it  is 
simple  and  uniform,  the  vanity  of  man  in  desiring  change,  and 
variety  causes  him  immediately  to  loathe  it,  and  induces 
him  to  search  for  novelties  to  season  it,  and  render  it  more 
grateful. 

The  apostles  had  scarcely  sown  this  sacred  doctrine  in  the 
church,  when  evil  workers,  as  in  the  camp  of  Israel,  quickly 
rose  up,  who,  to  remedy  men's  disdain,  and  accommodate  this 
celestial  truth  to  their  palate,  must  needs  add  to  it  divers  in- 
ventions and  novelties  of  their  own.  And  Paul  foretold 
that  others  would  arise  as  bad  or  worse  than  they  :  "After 
their  own  lusts,"   says   he,   "shall  they  heap  to   themselves 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  269 

teachers,  having  itching  ears  ;  and  they  shall  turn  away  their 
ears  from  the  truth,  and  shall  be  turned  unto  fables,"  2  Tim. 
iv.  8,  4.  0  yirophecy  too  true  !  how  punctually  hast  thou  been 
fulfilled  !  This  foolish  itch  of  the  ear  has  caused  thousands  of 
fancies  and  novelties  to  be  gradually  entertained  among  chris- 
tians, which  have  so  borne  down,  and,  as  it  were,  overwhelmed 
the  gospel,  that  it  is  hardly  to  be  discerned  any  longer.  The 
doctrine  of  Eome  is  but  a  heap  of  traditions,  errors,  and  su- 
perstitions, partly  copied  from  Judaism,  and  some  from  pagan- 
ism itself,  and  partly  issuing  from  the  private  speculations  of 
some  particular  persons.  In  the  days  of  our  fathers,  the 
gospel,  having  been  brought  out  of  the  dark  caverns  of  ig- 
norance into  the  light  of  men,  was  received  in  a  similar 
manner  with  ardour  and  admiration.  But  that  loathing  of  the 
best  and  most  wholesome  things,  which  is  fatal  to  us,  quickly 
overtook  it,  and  stirred  up,  as  it  also  still  does,  divers  spirits, 
who,  for  a  remedy,  strive  to  corrupt  this  pure  doctrine,  and 
dress  up  its  simplicity  with  their  own  inventions  to  make  it 
please  the  world.  To  cure  us  of  this  fastidiousness,  the 
apostle  at  this  time  addresses  to  us  the  exhortation  you  have 
heard  ;  the  same  which  he  formerly  made  to  the  Galatians  for 
the  same  purpose,  forbidding  them  novelties  and  strange  doc- 
trines, and  enjoining  them  to  stand  fast  in  Jesus  Christ,  who 
had  been  preached  to  them,  without  admitting  or  desiring 
anything  beyond  his  gospel.  Therefore,  says  he,  "  as  ye  have 
received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  so  walk  ye  in  him,"  &c. 

To  give  you  a  full  and  entire  exposition  of  these  words,  we 
have  two  things  to  consider: 

First,  the  apostle's  exhortation  to  the  Colossians  to  cleave 
to  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  this  is  the  sense  and  intention  of  the  first 
verse. 

Secondly,  the  manner  in  which  he  would  have  them  cleave 
to  the  Lord,  namely,  by  the  confirmation  and  abounding  of 
their  faith  in  his  gospel  "with  thanksgiving."  Of  these  two 
particulars  we  purpose  to  treat  in  this  exercise,  by  the  assist- 
ance of  Christ,  for  your  edification  and  consolation. 

I.  You  may  remember,  that  in  the  preceding  text  the  apostle 
commended  the  faithful  people  of  Colosse,  and  rejoiced  at  the 
good  order  he  witnessed  in  their  church,  and  at  the  firmness 
of  their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  But  it  is  not  sufficient  to 
begin  well,  we  must  continue  in  well-doing,  inasmuch  as  sal- 
vation is  promised  only  to  those  who  shall  persevere  unto  the 
end  ;  with  good  reason,  and  very  pertinently,  therefore,  he 
now  adds  to  the  praise  he  gave  them  an  exhortation  to  con- 
tinue and  abide  firm  in  that  good  and  happy  state  wherein 
they  were  ;  and  the  more  so,  as  there  were  about  them  certain 
busy  and  unquiet  spirits,  who  with  their  inventions  and  sub- 
tilties,  endeavoured  to  vitiate  the  sincerity  of  their  belief,  as 


270  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XIX. 

you  have  already  heard,  and  shall  again  more  particularly 
hear,  at  the  conclusion  of  this  chapter.  "As  ye  have  there- 
fore," saith  he,  "  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  so  walk  ye 
in  him."  Jesus  Christ  is  the  subject  in  which  he  would  have 
them  abide.  For  he  is  "  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life  ;" 
neither  is  there  salvation  in  any  other.  But  because  these 
false  teachers,  the  better  to  propagate  their  vain  traditions, 
were  wont  to  colour  them  with  our  Saviour's  name,  knowing 
well  that  every  faithful  person  would  soon  hiss  at  them  if 
they  spake  openly  of  departing  from  Jesus  Christ,  or  of  living 
at  a  distance  from  him,  the  apostle  anticipates  this  danger,  and 
expressly  shows  the  Colossians  how  he  intends  they  should 
abide  firm  in  Jesus  Christ,  saying,  "  As  ye  have  received 
Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  so  walk  ye  in  him."  And  to  this  also 
that  which  he  adds  in  the  following  verse  has  relation,  "  as  ye 
have  been  taught."  By  this  he  clearly  signifies  that  the  doc- 
trine which  had  been  delivered  to  them,  either  by  himself  (if 
it  be  true  that  he  preached  the  gospel  to  them,  and  founded 
their  church  as  some  think)  or  by  Epaphras,  as  most  are  of 
opinion  ;  he  signifies,  I  say,  that  this  doctrine  which  had  been 
preached  to  them,  and  believed  by  them,  was  so  holy  and  di- 
vine, and  sufficient  to  salvation,  that  it  was  their  duty  con- 
stantly to  adhere  thereto,  and  to  admit  nothing  beyond  what 
they  had  heard  under  any  pretext  whatever.  "  This  is  the 
way,"  as  Isaiah  says,  "  walk  ye  in  it,  when  ye  turn  to  the  right 
hand,  and  when  ye  turn  to  the  left,"  chap.  xxx.  21. 

But  by  these  words  the  apostle  not  only  points  out  to  them 
and  explains  that  doctrine  which  they  ought  to  hold,  but  he 
enforces  it  upon  them,  as  affecting  their  reputation  ;  for  since 
they  had  received  it,  they  could  not  again  part  with  it  without 
convicting  themselves  either  of  imprudence  or  of  instability. 
For  he  that  quits  the  faith  he  once  embraced,  thereby  evidently 
shows  either  imprudence  in  having  taken  a  false  or  imperfect 
doctrine  for  good,  or  instability  in  quitting  and  altering  a 
doctrine  good  and  sufficient  when  he  received  it.  If  your  be- 
lief be  good,  why  do  you  change  it  ?  If  it  be  otherwise,  why 
did  you  entertain  it  ?  It  follows,  of  necessity,  either  that 
there  was  error  and  precipitation  in  the  one,  or  that  there  is 
weakness  and  fickleness  in  the  other.  So  you  see  that  a  regard 
to  their  own  reputation  obliged  these  christians  to  that  con- 
stancy to  which  the  apostle  enjoins  them.  Besides,  though  it 
be  a  heinous  sin  not  to  receive  the  Lord  Jesus  when  he  pre- 
sents himself  to  us  in  his  gospel,  yet  it  is  much  more  enor- 
mous to  cast  him  out  after  having  received  him;  as  it  is  a  far 
greater  outrage  to  thrust  a  man  from  your  house  when  you 
have  admitted  him,  than  to  shut  your  doors  against  him  at  the 
first.  The  one  is  a  simple  offence,  the  other  is  an  affront.  In 
like  manner,  it  is  a  much  more  injurious  treatment  to  desert 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  271 

Christ  Jesus  after  having  followed  him,  than  never  to  have 
listened  to  or  followed  him  at  all. 

And  observe  here,  I  prav,  the  efficacy  of  sound  doctrine  ;  it 
is  such  as  that  in  receiving  it  we  receive  Jesus  Christ  himself. 
For  this  highest  Lord  takes  up  his  abode  in  all  such  as  em- 
brace his  gospel.  And  we  may  apply  to  this  purpose  what  he 
said  to  his  apostles  on  a  similar  occasion,  "  He  that  receiveth 
you  receiveth  me  ;"  whoso  gives  credit  to  their  preaching  shall 
have  their  Master  to  be  with  him  ;  he  shall  entertain  not  men 
or  angels,  but  the  King  of  men  and  angels,  the  eternal  Son  of 
God,  the  Prince  of  life,  and  Father  of  eternity.  He  that  re- 
ceives the  doctrine  of  an  Aristotle,  or  a  Plato,  or  of  a  father,  or 
a  pope,  and,  in  short,  of  any  man  whatever,  does  not  thereupon 
receive  the  author  of  the  doctrine  himself;  because  no  man 
has  either  the  ability  or  the  means  to  communicate  himself  to 
those  that  credit  his  instructions.  But  Jesus  Christ,  being 
God  blessed  for  ever,  of  a  nature,  a  wisdom,  and  a  power  infi- 
nite, he  accompanies  his  own  gospel,  and  communicates  him- 
self to  those  who  receive  it  ;  he  dwells  in  their  hearts  by 
faith  ;  he  there  sheds  abroad  the  light  and  influence  of  his 
Spirit,  and  brings  thither  with  him  peace,  and  life,  and  joy. 

Now  to  close  this  part  of  the  subject,  take  heed  that  you  do 
not  stretch  Paul's  words  beyond  his  intention,  as  if  his  meaning 
were,  that  generally  every  one  should  adhere  to  that  which 
he  has  been  taught,  and  never  part  with  what  he  has  once  re- 
ceived, whatever  may  be  the  things  which  he  has  believed, 
and  whoever  the  persons  were  that  delivered  them.  God 
forbid  that  an  imagination  so  absurd  and  pernicious,  and  so 
very  far  from  the  apostle's  mind,  should  ever  enter  into  your 
heart.  In  this  case,  those  who  have  been  in  an  error  would 
do  well  not  to  renounce  it  ;  and  it  would  not  be  lawful  for 
those  who  have  taken  poison,  to  take  a  remedy.  Neither 
should  considerations  of  honour  and  generosity  be  urged  ia 
this  case;  perseverance  in  an  error,  once  known,  is  not  con- 
stancy, but  obstinacy.  It  is  a  part  of  true  generosity  to  con- 
fess a  fault,  and  to  forsake  it  ;  and  it  is  clearly  a  feebleness 
of  spirit  not  to  renounce  that  which  is  false  or  corrupt,  upon 
the  pretence  that  you  had  the  misfortune  once  to  embrace  it. 
I  confess  it  had  been  better  to  have  rejected  it  at  first  ;  but 
settling  in  it  after  conviction  is  a  doubling  of  your  fault  and 
infelicity.  And  as  for  honour,  it  is  a  pitiful  extravagance  to 
place  it  in  things  opposed  to  duty  and  virtue.  If  error  be 
honourable,  I  will  admit  that  he  who  confirms  himself  in  it  is 
a  man  of  honour.  But  since,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  most 
evidently  true,  as  all  will  confess,  that  error  is  a  shameful 
thing,  and  blame-worthy,  who  does  not  see  that  true  honour 
obliges  us  to  quit  it,  and  not  obstinately  to  persist  in  it  ?  and 
that  to  persevere  in  error  or  in  sin,  under  the  pretext  of  hon- 


272  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XIX. 

our,  is  to  attempt,  as  the  gospel  says,  to  gather  figs  from 
thorns,  and  grapes  from  a  bramble  bush  ?  Luke  vi.  44.  It  is 
as  if  a  man  would  attempt  to  whiten  himself  with  ink,  and 
cleanse  himself  with  mud.  In  a  word,  it  is  seeking  honour  iu 
shame,  and  glory  in  ignominy.  But  I  pass  by  those  who,  by 
such  observations,  clearly  discover  either  that  they  have  not 
well  pondered  what  they  say,  or  (which  would  be  still  worse) 
that  they  hold  truth  and  error,  piety  and  impiety,  virtue  and 
vice,  to  be  indifferent  things  ;  since  according  to  their  doctrine, 
pagans  and  heretics  are  blâmable  when  they  forsake  the  latter 
to  follow  the  former,  which  cannot  be  affirmed  without  main- 
taining, at  least,  that  both  are  indifferent  ;  inasmuch  as  com- 
mon sense  dictates  to  all  men  that  it  is  a  prudent  action, 
worthy  of  praise  and  not  of  blame,  to  quit  the  worse  for  the 
better,  and  to  leave  a  bad  way  that  we  may  take  a  good  one. 

I  now  come  to  those  of  Rome,  who  also  abuse  the  apostle's 
exhortation  to  the  faithful  here,  and  elsewhere,  to  abide  in 
that  which  they  have  received,  and  which  has  been  taught 
them,  without  giving  ear  to  novelties.  This,  say  they,  is  what 
you  have  done,  you  that  walk  no  longer  in  the  way  you  were 
taught  among  us,  who  have  deserted  and  abjured  the  mass, 
and  the  service  of  our  saints,  and  the  veneration  of  our  ima- 
ges, and  the  belief  of  our  purgatory,  and  many  other  such 
things  which  your  ancestors  received,  and  all  which,  or  the 
greater  part  of  them,  have  been  constantly  and  openly  preached 
among  us  from  age  to  age,  and  from  father  to  son,  for  a  thou- 
sand years  and  more,  as  you  cannot  deny.  Dear  brethren,  to 
this  I  answer,  that  this  exhortation  of  the  holy  apostle  is  so 
far  from  favouring  their  cause,  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  over- 
throws it,  and  establishes  ours.  For,  as  we  have  said,  he  does 
not  positively  declare  that  every  one  should  adhere  to  the 
doctrine  he  has  received  of  his  teachers.  God  forbid,  since 
by  so  doing  he  would  have  obliged  the  pagan  to  remain  eter- 
nally in  his  idolatry  handed  down  to  him  by  his  ancestors, 
and  the  heretic  in  the  error  infused  into  him  by  his  masters, 
and  the  Mussulman  in  the  faith  of  his  Mahomet,  and  the  Jew 
in  the  tradition  of  his  fathers.  He,  on  the  contrary,  exhorts 
the  Gentiles  to  come  out  of  the  ways  wherein  God  had  permit- 
ted them  and  their  ancestors  to  walk  for  the  time  past.  He 
who  urges  the  Galatians  to  forsake  the  by-path  into  which 
their  doctors  had  misled  them,  that  they  might  again  com- 
mence the  race  they  once  ran  ;  he  who  would  have  Timothy, 
and  all  true  ministers,  labour  to  draw  men  out  of  the  snares 
of  the  devil,  whatever  hand  it  was  that  entangled  them  in  it, 
2  Tim.  ii.  25,  26;  here  speaks  to  faithful  people  who  had  re- 
ceived and  kept  pure  and  sincere  till  then  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ,  without  any  mixture  of  error  or  superstition.  These 
are  they  whom  he  recommends  to  stand  fast  in   what  they 


CHAP.  II.]  THE  ■  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  273 

had  learned.  And  if  our  adversaries  resemble  them,  I  confess 
that  they  have  reason  to  abide  in  the  doctrine  of  their  fathers, 
and  we  have  done  wrong  to  recede  from  it. 

The  apostle  speaks  not  in  general  of  all  kinds  of  doctrine, 
but  particularly,  and  by  name,  of  that  which  the  Colossians 
then  believed  ;  to  which  he  expressly  gives  these  two  charac- 
teristics to  distinguish  it  from  all  others.  First,  that  it  wholly 
referred  to  Jesus  Christ.  Secondly,  that  it  had  been  delivered 
to  them,  either  by  himself,  or  at  least  by  some  one  of  his  faith- 
M  disciples.  "  As  ye  have  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  so 
walk  ye  in  him,"  even  "  as  ye  have  been  taught."  If  such  be 
the  doctrine  of  Rome,  if  it  neither  publish  nor  exhibit  anything 
but  Jesus  Christ  the  Lord,  if  it  were  delivered  by  Paul,  if  it 
came  from  his  hand,  if  it  be  derived  from  this  source,  I  will 
candidly  confess  that  we  are  faulty  in  having  quitted  it.  But 
since,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  as  evident  and  as  clear  as  the  light 
of  the  sun,  that  what  we  have  quitted  and  abjured  is  not  that 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  whom  Paul  and  his  fellow  labourers  and 
scholars  preached,  but  a  leaven  contrary  to  him,  which  has 
been  superadded  by  men,  and  which  was  not  taught  by  the 
first  ministers  of  the  truth;  who  does  not  see  that  we  have  in 
this  not  disobeyed,  but  obeyed  the  apostle's  exhortation  ?  that 
we  have  done  what  he  commands,  and  not  what  he  forbids  ? 
For  in  what  part  of  Paul's  or  the  other  apostles'  discourses  can 
they  ever  point  out  to  us  the  mass,  purgatory,  the  worship- 
ping of  saints,  and,  in  short,  any  of  those  other  articles  which 
they  retain,  and  which  we  have  relinquished?  Every  one 
sees  how  all  these  things  vary  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
make  void  his  cross  and  his  kingdom,  causing  men  to  seek  the 
expiation  and  purging  of  their  sins  by  other  means  than  by 
his  sacrifice,  and  attributing  to  creatures  the  honour  of  invoca- 
tion, and  of  presiding  over  the  whole  church,  which  belongs 
to  him  alone. 

But  the  other  description  which  Paul  gives  of  the  doctrine 
which  ought  to  be  held  fast  still  less  accords  with  their  tradi- 
tions, namely,  its  having  been  received  from  the  apostles  ;  it 
being  manifest  that  not  one  word  of  what  they  so  erroneously 
affirm  is  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  those  holy  men,  which 
are  the  public  and  authentic  records  of  what  they  preached  ; 
and  that  those  traditions  of  Rome  grew  up  in  after-ages,  some 
at  one  time,  and  some  at  another,  issuing,  by  slow  degrees, 
from  the  hands  of  men  according  as  error  gathered  strength, 
as  they  who  read  the  volumes  of  antiquity  without  prejudice 
and  prepossession  well  know.  Let  our  adversaries  therefore 
desist  from  those  odious  accusations.  They  must  either  show 
that  those  doctrines  of  theirs  which  we  have  relinquished  are 
apostolical,  or  confess  that  we  had  reason  to  relinquish  them  ; 
this  very  command  of  Paul's,  which  they  are  not  ashamed  to 
35 


274  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XIX. 

produce  against  us,  necessarily  obliging  us  to  adhere  to  that 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  alone  whom  he  preached,  and  on  whom  the 
Colossians  believed,  according  to  his  preaching. 

It  must  not  here  be  argued  that  the  doctrine  which  we  con- 
test with  our  opponents  has  been  their  belief  for  a  thousand 
years  or  more.  Time  is  no  prescription  against  any  truth,  and 
least  of  all  against  the  truth  of  Christ  and  his  apostles.  That 
which  he  pronounced  continues  in  force  for  ever.  "  Though 
we,  or  an  angel  from  heaven,  preach  any  other  gospel  unto 
you  than  that  which  we  have  preached,  let  him  be  accursed," 
Gal.  i.  8,  9.  I  inquire  not  of  what  date  your  opinions  are  ;  it 
is  sufficient  for  me  to  anathematize  those  which  were  not 
preached  as  gospel  by  the  apostle.  Time  cannot  have  conferred 
on  them  the  advantage  of  being  true,  which  they  did  not 
possess  at  their  origin.  What  is  not  now  true  or  apostolical 
will  never  be  so.  You  are  not  the  only  men  among  whom 
error  has  grown  old  ;  that  gross  one  of  idolatry  lived  among 
the  pagans  nearly  two  thousand  years  ;  and  their  Eome  also 
pleaded  her  hoary  hairs  in  defence  of  her  doctrines,  as  does 
yours  at  this  day,  and  said,  as  Eome  now  says  again,  that  it  is 
an  undertaking  ill-timed  to  correct  old  age,  and  that  to  charge 
it  with  error  is  to  affront  it.  A  thousand  years  and  more  have 
transpired  since  the  delusions  of  Mahomet  have  been  enter- 
tained, still  this  does  not  render  them  in  the  slightest  degree 
better.  You  yourselves  observe  errors  in  the  same  antiquity 
whose  authority  you  so  loudly  applaud,  and  you  cannot  deny 
but  that  those  which  you  condemn  in  the  communions  of  the 
Grecians,  of  the  Armenians,  of  the  Jacobites,  and  of  the 
Coptics,  are  very  ancient.  It  is  an  extremely  bad  defence,  when 
men  are  convicted  of  error,  to  say  that  they  have  been  a  long 
time  of  that  opinion.  However  ancient  your  doctrine  may  be, 
it  is  young  in  comparison  with  that  of  Paul's,  as  it  sprang  into 
existence  after  his  days.  Neither  its  pretended  antiquity,  nor 
any  other  consideration,  can  secure  it  from  his  fulmination. 
Since  he  would  have  us  to  keep  to  that  which  he  preached, 
without  receiving  anything  beside,  however  stale  and  mouldy 
with  age  may  be  your  traditions,  they  all  ought  to  perish  under 
pain  of  an  anathema,  seeing  they  are  without  the  compass  of 
Paul's  preaching.  We  are  at  this  day  in  the  same  situation  in 
which  the  Colossians  formerly  were.  They  stood  bound  by 
this  exhortation  to  reject  the  worshipping  of  angels,  the 
distinction  of  meats,  justification  by  the  law,  and  everything 
that  any  way  tended  to  add  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whom 
they  had  received  from  the  hand  of  Paul,  and  who  had  been 
taught  them  by  him.  Let  us  then  also  freely  reject  the 
same  things  ;  let  us  keep  constantly  to  that  Jesus  Christ  whom 
we  have  received  of  him,  who  filled  up  all  his  sermons,  and 
still  fills  up  all  his  Epistles.     Let  us  content  ourselves  with 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  275 

that  primitive  and  truly  ancient  doctrine,  and  boldly  despise 
all  the  novelties  that  the  world  has  presumed  subsequently 
to  add  thereto.  Let  us  walk  in  this  Lord  Jesus  as  the  apostle 
gives  us  direction.  Let  him  be  our  only  way,  the  rule  of  our 
faith  and  of  our  conduct. 

You  know  that  this  term  is  ordinarily  used  in  Scripture  to 
signify  the  ordering  and  conduct  of  our  life.  The  various  dis- 
ciplines and  persuasions  which  men  follow  are  compared  to  ways 
which  lead  to  different  ends.  The  way  of  sinners,  and  the 
way  of  the  righteous,  are  spoken  of  as  signifying  the  appre- 
hensions and  maxims  by  which  their  lives  are  governed. 
Therefore  the  term  walk  is  used  to  signify  the  leading  and 
ordering  of  the  life.  And  as  our  Lord  and  Saviour  says  he  is 
the  way,  so  his  apostle  enjoins  us  to  walk  in  him  ;  that  is,  to 
lead  our  lives,  both  with  regard  to  knowledge  and  persuasions 
of  mind,  and  also  with  respect  to  affections,  and  actions  accord- 
ing to  his  holy  gospel,  without  any  forsaking  of  it,  to  take 
another  course  ;  judging  all  that  varies  from  it  to  be  folly,  how 
plausible  soever  it  may  appear.  And  as  a  wise  and  prudent 
traveller  never  leaves  his  road,  but  proceeds  constantly  therein 
until  he  comes  to  his  journey's  end,  however  smiling  the 
meadows  may  appear,  however  green  and  fresh  may  be  the  cool- 
ing shades,  and  however  wide  and  beautiful  may  be  the  paths 
which  invite  his  attention  ;  so  are  we  ordered  to  keep  con- 
tinually to  the  doctrine  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  and  not  to 
relinquish  it,  or  receive  any  other,  whatever  nature,  or  colour, 
or  appearance  it  may  assume,  assured  that  whatever  is  without 
the  dimensions  of  this  model  of  truth  cannot  but  be  dangerous, 
and  must  eventually,  if  we  follow  it,  lead  us  to  perdition. 

II.  I  pass  by  the  observation  which  some  make,  namely, 
that  the  apostle's  command  to  walk  in  Christ  intimates  that 
we  should  constantly  advance  and  press  forward  in  our 
christian  course  ;  for  though  this  conception  be  true  as  to  sub- 
stance, it  being  the  duty  of  each  true  believer  to  go  forward, 
and  not  pass  a  day  without  improvement  in  piety  ;  yet  it  seems 
to  me  to  be  beyond  the  meaning  of  the  apostle's  words,  the 
scope  of  which  is  simply  to  urge  us  to  perseverance  in  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Besides,  what  he  adds  in  the  following 
verse  sufl&ciently  recommends  to  us  this  duty,  where  he  shows 
after  what  manner  we  are  to  abide  in  Jesus  Christ:  "Rooted," 
says  he,  "and  built  up  in  him,  and  established  in  the  faith  as 
ye  have  been  taught,  abounding  therein  with  thanksgiving." 

In  these  words  he  prescribes  three  things;  firmness  of  faith, 
the  abounding  therein,  and  the  giving  of  thanks.  He  expresses 
the  first  two  ways  :  first,  metaphorically,  "  rooted  and  built  up 
in  Jesus  Christ;"  and  next  properly,  and  without  figure, 
"established,"  or  confirmed,  "in  faith."  For  this  confirmation 
in  faith  is  the  same  thing  that  is  intended   by  the   words, 


276  AN   EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XIX. 

"rooted  and  built  up  in  Jesus  Christ."  The  first  of  these 
metaphors  is  taken  from  trees,  which  stand  firm,  and  easily 
resist  the  violence  of  winds,  when  they  have  put  forth  good 
and  deep  roots  into  the  earth,  which  serve  for  so  many  stays 
and  bands  to  hold  them  fast  ;  whereas  the  plants  which  have 
but  little  or  no  root  are  easily  plucked  up,  the  least  gust  of 
wind,  or  the  hand  of  a  child,  being  sufficient  to  overthrow 
them.  The  faithful  are  often  in  Scripture  compared  unto  trees. 
You  all  know  the  parable  of  the  fig  tree  in  the  gospel,  and  that 
of  the  palm  tree  in  the  Psalms:  "The  righteous  shall  flourish 
like  the  palm  tree  :  he  shall  grow  like  a  cedar  in  Lebanon," 
Psal.  xcii.  12.  And  there  is  not  one  in  the  church  who  is  not 
acquainted  with  that  excellent  tree,  a  description  of  which  the 
psalmist  gives  us,  Psal.  i.  3,  as  an  image  of  the  true  believer, 
planted  by  the  rivers  of  waters,  which  bringeth  forth  its  fruit 
in  its  season,  and  the  leaves  whereof  do  not  wither.  It  follows, 
therefore,  that  the  ministers  who  labour  in  the  culture  of  these 
mystical  plants  are  compared  to  gardeners,  and  vine-dressers, 
and  husbandmen  ;  such  was  he  in  the  gospel  parable,  who 
prayed  the  owners  to  supersede  the  sentence  pronounced  upon 
one  of  his  fig  trees,  Luke  xiii.  8.  And  Paul  also  describes  his 
own  labours,  and  those  of  Apollos,  for  the  edification  of  the 
faithful,  in  terms  derived  from  the  same  subject,  saying  that  he 
planted,  and  Apollos  watered,  1  Cor.  iii.  6,  7.  In  consequence 
of  these  figurative  expressions,  which  are  familiar  in  Scripture, 
you  see  that  it  is  with  much  beauty  and  propriety  that  the 
apostle,  to  recommend  firmness  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  here 
says  that  they  should  be  rooted  in  him.  He  repeats  the  same 
elsewhere,  when  he  prays  God  to  strengthen  the  Ephesians  by 
his  Spirit,  that  "  being  rooted  and  grounded  in  love,  they 
might  be  able  to  comprehend  with  all  saints  what  is  the 
breadth,  and  length,  and  depth,  and  height;  and  to  know  the 
love  of  Christ,"  Eph.  iii.  17 — 19.  For  since  the  faithful  man 
is  compared  to  a  tree,  it  is  proper  to  attribute  to  him  both  the 
production  (that  is,  fruit)  and  the  parts  of  a  tree,  the  principal 
of  which  is  the  root.  We  say,  then,  that  a  tree  is  well  rooted, 
when  its  root  is  spread  abroad,  and  thrust  deep  into  the  ground, 
where  it  is  planted  in  and  fastened  to  it  so  many  ways  that  it 
stands  upright  and  firm,  nor  can  be  plucked  up  without  ex- 
treme difficulty. 

Who  then  is  the  believer  rooted  in  Christ  ?  Even  the  man 
whose  whole  soul  embraces  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  all  whose  thoughts 
and  affections  are  stretched  forth  and  fastened  to  this  divine 
crucified  Saviour,  who  has  neither  love,  nor  desire,  nor  con- 
fidence towards  any  other  object  than  him.  It  is  he  who, 
having  rightly  understood  the  excellency  and  the  fulness  of 
this  rich  subject,  seeks  all  his  felicity  in  it,  and,  withdrawing 
the  desires,  the  cares  and  affections  of  his  heart  from  earth, 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  277 

(which  are,  as  it  were,  the  strings  and  roots  of  our  nature,  by 
which  it  is  fastened  to  the  things  of  time,)  thrusts  them  forth 
towards  Jesus  Christ,  unites  with  and  binds  them  about  him, 
and  rests  on  him  alone,  and  draws  the  nutriment  of  his  life 
from  none  other  :  as  you  know  trees  by  their  root  receive  all 
that  juice  which  gives  them  life,  vegetation,  and  fruitfulness. 
Not  to  produce  any  other  example,  such  a  one  was  Paul  ;  so 
fastened  was  he  unto,  and  so  incorporated  with,  his  Lord,  that 
he  lived  in  him  alone  ;  this  divine  ground  wherein  he  was 
planted  affording  him  all  the  joy,  all  the  contentment,  and  all 
the  life  he  possessed.  There  is  no  need  to  fear  that  those  who 
adhere  to  Jesus  Christ  in  such  a  manner,  who  are  so  really 
and  deeply  rooted  in  him,  can  ever  be  plucked  up  by  any 
effort,  be  it  ever  so  violent.  In  vain  do  the  winds  shake  them  ; 
in  vain  do  the  tempests  beat  upon  them  ;  persecutions  will 
not  be  able  to  make  them  bend;  nor  fraud,  nor  eloquence, 
nor  the  subtlety  of  sophisters,  remove  them.  Novelties  and 
curiosities  do  not  tempt  them,  because  that  sweet  sap  which 
they  continually  draw  from  Christ,  as  from  a  rich  soil,  con- 
tents them,  and  purges  them  of  that  foolish  and  childish  itch- 
ing humour  which  opens  the  ears  of  the  weak  and  unstable 
to  these  unprofitable  things. 

But  if  you  be  not  thus  rooted  in  Christ,  there  will  be  no 
great  difficulty  in  plucking  you  from  the  station  you  are  in. 
If  it  is  not  this  heavenly  efficacy  of  our  Lord  which  induces 
you  to  profess  Christianity,  but  birth,  or  breeding,  or  the  dis- 
course or  authority  of  men,  or  the  name  of  liberty,  or  any 
other  such  cause,  I  am  much  afraid  you  will  not  long  abide 
therein.  If  your  heart  be  in  the  world,  if  it  still  spread  its 
affections,  as  its  roots,  among  perishing  things,  if  it  still  ad- 
mire the  pleasures  of  the  flesh,  the  fumes  of  amlDition,  and  the 
vanity  of  riches,  your  perseverance  is  really  very  dubious. 
The  tree  that  has  no  root  has  no  hold.  The  first  gust  that 
falls  upon  it  bears  it  down.  And  would  to  God  experience 
had  less  justified  this  truth  in  our  eyes.  But  this  is  the  very 
cause  of  all  that  change  in  those  who  have  deserted  us.  If  you 
examine  their  lives,  you  will  find  that  they  were  not  well 
rooted  in  Christ  Jesus.  Wonder  not  that  they  were  over- 
thrown. But  let  us  profit  by  their  unhappiness,  and  obey  the 
apostle's  injunction;  and  that  we  may  abide  firm  for  ever 
in  the  communion  of  our  divine  Lord,  apart  from  which  there 
is  nothing  but  misery  and  perdition,  let  us  be  rooted  in  him 
\Arith  a  lively  and  profound  faith  and  love.  Let  us  love  and 
relish  him  only,  and  inseparably  cleave,  with  all  the  powers 
of  our  souls,  to  him  alone,  as  dead  and  risen  again  for  us, 
drawing  all  our  righteousness  from  his  cross,  and  all  our  hope 
and  glory  from  his  heavenly  state  and  immortality. 

I  come  to  the  other  metaphor  here  used  by  the  apostle  to 


278  AN  EXPOSITION"  OF  [SESM.  XIX. 

set  forth  the  confirmation  of  our  faith  in  Jesus  Christ; 
"  rooted,"  says  he,  "  and  built  up  in  him,"  The  former  meta- 
phor was  taken  from  trees,  the  present  one  is  drawn  from 
buildings.  This  is  no  less  famous  in  Scripture  than  the  other, 
for  the  faithful  are  there  often  compared  to  houses,  and  par- 
ticularly to  temples.  The  church  also,  that  is,  the  society  con- 
sisting of  them  collectively,  is  represented  to  us  under  the 
same  image.  Consequently,  the  labours  of  the  servants  of  the 
Lord  are  also  called  edifying  ;  a  word  so  frequently  used  in 
this  sense,  that  there  is  no  occasion  for  us  to  stay  to  explain 
it.  And  as  in  material  edifices  it  is  the  foundation  that  sus- 
tains the  whole  of  the  building,  so  the  Scripture  gives  that 
name  to  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  upon  whom  this  spiritual 
structure  entirely  depends.  "Other  foundation,"  says  the 
apostle,  "  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus 
Christ,"  1  Cor.  iii.  11.  And  this  the  prophets  foretold,  when 
they  said  respecting  him,  that  God  would  lay  in  Zion  "  a  pre- 
cious corner-stone,  a  sure  foundation,"  Isa.  xxviii.  16  ;  and 
that  the  stone  which  the  builders  refused  should  "  become  the 
head  stone  of  the  corner,"  Psal.  cxviii.  22.  The  apostle,  there- 
fore, desiring  to  secure  his  dear  Colossians  against  the  danger 
of  falling,  continuing  this  figure  so  common  in  Scripture,  com- 
mands them  to  be  built  up  in  Jesus  Christ.  And  the  same 
expression  he  uses  in  another  place,  where  he  says  that  we 
are  "  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets, 
Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone  ;  in  whom 
all  the  building  fitly  framed  together  groweth  unto  an  holy 
temple  in  the  Lord,"  Eph.  ii.  20,  21. 

What  is  it,  then,  to  be  built  up  in  Jesus  Christ  ?  Dear 
brethren,  we  say  a  house  is  built  on  a  rock,  when  a  rock  is  the 
foundation  that  entirely  bears  and  sustains  it.  A  soul  is  built 
up  in  Jesus  Christ  when  it  wholly  relies  upon  him,  so  that  its 
faith,  its  hope,  its  love,  and  the  other  parts  of  its  mystical 
structure,  are  all  set  upon  him,  and  firmly  united  to  him  :  it 
believes  the  gospel,  because  it  is  the  word  of  Christ  ;  it  is  as- 
sured of  the  remission  of  sins,  because  they  were  expiated  by 
Christ  ;  it  expects  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  because  he  pur- 
chased it  ;  it  loves  neighbours,  because  they  are  his  workman- 
ship ;  it  meekly  bears  affliction,  because  it  is  a  part  of  his 
cross  ;  in  short,  it  lays  and  settles  upon  him  alone  the  designs, 
the  thoughts,  the  enjoyments,  and  the  expectations,  wherein 
consist  both  its  present  life  and  that  which  is  to  come.  One 
so  built  up  in  Jesus  Christ  is  like  that  wise  man  commended 
by  our  Saviour,  who  built  his  house  on  a  rock,  so  that  no 
violence  was  able  to  effect  its  fall,  Matt.  vii.  24,  25.  For  what 
indeed  can  overthrow  a  soul  seated  on  this  Rock  of  ages,  which 
is  firm  and  immovable  for  ever  ?  Where  is  the  temptation  or 
the  persecution  that  can  beat  it  down?     That   which  is  built 


CHAP.  IL]  TffE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  279 

upon  this  foundation  is  not  subject  to  natural  accidents.  It  is 
a  celestial  and  an  eternal  edifice.  But  the  misery  of  men, 
and  the  true  cause  of  their  weakness  and  ruin,  is  that  they 
build  either  wholly,  or  for  the  greater  part  elsewhere.  The 
world  is  the  ground  whereon  they  set  and  raise  up  the 
designs  of  their  lives  ;  and  this  ground  being  nothing  but 
loose  and  feeble  sand,  the  first  force  that  assaults  them  brings 
them  down,  and  their  fall  (says  our  Saviour)  is  great. 

Again,  the  apostle  expresses,  in  proper  terms,  what  he  had 
represented  under  these  two  metaphors,  and  adds,  "established 
in  the  faith."  For  it  is  properly  by  faith  that  we  are  rooted  in 
Jesus  Christ,  and  by  this  also  we  are  founded  upon  and  built 
up  in  him  ;  all  these  phrases  signifying  only  the  spiritual  union 
and  connection  which  we  have  with  the  Lord,  the  sole  tie  of 
which  is  faith.  Let  us  labour  therefore  continually  to  confirm 
our  faith,  if  we  would  resist  the  enemy.  Let  us  meditate  on 
the  truth  of  the  gospel,  study  all  its  mysteries,  and  taste  the 
excellency  of  it.  Let  us  carefully  hear  and  read  that  word  in 
which  God  has  revealed  it  to  us,  and  by  which  faith  has  its 
being,  as  the  apostle  tells  us  ;  "  Faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and 
hearing  by  the  word  of  God,"  Eom.  x.  17.  From  this  you  may 
judge  how  contrary  to  the  apostle's  injunction  is  the  command 
of  the  church  of  Rome,  who  will  not  grant  that  the  faithful 
should  read  the  Scriptures.  How  shall  they  be  confirmed  in 
faith  if  they  have  no  commerce  with  this  sacred  word,  the  only 
parent  and  nurse  of  faith?  And  how  can  they,  without  it,  obey 
the  command  which  the  apostle  gives  them,  in  the  second  place, 
even  that  they  abound  in  faith?  It  is  not  enough  that  we  be 
established  in  it,  that  we  have  a  little  for  necessity,  he  would 
have  us  furnished  with  it  even  to  plenty,  possessed  of  a  great 
and  rich  measure  of  it,  and  would  have  this  sacred  light  to  go 
on  still  increasing  and  augmenting,  as  he  says  elsewhere,  from 
faith  to  faith.  Some  are  of  opinion  that  this  word  must  be  re- 
ferred, not  singly  to  the  thing,  but  also  to  the  sentiment  that 
we  have  of  it.  As  if,  when  the  apostle  speaks  of  abounding  in 
faith,  his  meaning  were  that  we  should  account  ourselves  to 
have  abundantly,  in  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  alone,  all  the  saving 
knowledge  we  can  desire,  without  needing  the  addition  of  any- 
thing in  any  other  way.  This  exposition  is  elegant  and  inge- 
nious, and  very  pertinent  to  the  apostle's  design.  But  as  it  is 
followed  by  few,  and  the  former  is  more  simple,  I  will  not  in- 
sist upon  it. 

The  apostle  adds,  in  the  third  and  last  place,  giving  of  thanks  ; 
"  abounding  in  faith,"  he  says,  "  with  thanksgiving."  His  mean- 
ing is,  that  we  should  gratefully  admire  the  excellency  and 
abundance  of  the  benefits  which  are  communicated  to  us  by  the 
gospel  ;  and  remember  the  spring  from  whence  they  flow, 
namely,  the  sole  grace  of  God,  who,  taking  us  out  of  the  dark- 


280  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XIX. 

ness  of  error  and  ignorance  wherein  we  were  plunged,  has 
caused  us  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  light  by  the  power  of 
his  word  and  Spirit,  that  we  may  continually  "render  to  him 
our  grateful  acknowledgments  of  it.  And  this  duty  is  not  only 
most  reasonable  in  itself,  it  is  also  necessary  to  insure  the  faith 
of  the  gospel  unto  us  ;  for  as  God  augments  his  gifts  to  the 
thankful,  so  he  takes  them  away  from  the  unthankful,  with- 
drawing his  light  from  their  souls,  and  giving  them  up  to  them- 
selves, as  you  know  he  threatens  the  ungrateful  churches  to 
remove  his  candlestick  from  them.  And  the  apostle  informs 
us  in  another  place,  that  to  those  who  receive  not  the  love  of 
the  truth  he  sends  strong  delusion,  so  that  they  believe  a  lie, 
which  is  the  most  dreadful  punishment  with  which  he  avenges 
himself  on  the  iniquity  of  men. 

Dear  brethren,  that  we  fall  not  into  so  awful  a  judgment,  let 
us  possess  this  treasure  of  knowledge  which  God  has  given  us 
in  his  Son  with  all  the  gratitude  it  demands,  humbly  blessing 
him  that  he  has  vouchsafed  to  impart  even  to  us,  who  were  so 
unworthy  of  it,  a  blessing  so  precious,  and  of  such  saving  im- 
portance. Let  this  be  all  our  love,  and  all  our  glory.  Let 
others  boast  of  their  might  and  their  skill,  of  their  riches  and 
their  greatness  ;  as  for  us,  we  will  glory  only  in  the  knowledge 
of  God,  and  of  his  holy  gospel,  the  sole  supreme  happiness  of 
man.  Let  us  be  jealous  of  this  holy  doctrine,  keeping  it  pure 
and  sincere,  and  carefully  taking  heed  of  the  leaven  of  super- 
stition and  of  error.  Let  us  be  content  with  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Prince  of  life,  and  with  that  fulness  of  grace  which 
we  have  received,  and  the  holy  apostles  preached.  Mix  nothing 
foreign  with  it;  to  add  to  it  is  to  accuse  it  of  imperfection  and 
insufficiency.  Instead  of  losing  time  in  the  inventions  of  error, 
and  in  the  laborious  but  childish  exercises  of  superstition,  let 
us  employ  the  whole  of  ours  in  good  and  holy  works,  walking 
in  Jesus  Christ,  rooting  and  building  up  ourselves  more  and 
more  in  him;  establishing  ourselves  and  abounding  in  faith; 
and  testifying  and  proving  the  truth  of  it  by  a  pure  piety  to- 
wards God,  and  an  ardent  love  towards  our  neighbour  ;  by  the 
fervency  of  our  prayers,  the  liberality  of  our  alms,  the  humility 
of  our  deportment,  the  modesty  of  our  persons,  the  honesty, 
justice,  and  integrity  of  all  our  words  and  actions,  to  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  whom  we  serve  and  own  for  our  Master,  to 
the  edification  of  men,  and  our  own  salvation.     Amen. 


CHAP.  II.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  281 

SERMON  XX. 

VERSE   8. 

Beware  lest  any  man  spoil  you  through  philosophy  and  vain  deceit^ 
after  the  tradition  of  men,  after  the  rudiments  of  the  world,  and 
not  after  Christ. 

Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  comparing  the  society  of  his  faithful 
people,  in  the  10th  chapter  of  John,  to  a  flock  of  sheep,  informs 
us  that  there  are  thieves  who  lurk  about  this  mystical  fold,  and 
come  only  to  steal,  to  kill,  and  to  destroy  ;  and  also  that  there 
are  wolves  which  take  away  and  scatter  the  sheep.  You  are 
not  ignorant,  dear  brethren,  that  under  the  names  of  these  spi- 
ritual thieves  and  wolves  he  represents  to  us  evil  spirits,  and 
the  false  teachers  whom  they  instigate,  who  both,  though  by 
different  means,  earnestly  promote  the  same  design,  namely, 
the  seducing  and  alienating  the  faithful  from  the  communion 
of  Jesus  Christ,  their  only  Pastor,  gaining  possession  of,  and 
appropriating  them  to  themselves,  as  the  thief  who  takes  that 
which  is  another's,  and  makes  it  his  own.  Whence  ensues 
their  death  and  destruction.  For  as  the  wolf  kills  the  sheep 
which  he  has  seized,  so  these  ministers  of  Satan  destroy  those 
whom  they  draw  away  from  the  flock  of  Christ,  out  of  whose 
communion  there  is  nothing  but  death  and  perdition.  But 
these  wretched  workers  employ,  as  I  said,  various  means  to 
compass  their  cruel  and  murderous  design.  Some  they  take 
away  by  open  force,  compelling  them  to  leave  the  bosom  of 
the  church  by  the  violence  of  persecutions,  or  drawing  them 
into  the  world  by  the  pleasures  of  the  flesh,  and  thus  causing 
them  to  renounce  even  the  very  name  ot  Jesus  Christ  the  Prince 
of  life.  Against  others  they  make  use  of  fraud,  drawing  them 
gradually  away  from  Jesus  Christ,  under  fair  and  plausible  pre- 
tences, so  as  that  in  the  end  they  have  nothing  of  his  left  to 
them  but  a  name,  and  a  vain,  unprofitable  profession,  remain- 
ing iîideed  under  the  power  and  in  the  possession  of  his  enemy. 
It  is  against  these  mystical  thieves  and  robbers  that  the  apostle 
awakens  the  Colossians  in  the  text  which  we  have  read,  exhort- 
ing them  to  take  heed  of  them.  He  besought  them,  in  the  pre- 
ceding verse,  to  establish,  to  build  up,  to  root  themselves  more 
and  more  in  the  communion  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  acknowledging 
with  humble  gratitude  the  excellency  of  his  gift.  Now,  to  in- 
sure this  treasure  to  them,  he  advises  them  to  watch  against  the 
fraud  and  ambushments  of  their  enemies,  who  sought  to  sur- 
prise them,  and,  by  the  artifice  of  their  subtilties  and  fair  dis- 
courses, to  pluck  Jesus  Christ  out  of  their  hearts,  and  render 
36 


282  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XX. 

themselves  masters  of  them,  and  of  their  life.     "  Beware,"  says 
he,  "lest  any  man  spoil,"  or  make  a  prey  of  "you,"  &c. 

It  is  the  duty  of  a  good  pastor,  such  a  one  as  was  the  apostle, 
not  only  to  feed  the  mystical  sheep,  which  the  chief  Shepherd 
has  committed  to  his  care,  by  giving  them  the  pure  and  whole- 
some doctrine  of  the  gospel,  the  only  pasture  of  souls,  but  also 
to  preserve  them,  with  all  his  power,  from  the  paws  of  wolves 
and  the  hands  of  robbers  ;  warning  them  of  the  danger,  and 
dexterously  delivering  them  out  of  it,  by  the  saving  tone  of  his 
voice.  And  as  this  is  the  duty  of  pastors,  so,  dear  brethren,  it 
is  your  duty  to  watch  for  your  own  safety  ;  to  open  your  eyes 
and  senses,  that  you  may  discern  a  stranger  from  a  domestic,  a 
thief  from  the  shepherd,  the  hand  of  a  robber  from  that  of  a 
friend.  "Beware,"  says  the  apostle  to  you.  He  would  not 
that  the  faithful  should  be  silly  sheep,  that  suffer  themselves  to 
be  led  away  by  the  first  comer,  and  indifferently  embrace  all 
that  is  offered  to  them.  His  will  is  that  we  should  have  our 
senses  exercised  and  habituated  in  discerning  between  truth 
and  falsehood  ;  and  be  able  to  prove  all  things,  that  we  may 
hold  fast  that  which  is  good,  and  not  suffer  ourselves  to  be  led 
away,  either  by  the  dignity  of  a  robe,  or  the  blaze  of  wit,  or 
some  fair  appearances  of  deportment,  seeing  that  the  angels  of 
Satan  sometimes  clothe  themselves  with  light.  The  Holy  Spirit 
commends  the  prudence  of  the  Bereans,  who  examined  Paul's 
preaching,  comparing  what  he  had  spoken  to  them  with  the 
Scriptures,  that  they  might  assuredly  know  the  state  of  the 
matter,  Acts  xvii.  11.  The  salvation  of  our  souls  is  too  pre- 
cious for  us  to  trust  it  with  any  other  than  God.  Hence  it  ap- 
pears how  dangerous  is  that  security  of  implicit  faith,  as  they 
call  it,  which,  without  any  scruple,  receives  all  that  its  teachers 
deliver  ;  and  is  so  far  from  examining  it,  that  it  vouchsafes  not 
so  much  as  to  understand  it  ;  believing  it  true  without  know- 
ing it,  provided  only  that  the  mouth  which  publishes  it  has 
been  opened  by  the  pope's  hand.  If  the  question  were  only  of 
a  title,  those  of  whom  the  apostle  here  warns  the  Colossians  to 
take  heed  were  teachers  ;  and  he  contests  not  with  them  about 
their  dignity  in  any  part  of  this  Epistle  ;  he  deals  with  them 
only  about  their  doctrine.  Accordingly,  the  case  is  concern- 
ing doctrine,  whether  we  ought  to  believe  it  or  not  ;  and  what- 
ever may  be  the  hand  which  delivers  it  to  us,  if  it  be  false,  it 
will  assuredly  destroy  us  ;  as  poison  does  not  fail  to  kill,  though 
he  who  prescribes  it  has  taken  his  degrees  with  all  the  re- 
quisite formalities.  Paul,  too,  in  another  place,  with  one  word 
overthrows  all  the  prepossessions  that  might  be  entertained  for 
any  preachers,  however  eminent  their  personal  quality,  when 
he  exclaims,  "  Though  we,  or  an  angel  from  heaven,  preach  any 
other  gospel  unto  you,  than  that  which  we  have  preached  unto 
you,  let  him  be  accursed,"  Gal,  i.  8.     Be  all  that  you  will,  you 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  283 

cannot  be  more  than  Paul  or  an  angel  of  heaven.  Since  their 
doctrine  ought  to  be  examined  by  the  gospel,  in  order  that  it 
may  be  received  or  rejected,  as  it  shall  be  found  conformable 
with  or  contrary  to  it,  it  will  be  doing  you  no  wrong  if  yours 
be  put  to  the  same  test. 

But  consider,  I  pray  you,  with  what  emphasis  the  apostle 
recommends  to  us  the  importance  of  this  duty.  "  Beware," 
says  he,  "  lest  any  man  spoil  you."  He  could  not  with  more 
propriety,  or  greater  elegancy,  express  the  danger  of  those  who 
stand  not  on  their  guard,  than  by  this  expression,  which  pro- 
perly signifies  to  carry  away  the  booty  which  a  man  has  taken. 
It  is  not  without  reason,  says  he,  that  I  warn  you  to  use  all 
your  abilities  in  vigilantly  defending  yourselves  against  error, 
for  no  small  matter  depends  upon  it.  It  is  as  much  as  your 
souls,  yourselves,  and  the  noblest  part  of  your  being,  your  un- 
derstandings, your  affections,  your  hearts,  are  worth.  The 
wolves  and  the  thieves,  against  whom  men  watch  with  so  much 
care,  aim  only  at  their  sheep  or  their  purse.  Those  of  whom 
I  warn  you  aim  at  your  persons.  An  enemy,  against  whom 
cities  and  states  set  guards,  threatens  only  their  goods,  or  at 
most  their  lives.  He,  against  whom  I  require  you  to  watch, 
seeks  your  souls,  and  the  share  they  have  in  eternity.  You 
are  the  workmanship  and  the  jewel  of  the  Lord  of  glory  ;  you 
will  be  a  prey  to  Satan  and  his  ministers,  if  you  fall  into  their 
snares.  They  will  not  be  content  with  merely  taking  you  ; 
they  will  bring  you  into  bondage  ;  and  the  redeemed  of  Jesus 
Christ,  whose  liberty  he  has  bought  at  the  price  of  his  divine 
blood,  will  become  slaves  of  men,  and,  which  is  worse,  of  de- 
vils. Good  God  !  how  piercing  was  the  eye  of  that  heavenly 
Spirit  which  guided  the  pen  of  this  apostle  !  How  clearly  did 
he  discern  the  nature  and  qualities  of  everything  of  which  he 
speaks  1  Observe  how  error  triumphs  over  those  whom  it  in- 
fects ;  see  the  trophies  it  sets  up  of  their  spoils,  the  fetters  with 
which  it  burdens  those  whom  it  seduces,  the  yoke  which  it 
puts  upon  their  necks,  and  the  captivity  into  which  it  brings 
them,  and  you  will  confess  that  the  effects  of  its  false  and 
damnable  conquests  could  not  possibly  be  more  truly  and 
more  naturally  represented  to  us  than  by  saying,  as  Paul  does 
here,  that  it  spoils  or  makes  a  prey  of  christians,  and  carries 
them  away  as  booty.  For  error  is  ever  insolent.  The 
preachers  of  the  truth  serve  those  whom  they  teach,  and  only 
style  themselves  their  ministers,  as  the  apostle  before  did: 
whereas  the  teachers  of  falsehood  usurp  dominion  over  those 
whom  they  have  corrupted,  and  boast  that  they  are  their 
judges,  their  masters,  and  their  lords.  Paul  observed  long 
since,  respecting  the  seducers  of  the  Corinthians,  that  they  en- 
slaved them,  devoured  them,  exalted  themselves  over  them,  and 
smote  them  on  the  face,  2  Cor.  xi.  20  ;  that  is,  put  all  kind  of 


28é;  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XX. 

indignities  upon  them.  And  the  false  teachers  among  the  Ga- 
latians,  he  says,  gloried  in  the  flesh  of  their  miserable  disci- 
ples, Gal.  vi.  13.  They  are  blind  who  do  not  at  this  day  ob- 
serve the  same  conduct  in  those  men  who  reign  over  all  the 
multitude  whom  they  have  deceived,  and  who  rear  up  lofty 
trophies  of  every  poor  soul  of  whom  they  have  made  a  prey. 
Dear  brethren,  if  you  love  the  liberty  which  the  Lord  Jesus 
has  purchased  for  you,  if  you  abhor  the  servitude  of  men,  if 
you  desire  the  fruit  of  the  one,  which  is  immortality,  and  de- 
test perdition,  the  inevitable  consequence  of  the  other  ;  in  the 
name  of  God,  take  heed  that  no  man  make  a  prey  of  you. 
The  doctrine  of  truth  is  enclosed  within  the  Lord's  sheepfold. 
Abide  there,  if  you  would  be  in  safety.  If  you  stray  from  it 
ever  so  little,  you  will  fall  into  the  hands  of  wolves  and  rob- 
bers. Hearken  not  unto  their  babble.  Be  not  taken  with 
their  countenance.  Let  anything  among  them  that  promises 
fair  be  suspected  by  you,  since  they  seek  only  to  withdraw  you 
from  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel. 

Now,  the  apostle  here  points  at  three  things,  of  which  he 
particularly  advises  us  to  take  heed,  namely,  the  vain  deceit 
of  philosophy,  the  traditions  of  men,  and  the  rudiments  of  the 
world  ;  because  these  were  the  three  sources  from  which  those 
false  apostles,  who  were  then  attempting  to  deceive  the  Colos- 
sians,  drew  all  the  heads  of  their  doctrine,  and  the  means 
which  they  used  to  colour  it,  in  order  to  give  it  that  vain  lus- 
tre which  was  needful  for  beguiling  the  simple  and  unlearned. 
For,  as  we  shall  see  more  particularly  at  the  conclusion  of  this 
chapter,  they  enjoined  the  worshipping  of  angels,  ver.  18  ;  a 
doctrine  which,  in  all  likelihood,  they  had  raked  up  out  of  the 
sinks  of  the  Platonic  philosophers,  who  related  various  things 
of  these  higher  spirits,  and  of  their  interposition  and  media- 
tion between  God  and  us,  for  purifying  us,  and  rendering  us 
capable  of  supreme  happiness,  as  we  see  even  at  this  day  in 
those  remains  of  their  writings  which  we  possess.  Again, 
they  introduced  different  voluntary  devotions,  which  did  not 
spare  the  flesh,  and  which  seemed  full  of  humility,  ver,  23,  but 
were  indeed  only  traditions  of  men,  without  any  foundation 
in  the  word  of  God.  Finally,  it  is  also  evident  that  they 
pressed  the  observation  of  days,  and  the  distinction  of  meats, 
according  to  the  ordinances  of  the  Mosaic  law,  which  are  like- 
wise styled  elements  of  the  world.  Now  though  these  three 
points  particularly  respect  the  false  teachers  at  Colosse,  yet 
they  are  common  to  nearly  all  those  whoever  took  upon  them- 
selves to  alter  and  sophisticate  the  gospel,  the  greater  part  of 
their  impostures  having  issued  from  one  of  these  three  sources. 
We  will  consider  them  therefore  briefly  and  distinctly,  by  the 
will  of  God,  and  after  them  the  character  or  mark  which 
Paul  gives  to  them,  namely,  that  these  things  are  not  after 
Christ. 


CHAP.  II.]        THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  28Ô 

I.  Among  these  things,  of  which,  we  are  to  beware,  he  gives 
the  first  place  to  philosophy.  Its  name  is  very  honourable, 
signifying  the  love  and  pursuit  of  wisdom.  But  the  corrup- 
tions of  those  men  who  gave  their  profession  this  name  among 
the  Grecians  disgraced  so  worthy  a  term,  and  made  it  the  name 
of  a  tool  of  error  and  imposture,  rather  than  of  an  instrument 
of  science  and  truth.  For  the  common  sort  of  those  who 
styled  themselves  philosophers  amused  themselves  altogether 
in  vain  speculations,  in  a  trade  of  subtilty  and  syllogizing, 
and  in  endless  disputes,  which  yielded  no  true  profit  to  men. 
They  thought  that  they  had  attained  the  end  of  their  profession 
when  they  had  acquired  a  faculty  of  speaking  on  all  subjects 
with  some  colour  and  probability,  so  as  to  dazzle  the  eyes  of 
the  ignorant,  and  win  the  admiration  of  the  half  witted.  This 
vanity  rendered  them  odious  first  among  the  pagans  them- 
selves, who  commonly  considered  them  as  extravagant  persons, 
and  they  were  not  much  better  esteemed  by  the  greater  part 
of  the  superior  sort.  And  as  no  class  of  persons  more  fiercely 
opposed  the  gospel  of  our  Saviour,  the  first  christians  also 
conceived  a  very  ill  opinion  of  them,  which  increased  when  it 
appeared  that  heretics  ordinarily  derived  from  the  magazines 
of  these  men  the  arms  which  they  used  to  offend  the  faith  of 
the  church,  and  to  defend  their  own  inventions.  This  induced 
one  of  the  most  ancient  christian  writers  *  to  call  them  the 
patriarchs  of  heretics,  and  to  say  that  all  heresies  are  main- 
tained by  their  rules,  animated  with  their  spirit,  and  lodged 
in  their  thickets  and  bushments,  as  in  their  strong  hold.  He 
calls  them  animals  of  glory  ;  and  all  christian  antiquity  treats 
them  very  roughly,  as  we  learn  from  that  portion  of  the  books 
of  that  time  which  is  extant,  wherein  the  commerce  of  philoso- 
phy is  accounted  so  dangerous,  that  it  has  been  charged  upon 
some  as  a  great  crime  to  have  but  looked  into  the  books  of 
Aristotle,  and  to  have  learned  his  logic.  On  the  other  side,  we 
meet  also  with  fathers  who  have  highly  esteemed  philosophy, 
and  it  cannot  be  denied  but  that  even  they  who  censure  it  often 
use  it  with  great  success,  and  to  good  purpose. 

It  is  not  my  design  to  open  this  question,  or  to  produce  here 
all  that  may  be  said  either  for  philosophy  or  against  it.  The 
holy  apostle  does  not  render  it  necessary,  as  he  here  blames 
not  its  substance,  but  the  ill  use  which  false  teachers  made  of 
it,  employing  it  either  to  the  invention  or  the  defence  of  their 
errors  :  this  he  evidently  shows  ;  for  having  commanded  us  to 
take  heed  that  none  spoil  us  through  philosophy,  he  imme- 
diately adds,  "  and  vain  deceit  ;"  by  these  words  limiting  what 
he  had  generally  uttered,  and  giving  us  to  understand  that  he 
rejected  the  use  of  philosophy  only  when  it  was  made  to  serve 

*  Tertullian. 


Ô8§  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XX. 

error  and  imposture.  We  must,  therefore,  in  this,  as  in  all 
other  subjects,  carefully  distinguish  the  thing  itself  from  its 
abuses,  and  the  substance  from  what  is  accessory  to  it,  and  the 
truth  from  that  error  which  is  added  to  it  by  the  wickedness 
or  weakness  of  men.  For  there  is  nothing  in  the  world,  how- 
ever good  and  laudable  in  its  nature,  which  our  vices  do  not 
pollute  in  using  it.  Intemperance  has  defamed  wine,  meats, 
and  spices  ;  luxury,  gold,  silver,  precious  stones,  silk,  and  per- 
fumes— all  of  them  creatures  of  God,  very  good,  and  very  ex- 
cellent. Cruelty,  murder,  and  parricide  have  defiled  iron,  a 
most  necessary  instrument  of  our  life  ;  and  fire,  without 
which  we  cannot  live,  has  often  served  the  rage  and  the  in- 
justice of  tyrants.  What  is  there  more  admirable  than 
beauty  among  the  ornaments  of  the  body,  and  eloquence 
among  the  ornaments  of  the  mind  ?  Yet  they  frequently  be- 
come, through  the  corruption  of  men,  the  means  of  debauchery 
and  seduction.  Even  the  Scriptures  themselves,  the  most  sa- 
lutiferous  effect  of  the  goodness  of  God,  are  sometimes  pro- 
faned by  error  and  vice  ;  ignorance  and  levity  wresting  them 
to  men's  own  ruin,  and  wretchedly  turning  that  to  destruction 
which  was  given  only  for  our  salvation.  It  is  not  meant,  that 
upon  this,  pretence  we  should  discontinue  the  use  of  any  of  the 
works  of  God,  who,  being  infinitely  wise,  has  made  nothing 
that  is  not  useful.  If  this  were  intended,  it  would  not  be  law- 
ful to  make  use  of  anything,  since  there  is  nothing  which  vice 
and  ignorance  does  not  abuse.  I  say  the  same  of  philosophy; 
if  its  authors  among  the  pagans,  if  heretics  among  christians 
have  made  it  serve  the  interest  of  error,  it  does  not  follow  that 
it  must  be  totally  rejected  ;  nor  should  we  do  as  the  man  did, 
who  rooted  up  his  vines,  because,  having  taken  too  much  of 
their  fruit,  he  was  overcharged  with  it  ;  or  as  he  who  would 
have  his  rose  bushes  burned,  because  he  had  been  sometimes 
pricked  in  gathering  their  flowers.  All  that  we  should  con- 
clude from  these  things  is,  that  this  plant  must  be  discreetly 
handled  ;  the  fruit  enjoyed,  but  with  moderation  ;  the  flowers 
gathered,  but  with  heed  taken  of  the  thorns.  This  is  all  that 
the  apostle  forbids  in  the  text,  even  deceit,  and  not  instruc- 
tion ;  that  which  is  vain,  and  not  that  which  is  solid  ;  error 
and  sophistry,  not  science  and  reasoning.  Philosophy  it- 
self washes  its  hands  of  its  disciples'  faults.  It  disavows  their 
errors,  and  renounces  all  that  they  have  brought  forth  without 
its  direction  by  false  arguments,  however  great  their  reputa- 
tion may  be.  It  is  so  far  from  defending  them,  that  itself  af- 
fords us  weapons  with  which  to  combat  them,  and  offers  us  its 
lights  to  discover  the  weakness  of  their  false  discourses.  For 
it  has  observed  and  taught  the  rules  of  legitimate  reasoning 
with  such  admirable  skill,  that  there  is  no  falsehood  to  be  met 
with,  of  which  it  does  not  afford  us  a  conviction.     So  if  there 


CHAP.  II.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  287 

be  error  in  the  discourses  of  men  of  this  profession,  (and  with- 
out doubt,  there  is  no  small  measure,)  it  is  certain  that  in  this 
unhappy  production  they  have  swerved  from  their  own  rule, 
it  being  impossible  that  a  falsehood  should  ever  be  duly  and 
rightly  concluded  from  truth. 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  no  error  or  doctrine  contrary  to 
truth  is,  properly  speaking,  philosophy,  it  is  an  abuse  of  it.  It 
may  be  an  imagination  and  an  extravagance  of  the  philoso- 
pher, not  a  part  or  a  true  fruit  of  philosophy.  And,  when  the 
apostle  says  here  that  heretics  spoil  men  by  philosophy  ;  that 
is,  as  he  adds,  by  a  vain  deception  ;  he  takes  the  word  philoso- 
phy, as  it  is  commonly  received,  for  the  accustomed  and  ordi- 
nary discourses  of  philosophers,  and  not  for  true  philosophy, 
and  that  which  is  properly  so  called.  As  long  as  the  philoso- 
pher carefully  keeps  within  his  own  bounds,  he  instructs,  and 
does  not  deceive.  The  bounds  which  philosophy  has  set  itself 
are  the  things  that  may  be  known  by  the  light  of  natural  rea- 
son. While  it  keeps  this  road  it  travels  securely  ;  and  I  con- 
fess that  what  it  teaches  in  this  manner  would,  so  far  from 
clashing  with  the  gospel,  do  it  good  service.  For  who  does 
not  see  that  its  discoveries  of  the  nature  of  plants,  of  living 
creatures,  of  metals  and  meteors,  of  the  transmutation  of  ele- 
ments, the  motions  of  the  heavens,  of  times  and  seasons,  of  the 
concatenation  of  inferior  causes  with  the  superior,  and  the  con- 
clusion it  raises  from  this  contemplation  of  there  being  above 
the  universe  an  invisible,  eternal,  most  wise,  and  almighty 
God,  upon  whom  it  all  depends,  are  laudable,  and  excellent, 
and  nothing  in  effect  but  a  report  of  the  handiwork  of  God, 
and  a  demonstration  of  his  divinity  ?  If  the  philosopher  had 
stopped  there,  and  had  deduced  nothing  from  these  discoveries 
but  this  clear  consequence,  that  the  supreme  Being,  whose 
footsteps  and  whose  glory  he  had  perceived  in  his  works, 
ought  to  be  supremely  adored,  served,  sought,  and  loved  ; 
never  would  the  apostle  have  ordered  us  to  be  afraid  of  philo- 
sophy, for  he  himself  makes  use  of  it  when  he  speaks  to  the 
Gentiles,  as  you  may  see  in  his  oration  to  the  Lycaonians  and 
the  Athenians,  in  the  Acts,  chap.  xiv.  and  xvii.  He  also  evi- 
dently confirms  it  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Eomans,  when  he  says 
"  that  which  may  be  known  of  God  is  manifest  in  them  ;"  and 
that  "the  invisible  things  of  him  from  the  creation  of  the 
world  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  of  the  things  that  are 
made,  even  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead,"  chap.  i.  19,  20, 
they  being  considered  in  his  works.  But  the  misery  is,  that 
the  philosophers  being  carried  away  by  that  vanity  and  curi- 
osity which  was  natural  to  them,  broke  those  bounds,  and  would 
needs  define  things  which  are  beyond  that  compass,  and  of 
which  reason,  in  the  state  we  now  are,  sees  not  one  jot.  And 
here  they  necessarily  fell  into  error  and  extravagancies  ;  as 


2M  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XX. 

persons  born  blind  would  do,  should  they  pretend  to  discourse 
to  us  of  colours.  Such  are  the  fancies  of  Plato  and  his  scho- 
lars concerning  the  state  of  the  souls  of  men  departed  from 
their  bodies,  and  the  purifications  he  devised  to  convey  us  near 
to  the  supreme  Good;  concerning  the  interposition  of  demons, 
as  he  calls  them,  or  of  angels,  as  the  Scripture  terms  them,  to 
present  our  supplications  to  God,  and  the  service  which  he  or- 
dained for  them  in  consequence  of  this  good  office,  and  a  thou- 
sand other  such  things.  Such  also  was  the  mistake  of  Aris- 
totle, who,  not  contented  with  the  knowledge  of  the  present 
establishment  of  the  world,  would  know  what  it  was  in  the 
beginning,  respecting  which  he  had  no  light  at  all,  concluding, 
because  in  the  present  state  of  things,  of  nothing  nothing 
is  made,  that,  therefore,  it  was  never  otherwise,  and  therefore, 
affirming  for  a  certainty  that  the  world  is  eternal.  As  if  we 
must  needs  judge  of  the  beginning  of  a  thing  by  those  laws 
under  which  it  lives  after  its  settlement,  and  limit  the  power 
of  a  free  agent  to  the  measure  of  the  effect  wrought  ;  that  is,  as 
if,  because  God,  in  this  frame  of  the  world,  makes  nothing 
without  matter,  it  therefore  followed,  that  absolutely  he  could 
not  make  anything  in  any  other  way  ;  which  is  as  impertinent 
a  reasoning  as  if  you  should  infer,  that  because  a  painter  has 
completed  a  picture  with  three  or  four  colours  only,  it  were 
impossible  for  him  to  draw  or  represent  a  subject  with  any 
other. 

In  this  particular,  philosophy  has  offended  by  excess,  un- 
dertaking more  than  it  could  compass.  It  often  errs  likewise 
by  defect,  as  when  it  rejects  the  revelation  of  God,  resolved  to 
admit. nothing  that  is  above  its  own  sense  and  reason  ;  as  if  a 
man  who  had  never  seen  any  other  light  than  that  of  our  fires 
and  candles  should  contend  that  there  was  no  other  in  the 
world.  Pride  made  the  greater  part  of  the  old  philosophers 
fall  into  this  impiety.  It  seemed  to  them  to  tarnish  their 
glory  to  acknowledge  that  there  was  another  school  more  in- 
telligent than  theirs,  and  that  it  was  an  injury  to  tell  them  that 
God  had  discovered  secrets  to  others  which  he  had  hid  from 
them.  It  was  this  vanity  that  spurred  them  on  so  violently 
against  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  at  the  beginning. 
If  philosophy  modestly  keeps  its  rank,  if  it  be  content  with  its 
bounds,  and  does  not  thrust  away  nor  injure  divine  revelation, 
if  it  acknowledge  it  as  its  mistress,  and  be  subject  to  it  as  Agar 
was  to  Sarah,  we  bid  it  welcome  ;  it  may  be  received  and  may 
abide  with  us.  But  if  it  usurp,  if  it  will  needs  be  mistress 
and  command  in  a  family  where  it  has  only  the  quality  of  a 
bond-woman,  let  it  depart,  and  be  treated  according  to  the 
words  of  Sarah  to  Abraham  :  "  Drive  out  the  bond- woman  and 
her  son,"  God  has  vouchsafed  to  reveal  to  us  by  his  prophets, 
and  in  the  last  times  by  his  own  Son,  all  the  articles  of  reli- 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  289 

gion.  Philosophy  ought  to  adore  them  with  us.  It  has  no- 
thing to  enjoin  us  in  the  matter.  From  the  mouth  of  God,  not 
from  the  mouth  of  philosophy,  do  we  receive  religion.  A3 
often,  therefore,  as  teachers  of  error  shall  use  the  authority  or 
artifice  of  philosophers  to  render  their  inventions  plausible  or 
probable  in  our  eyes,  let  us  boldly  despise  all  their  subtilty. 
Let  not  the  names  of  Aristotle  and  Plato  make  us  afraid  ;  let 
not  their  petty  subtilties  dazzle  our  sight.  We  may  hear 
them  when  the  question  is  only  of  men  and  of  nature.  When 
God  and  his  service  are  concerned,  we  ought  to  give  ear  tO' 
none  but  God  and  the  Son  of  his  love,  respecting  whom  he 
has  proclaimed  from  heaven  to  us,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son^ 
hear  him."  It  is  this  the  apostle  intends,  when  he  says  here^ 
"  Let  no  man  spoil  you  through  philosophy." 

But,  provided  the  doctrine  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  remain 
sound  and  entire,  without  diminution,  without  augmentation 
or  mixture,  we  are  not  prohibited  the  service  of  philosophy, 
but  may  employ  its  physics  and  its  ethics  to  confirm  and  illus- 
trate, as  far  as  they  can,  the  truths  of  the  gospel  ;  its  logic  to: 
defend  them  against  the  sophisms  and  sleights  of  gainsayers  ; 
and,  in  short,  to  adorn  and  embellish  them,  we  may  use  any- 
thing of  worth  that  philosophy  affords  ;  as  the  Israelites  here- 
tofore adorned  the  sanctuary  of  God  with  the  gold,  and  silver, 
and  jewels  of  Egypt.  You  may  perceive  therefore  how,  in 
the  religious  disputes  which  we  have  with  those  of  Rome,  they 
for  their  part  evidently  abuse  philosophy.  We  duly  employ 
it,  but  they  abuse  it.  For  in  addition  to  their  making  Aristo- 
tle to  reign  in  their  divinity  school,  regarding  his  edicts,  and 
cherishing  much  jealousy  of  his  reputation,  as  if  he  were  a 
pillar  of  religion,  they  found  articles  of  their  faith  upon  the 
authority  of  the  sages  of  the  world  ;  as  when  they  prove  their 
purgatory  by  the  testimony  of  Plato,  the  veneration  of  images 
by  the  custom  of  nations,  and  free-will  by  philosophy,  and 
various  other  things  of  a  similar  nature,  which,  not  being 
found  in  the  Scriptures  of  God,  they  seek  them  in  the  writings 
of  men.  As  for  us,  it  is  evident  that  we  have  no  positive 
article  in  our  faith  but  what  is  in  the  gospel.  Only  when  our 
adversaries  urge  their  transubstantiation  upon  us,  having 
shown  that  God  has  nowhere  revealed  it  to  us  in  his  word, 
but  even  clearly  contradicted  it,  we  call  in  philosophy  itself 
to  our  succour  to  prove  its  absurdity.  We  produce  its  tes- 
timony in  a  case  which  is  clearly  of  its  cognizance,  namely, 
the  nature  of  a  human  body,  the  place  it  takes  up,  the  quantity 
to  which  it  is  extended,  the  quality  of  substantial  mutations, 
of  which  kind  they  pretend  this  is,  whether  a  body  made  and 
formed  sixteen  hundred  years  ago  may  still  be  every  day 
substantially  produced. 

II.  But  it  is  high  time  to  come  to  the  two  other  sources  of 
37 


290  ^^   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XX. 

the  deceits  of  false  teachers.  The  second  is  the  tradition  of 
men,  as  the  apostle  calls  it.  "  Beware  lest  any  man  spoil  you 
through  philosophy  and  vain  deceit,  after  the  tradition  of 
men."  The  Scripture  commonly  gives  the  name  of  traditions 
to  those  instructions  which  we  receive  from  others.  And  it 
frequently  uses  the  word  deliver  (from  which,  in  the  Latin 
tongue,  that  of  tradition  is  derived)  for .  to  instruct  or  teach. 
"  I  received  of  the  Lord,"  says  the  apostle,  "  that  which  I  also 
delivered  unto  you;"  that  is,  taught.  It  therefore  calls  those 
doctrines  traditions  of  men  which  have  men  only  for  their 
authors,  which  come  from  men,  and  not  from  God.  I  confess 
that  errors  derived  from  that  philosophy  of  which  he  speaks 
in  our  text,  may  also  bear  the  same  name,  since  they  flowed 
from  the  spirit  of  man,  and  had  no  other  source  than  his  ima- 
gination ;  yet  the  apostle  distinguishes  the  one  from  the  others, 
as  I  conceive,  for  two  reasons  :  First,  inasmuch  as  those  de- 
rived from  philosophy  had  some  colour  of  abstruse  wisdom, 
having  sprung  from  speculations,  in  show  sublime  and  excel- 
lent, though  in  reality  vain  and  frivolous  ;  whereas  the  doc- 
trines which  he  here  calls  traditions  had  no  foundation  at  all 
but  the  authority  of  those  that  set  them  up,  and  the  usage  of 
those  that  practised  them  ;  they  being  otherwise  far  from  all 
philosophical  reasons,  not  only  true  and  solid,  but  also  proba- 
ble. Secondly,  because  the  former  had  some  successive  con- 
tinuance among  the  people  of  God,  having  been  delivered  by 
the  Pharisees,  and  other  zealots  of  Judaism,  from  father  to 
sou,  in  a  series  of  no  small  length;  whereas  that  which  he 
calls  the  deceit  of  philosophy  was  not  delivered  in  that  man- 
ner, but  lately  invented  by  these  new  teachers,  and  taken  from 
the  fancies  of  some  philosophers. 

From  this  it  appears  that  no  productions  or  institutions  of 
a  human  spirit  are  receivable  in  evangelical  religion  ;  whether 
they  are  those  which  are  supported  by  some  pretended  reasons, 
or  those  that  are  founded  upon  use  and  antiquity.  They  are 
all  of  them  nothing  but  folly  and  vanity  in  the  sight  of  God, 
whatever  may  be  the  colour  with  which  they  are  painted.  And 
though  men  boast  of  their  utility,  they  are  extremely  hurtful, 
as  they  pester  consciences,  and  busy  them  about  things  which 
God  has  not  ordained,  and  turn  them  aside  from  his  pure  ser- 
vice to  things  which  do  not  profit.  ,  Accordingly,  you  see 
that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  rejects,  and  roughly  thrusts  away, 
all  the  traditions  of  the  Pharisees,  however  much  esteemed 
they  were  for  their  antiquity  and  pretended  use  ;  reproaching 
them  that  by  holding  fast  those  traditions  of  men  they  let 
loose  the  commandments  of  God,  and  applying  to  them  those 
words  of  the  Lord  in  Isaiah,  "  In  vain  do  they  worship  me, 
teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men,"  Mark  vii. 
7;  Isa.  xxix.  13.     Indeed  it  is  an  insufferable  presumption, 


CHAP.  II.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  291 

that  man  should  attempt  to  prescribe  the  form  of  God's  ser- 
vice, especially  after  the  declaration  which  he  himself  has 
vouchsafed  to  make  of  his  holy  will  ;  nor  is  there  one  who 
would  endure  that  his  servant  should  treat  him  in  that  manner, 
and  instead  of  obeying  his  orders,  and  causing  others  to  de- 
spatch them,  begin  philosophizing  in  his  house,  and  giving 
his  family  a  new  rule  to  observe,  as  if  he  were  wiser  than  his 
master.  I  know  well  the  authors  of  these  traditions,  and  those 
that  follow  them,  are  not  without  fine  reasons  to  palliate  their 
temerity.  Bat  it  is  evident  that  they  do  the  very  same  in 
effect  ;  neither  is  it  to  be  doubted  that  a  servant  who  should 
be  culpable  of  such  vanity  would  likewise  plead  his  motives 
and  designs  to  any  that  would  give  him  audience.  But  com- 
mon sense  dictates  to  the  meanest  capacities  that  such  under- 
taking spirits  do  not  deserve  even  to  be  heard,  especially  where 
God  is  concerned,  in  comparison  with  whom  they,  with  all 
their  sufficiency,  are  but  poor  worms  of  the  earth.  Let  us 
hold  firm,  therefore,  this  foundation  of  the  apostle,  that  the 
traditions  of  men  ought  to  have  no  place  in  religion.  It  does 
not  concern  me  to  inform  myself  of  their  antiquity,  whether 
they  be  the  traditions  of  men  ancient  or  modern.  It  is  suf- 
ficient that  I  know  that  they  are  traditions  of  men.  Having 
the  apostle's  caution,  we  should  not  be  moved  with  any  reason, 
or  splendour,  or  antiquity  with  which  they  may  come  clothed. 
If  you  would  have  me  receive  them,  show  me  that  they  are 
prescriptions  of  God,  institutions  of  his  Christ,  doctrines  of 
his  Scriptures.  Without  this,  however  specious  you  may 
cause  them  to  appear  to  me,  I  shall  ever  believe  it  is  but  to 
make  a  prey  of  me;  and  your  diligence  shall  have  no  other 
effect  than  to  make  me  suspect  them  the  more. 

III.  But  the  apostle  adds  a  third  source  from  which  the  se- 
ducers drew  both  their  doctrine,  and  the  means  to  colour  it, 
namely,  that  which  he  calls  "  the  rudiments"  or  elements  "  of 
the  world,"  I  pass  by  the  opinion  of  those  who  refer  these 
words  to  the  elements  of  nature,  water,  air,  earth,  and  fire  ;  as 
if  the  apostle  here  taxed  these  false  teachers  with  reducing  the 
service  of  them,  which  was  then  in  full  vogue  among  the 
heathen  ;  these  wretched  idolaters  having  anciently  deified 
all  the  parts  of  the  universe.  There  is  not  a  word  in  Paul's 
writings,  either  here  or  elsewhere,  that  leads  us  to  such  a  con- 
clusion ;  and  it  is  not  very  likely  that  the  persons  at  whom 
he  here  aims  should  authorize  so  brutal  a  kind  of  idolatry  ; 
persons  who  covered  themselves  with  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  made  profession,  at  least  outwardly,  of  retaining 
his  gospel.  It  is  clear  that  the  apostle,  in  other  places,  means, 
by  the  elements  of  the  world,  not  these  primogenial  and  more 
simple  substances,  out  of  which  all  natural  generations  are 
framed  ;  but  the  ceremonies  and  carnal  services  of  the  Mosaic 


a®  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XX. 

law,  under  which  the  ancient  people  lived,  until  the  revelation 
of  the  Messiah.  "  When  we  were  children,"  (and  you  know 
he  calls  all  that  time  in  which  it  was  under  the  dispensation 
of  Moses  the  childhood  of  the  church,)  we  "  were  in  bondage 
under  the  elements  of  the  world  ;"  and  a  little  after,  in  con- 
tempt, he  styles  them  "  weak  and  beggarly  elements,"  where- 
unto  the  Galatians  desired  "  again  to  be  in  bondage,"  Gal.  iv. 
3,  9.  Now  it  is  evident  the  error  of  the  Galatians  was,  that 
they  would  still  be  subject  to  the  ceremonial  law.  In  the  20th 
verse  of  this  chapter  he  uses  a  similar  expression  :  "  If  ye  be 
dead  with  Christ  from  the  rudiments  of  the  world,  why,  as 
though  living  in  the  world,  are  ye  subject  to  ordinances?" 
There  is  then  no  doubt  that  in  this  place  he  signifies  by  these 
words,  "  the  rudiments  of  the  world,"  the  observations  and  de- 
votions of  the  ceremonial  law.  And,  indeed,  we  shall  see 
hereafter  that  these  seducers  whom  he  combats  in  this  chapter 
would  hold  fast  that  law,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  subjecting 
the  faithful  to  circumcision,  and  various  regulations  about 
meats  and  days. 

Paul  calls  them  "  the  rudiments  of  the  world,"  because  they 
were  the  first  and  the  lowest  lessons  which  the  church  received 
during  the  time  of  its  childhood  ;  they  were  as  its  alphabet. 
For  the  word  "  rudiments,"  or  elements,  is  often  taken  for  the 
first  lessons,  in  which  they  are  taught  to  know  their  letters. 
These  letters  are  also  called  elements,  because,  in  speech, 
words  are  made  up  of  them,  even  as  natural  bodies  are  formed 
of  those  first  and  more  simple  substances  which  we  properly 
call  elements.  And  he  calls  the  Jewish  church  "the  world," 
because  its  state  and  its  worship  were  carnal  and  terrestrial, 
and  in  a  manner  worldly,  in  comparison  with  that  of  the  new 
Israel,  whom  the  Lord  formed  to  worship  God  in  spirit  and  in 
truth.  Consequently  he  calls  all  the  knowledge  of  the  Jewish 
rabbis  "  the  wisdom  of  this  world,"  and  those  rabbis  them- 
selves "  the  princes  of  this  world,"  1  Cor.  ii.  6,  8.  However 
hoary-headed  and  venerable  therefore  were  these  rudiments  of 
the  world,  the  apostle  would  not  that  the  faithful  should  suffer 
themselves  to  be  insnared  under  that  pretence  by  those  se- 
ducers who  advanced  their  observance.  Thus  you  see  what 
were  those  three  colours  with  which  these  men  painted  their 
doctrine  :  the  vain  speculations  of  philosophy  ;  the  antiquity 
of  tradition  ;  and  the  authority  of  the  Mosaic  ceremonies. 

IV.  The  apostle  adds,  "and  not  after  Christ,"  By  these 
very  few  words,  as  with  one  blow,  he  beats  down  all  the  spe- 
ciousness  of  these  strange  doctrines.  Let  men  decorate  them 
(says  he)  as  much  as  they  will  ;  let  them  colour  them  with  the 
subtilties  of  philosophy  ;  let  the  practice  of  them  be  author- 
ized by  tradition  ;  let  them  be  recommended  under  the  name 
of  Moses,  and  by  the  respect  we  owe  to  the  rudiments  of  the 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  293 

former  world  ;  still  it  is  our  duty  to  reject  them,  not  only  as 
unprofitable,  but  as  even  dangerous,  since  they  are  "  not  after 
Christ."  He  says  that  they  are  not  so,  first,  because  the  Lord 
Jesus  has  told  us  nothing  of  them  in  his  gospel  ;  it  therefore 
appears  that  we  have  good  ground  to  reject  from  our  belief  all 
that  is  not  found  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament. 
Secondly,  because  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ  is  wholly  spir- 
itual and  celestial  ;  whereas  those  traditions  and  legal  obser- 
vances were  gross  and  carnal.  And  lastly,  because  they  not 
only  possess  no  correspondence  with  the  nature  of  the  gospel, 
"but  they  also  turn  men  aside  from  the  Lord  Jesus,  causing 
them  to  seek  a  part  of  their  salvation  in  some  other  source 
than  in  him,  in  whom  it  is  so  entirely  seated,  that  not  the  least 
drop  of  it  is  to  be  had  in  any  other.  And  whatever  show 
those  who  follow  these  traditions  make  of  being  resolved  to 
retain  Jesus  Christ,  experience  enables  us  to  see  that  they  but 
very  slightly  cleave  to  him  ;  busying  themselves  wholly  in  the 
performance  of  their  own  devotions,  and  placing  the  greatest 
part  of  their  confidence  in  them  ;  and  this  they  do  because 
these  observances  are  more  grateful  to  them,  both  on  account 
of  their  novelty,  and  of  their  being  voluntary,  and  indeed  of 
less  difficulty,  it  being  much  more  easy  to  the  flesh  to  perform 
some  external  and  corporeal  observances,  than  to  embrace 
Jesus  Christ  with  a  lively  faith,  dying  to  the  world,  and  living 
to  him  alone. 

Such  are  the  particulars  which  we  desired  to  notice  upon 
this  caution  of  the  apostle.  Eemember,  dear  brethren,  it  is 
also  addressed  to  you,  since  you  have  adversaries  who  solicit 
your  belief  in  the  same  manner  as  those  who  at  first  combated 
the  faith  of  the  Colossians.  They  propose  to  you  the  same 
errors,  and  paint  and  gild  them  over  in  the  same  manner,  with 
the  vain  colours  of  philosophy,  with  the  plausible  name  of 
tradition,  and  with  the  authority  of  Moses.  They  are  either 
doctrines  drawn  from  the  speculations  of  philosophers,  as  the 
invocation  of  angels  and  of  departed  saints,  the  veneration  of 
images,  the  state  of  souls  in  purgatory,  and  other  similar  doc- 
trines ;  or  human  traditions,  as  prayer  for  the  dead,  quadra- 
gesimal observances,  the  hierarchy,  the  primacy  of  the  bishop 
of  Rome,  monkery,  celibacy,  and  others,  all  erected  by  men, 
without  any  foundation  in  the  word  of  God,  Or,  lastly,  they 
are  elements  of  the  world,  ceremonial  observances,  originally 
instituted  by  Moses,  but  abolished  by  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  dis- 
tinction of  meats,  festivals,  unctions,  consecrations,  sacrifices, 
and  residence  in  certain  places.  Of  all  that  we  reject  in  our 
doctrine,  there  is  not  a  particular  but  refers  to  one  of  these 
three  heads. 

Remember,  therefore,  when  you  are  assailed  with  these 
errors,  that  the  apostle  still  to  this  day  calls  to  you  aloud 


294  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XX. 

from  heaven,  "  Beware  lest  any  man  spoil  you  through  phi- 
losophy and  vain  deceit,  after  the  tradition  of  men,  after  the 
rudiments  of  the  world,  and  not  after  Christ."  Under  these 
fair  appearances  there  is  hidden  a  pernicious  design.  Men 
would  take  you  away  from  Jesus  Christ,  and  make  you  a  prey 
to,  and  the  vassals  of,  men.  Oppose  to  all  their  artifices  this 
one  saying  of  the  apostle's,  that  whatever  may  be  the  things 
which  are  enjoined,  they  are  "  not  after  Christ  ;"  they  are  not 
found  in  that  Testament  wherein  he  has  declared  his  whole 
will  ;  they  have  no  conformity  with  the  nature  of  his  gospel, 
but  turn  away  the  minds  of  men  from  that  sovereign  Lord,  in 
whom  alone  is  our  wisdom  and  our  righteousness,  our  sancti- 
fication and  redemption. 

But,  faithful  brethren,  as  the  apostle's  lesson  should  defend 
you  from  error,  so  should  it  preserve  you  from  vice.  Let  that 
Jesus  whom  he  so  assiduously  preaches  to  you,  be  the  rule  of 
your  conduct  as  well  as  the  object  of  your  faith.  Love  none 
but  him,  as  you  believe  in  none  but  him,  Kenounce  the  cus- 
toms and  vices  of  the  world  as  well  as  its  religion.  Let  the 
leaven  of  philosophy  have  no  more  place  in  your  actions  than 
in  your  belief.  Eeceive  the  customs  of  men  into  your  com- 
munion no  more  than  the  traditions  of  men.  If  you  be  above 
the  rudiments  of  the  world,  be  also  above  its  infancy,  and  its 
low  and  childish  passions  and  affections  ;  they  were  sometimes 
pardonable  in  that  childhood,  but  are  inexcusable  in  persons 
whom  Jesus  Christ  has  advanced  to  perfect  men,  and  such  as 
by  his  illumination  he  has  brought  to  a  fulness  and  maturity 
of  age.  Let  your  souls  henceforth  have  thoughts  and  affec- 
tions noble  and  heavenly,  and  worthy  of  those  high  instruc- 
tions which  Jesus  Christ  has  given  you.  Let  your  whole  life 
have  relation  to  him,  passing  by  the  world  and  its  elements, 
this  present  generation,  and  its  lusts  and  idols,  with  which  the 
Lord  Jesus  does  not  participate.  He  has  crucified  all  those 
things  for  us,  and  displayed  before  our  eyes  a  new  world, 
brought  forth  out  of  the  bosom  of  eternity;  a  world  incorrup- 
tible, and  radiant  with  such  glory  as  can  neither  fade  nor  be 
sullied.  Hither,  faithful  brethren,  you  should  elevate  your 
desires.  This  is  true  christian  discipline,  to  die  with  Jesus  to 
this  old  world,  having  no  more  sentiment  or  passion  for  its 
perishing  benefits,  and  to  live  again  with  the  same  Jesus  in 
that  new  world  into  which  he  is  entered  for  us  ;  to  breathe 
after  nothing  but  its  glory,  to  think  of  nothing  but  its  purity, 
to  rejoice  in  nothing  but  its  peace,  and  the  hope  of  its  eternal 
pleasures  ;  to  forget  for  ever  that  which  is  past,  and  to  press 
with  all  our  might  towards  the  mark  and  prize  of  our  high 
calling  ;  justifying  the  truth  of  our  religion  by  the  holiness 
of  our  conversation,  so  as  that  there  may  no  more  appear 
among  us  either  ambition,  or  hatred,  or  avarice,  or  any  of 


-CHAP.  II.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  295 

tbose  loathsome  defilements  which  disfigure  the  lives  of  world- 
lings. May  the  Lord  Jesus,  who  has  given  us  this  excellent 
divine  doctrine,  who  has  founded  it  by  his  death,  and  estab- 
lished it  by  his  resurrection  ;  who  also  has  in  these  latter  times 
purged  it  afresh  of  the  vanities  of  philosophy,  of  the  tradi- 
tions of  men,  and  of  the  elements  of  the  world  ;  be  pleased  to 
confirm  us  in  it  for  ever  by  his  good  Spirit,  and  to  make  it  so 
efiicacious  for  the  sanctification  of  our  life,  that  after  we  have 
finished  this  earthly  pilgrimage,  and  quitted  this  vale  of  tears, 
we  may  receive  from  his  merciful  hand  the  crown  of  immor- 
tality, which  he  has  promised  and  prepared  for  all  his  true 
followers.  Amen. 


SEKMON  XXI. 

VERSE   9. 

For  in  him  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Oodliead  bodily. 

As  the  christian  religion  consists  in  principles  and  prac- 
tices incomparably  more  sublime  and  salutiferous  than  any 
which  the  world  ever  learned  in  the  schools  of  nature  and  of 
the  law,  so  it  was  delivered  and  instituted  by  an  author  infi- 
nitely more  excellent  than  any  of  those  who  erected  other 
systems  among  men.  I  will  not,  however,  draw  a  comparison 
between  Christ  and  the  authors  of  those  various  religions 
which  prevailed  in  the  time  of  paganism  ;  who,  though  they 
were  in  esteem  among  nations,  and  obtained  a  high  reputa- 
tion for  wisdom  and  virtue,  yet  have  the  taint  of  extreme 
ignorance  and  vanity  ;  as  their  own  institutions  will  suffi- 
ciently show  to  any  one  who  will  take  the  pains  to  examine 
them  in  the  light  of  reason.  It  would  be  injurious  to  the  Lord 
Jesus,  the  Founder  and  Prince  of  Christianity,  to  compare  him 
with  such  people.  But  even  Moses  himself,  the  great  teacher 
of  the  Hebrews,  and  the  prophets,  who  commented  on,  ex- 
plained, and  confirmed  his  law,  are  all  infinitely  beneath  the 
dignity  of  this  new  Lawgiver.  They  were,  I  grant,  ministers 
of  God,  the  mouth  and  organs  of  his  Majesty,  the  interpreters 
of  his  will,  and  heralds  of  his  truth  ;  being  endued,  as  was 
suitable  to  such  high  offices,  with  an  excellent  sanctity,  a  rare 
and  extraordinary  wisdom,  and  a  heavenly  power,  which 
evinced  itself  in  them  by  miraculous  effects.  But  after  all 
they  were  men,  and  never  pretended  to  rank  above  that  feeble 
nature  which  was  common  to  them  and  to  us,  nor  did  they  re- 


S96  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM,  XXI. 

ceive  any  of  those  honours  which  belong  to  the  divine  ; 
whereas  the  Lord  Jesus,  who  is  God  blessed  for  ever  as  well 
as  man,  was  so  far  from  refusing  divine  honours,  that  he 
has  expressly  required  them  at  our  hands,  and  commanded  us 
to  adore  him  with  the  Father,  and  to  acknowledge  him  his 
eternal  Son. 

This  same  difference  the  apostle  observes  between  the  Lord 
Jesus  and  those  other  ministers  which  God  made  use  of  in 
the  former  ages  :  "  God,"  says  he,  "  who  at  sundry  times,  and 
in  divers  manners,  spake  in  time  past  unto  the  fathers  by  the 
prophets,  hath  in  these  last  days  spoken  unto  us  by  his  Son," 
Heb.  i.  1.  Moses  and  the  rest  were  prophets  of  God,  Jesus  is 
his  Son.  The  others  were  his  ministers,  Jesus  is  his  Heir. 
The  others  were  faithful  as  servants,  Jesus  as  Son  is  over  the 
whole  house,  Heb.  iii.  5,  6.  In  the  others  there  shone  forth 
some  marks  of  the  commerce  which  they  had  with  God  ;  that 
sovereign  Majesty  imprinting  on  their  faces,  as  upon  that  of 
Moses  in  particular,  some  sparklings  of  his  glory.  But  Jesus 
is  his  very  light,  the  brightness  of  his  glory,  and  the  express 
image  of  his  person.  Dear  brethren,  it  highly  concerns  us  to 
know  rightly  this  great  dignity  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour;  not 
only  for  rendering  to  his  person  the  worship  which  is  due  to 
him,  and  of  which  we  must  not  fail  without  offending  the 
Father,  as  he  himself  has  told  us,  "  He  that  honoureth  not  the 
Son,  honoureth  not  the  Father  which  hath  sent  him,"  John  v. 
23  ;  but  also  for  our  embracing  with  so  much  greater  zeal 
the  religion  which  he  has  delivered  to  us,  without  ever  ad- 
mitting the  persuasion  that  either  men  on  earth,  or  even 
angels  from  heaven,  can  add  anything  to  the  light,  the  good- 
ness, and  the  perfection  of  the  gospel,  which  is  derived  from 
so  great  and  so  perfect  an  author.  For  this  cause  Paul  here 
holds  forth  to  the  Colossians  the  divinity  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

In  the  preceding  verses  he  exhorted  them  to  constant  perseve- 
rance in  the  belief  of  his  gospel,  confirming  themselves  in  it 
more  and  more,  and  taking  heed  that  they  gave  no  ear  to 
philosophy,  and  the  vain  traditions  of  seducers,  who  endeav- 
oured to  corrupt  sound  doctrine  by  mixing  with  it  divers 
inventions,  as  if  it  were  not  perfect  enough  of  itself  to  guide 
us  to  salvation.  The  apostle,  to  deprive  error  of  this  pretext, 
find  to  show  the  faithful  not  only  the  sufficiency,  but  even  the 
abounding  of  the  gospel,  represents  to  them  the  sovereign 
perfection  and  divinity  of  its  author.  "For  in  him,"  says  he, 
"  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily."  As  if  he 
had  said,  Since  you  have  Jesus  Christ,  there  is  no  need  of 
recourse  to  others.  In  him,  as  in  a  living  and  inexhaustible 
spring,  is  all  good  necessary  to  your  happiness  ;  a  divine 
authority  to  found  your  faith,  au  infinite  wisdom  to  direct  you 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS.  297 

in  all  truth,  an  incomprehensible  goodness  and  power  to  give 
you  grace  and  glory,  a  quickening  Spirit  to  sanctify  and  com- 
fort you.  All  other  things,  when  compared  with  him,  are 
but  poverty  and  weakness.  See  how  the  apostle  fortifies  the 
faithful  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord,  and  in  a  few  words  over- 
throws all  that  the  presumption  of  flesh  and  blood  would  dare 
to  set  up  beside  or  against  his  perfect  truth. 

For  a  right  understanding  of  his  words,  we  must  consider 
them  particularly.  For  though  the  number  of  them  is  small, 
their  weight  is  great  ;  they  are  rich  and  magnificent  in  sense, 
and  contain  within  their  narrow  compass  one  of  the  noblest 
and  fullest  descriptions  of  Jesus  Christ  that  is  found  in  Scrip- 
ture. Let  us  see  then,  first,  what  all  this  fulness  of  the  God- 
head is  of  which  the  apostle  speaks.  And  then,  in  the  second 
place,  how  it  dwells  in  Jesus  Christ,  namely,  "  bodily."  The 
Lord  be  pleased  to  conduct  us  by  the  light  of  his  own  Spirit 
in  so  high  a  meditation,  that  "of  his  fulness  we  may  receive 
grace  for  grace  ;"  and  draw  from  it  that  which  may  fill  our 
souls  with  that  life  and  salvation  which  overflows  in  him,  and 
can  be  nowhere  found  but  in  him. 

I,  As  to  the  subject  itself  of  which  Paul  speaks,  and  in 
which  he  says  that  "all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwelleth," 
none  can  doubt  that  it  is  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  For  having 
said,  at  the  end  of  the  verse  immediately  preceding,  that  the 
traditions  of  men  and  the  rudiments  of  the  world  are  not  after 
Christ,  he  now  adds,  "  For  in  him  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of 
the  Godhead."  It  is  therefore  clear  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  person  of  whom  he  speaks,  and  to  whom  he  attributes 
all  this  fulness.  That  man  must  have  been  ignorant  indeed 
who  did  not  know  who  this  Jesus  was  of  whom  the  apostle 
speaks.  All  knew  him,  at  least  confusedly,  and  in  gross  ; 
they  knew  that  he  was  a  man  born  of  Mary  in  Judea  ;  who 
having  lived  some  years  among  the  Jews,  had  been  at  length 
crucified  by  the  sentence  of  Pontius  Pilate  ;  and  who,  being 
risen  from  the  grave  to  a  new  life,  had  sent  forth  his  apostles 
to  preach  his  gospel,  and  afterwards  ascended  up  into  heaven. 
And  though  all  did  not  believe  that  he  was  risen  again  and 
glorified,  yet  all  well  knew  that  this  was  said  of  him  ;  so  that 
all  who  heard  Jesus  Christ  named  immediatel}'-  conceived  in 
their  minds  the  idea  of  this  person,  born  and  dying  in  Judea, 
at  such  times  and  at  such  places,  having  a  retinue  of  disciples 
during  his  life  and  after  his  death.  This  then  is  the  subject 
of  whom  Paul  speaks,  even  Jesus  Christ  considered  under  this 
form  of  a  man,  in  which  he  manifested  himself  to  the  world, 
and  in  which  he  was  conceived  and  figured  in  the  minds  of 
those  who  heard  him  named.  In  this  man,  whose  appearance 
was  like  that  of  other  men,  who  was  born  and  bred  on  earth, 
sustained  during  his  life  with  our  common  food,  subject  to  our 
38 


298  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XXL 

infirmities,  who  passed  through  the  varieties  of  our  ages,  suf- 
fered our  griefs,  felt  our  inconveniences,  and  experienced  the 
pains  of  death,  yea,  of  the  most  cruel  death  that  was  ever  suf- 
fered ;  in  this  man,  I  say,  whose  body  was  nailed  to  a  cross, 
and  deprived  of  its  soul,  and  buried  in  a  sepulchre  ;  in  this 
man,  under  so  mean  and  contemptible  a  form,  "  dwelleth  (says 
the  apostle)  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead." 

It  is  ordinary  in  the  Hebrew  language,  to  signify  by  the 
fulness  of  anything  that  which  the  thing  contains  ;  as  by  the 
fulness  of  the  earth,  Psal,  xxiv.  1,  are  understood  men  and 
other  living  creatures  which  fill  it  ;  and  by  the  fulness  of  the 
sea,  the  isles  which  the  sea  contains.  After  this  mode  of  ex- 
pression the  qualities  and  perfections  of  any  particular  nature 
may  be  called  its  fulness,  because  they  are  the  things  which 
fill  it,  and  with  them  it  is,  as  it  were,  furnished  and  adorned, 
as  the  movables  and  ornaments  of  a  room  or  a  house  are  its 
fulness.  Therefore  if  I  should  say  that  in  Adam,  as  he  was  at 
first  created,  was  found  all  the  fulness  of  manhood,  every  one 
would  easily  perceive  that  my  meaning  would  be,  that  the 
perfections  of  human  nature,  the  faculties,  and  properties,  and 
beauties  of  which  it  is  full,  and  without  which  it  cannot  sus- 
tain the  dignity  of  that  name,  were  all  in  Adam, — an  im- 
mortal soul,  a  vigorous  understanding,  a  free-will,  a  body  of 
excellent  beauty,  acute  senses,  and  all  the  other  faculties 
which  have  any  place  among  the  perfections  of  the  nature  of 
man.  So  when  we  hear  the  apostle  saying  that  the  "  fulness 
of  the  Godhead"  is  in  Jesus  Christ  ;  let  us  understand  that  by 
this  he  means  those  perfections  and  qualities  which  fill  up 
the  divine  nature,  in  which  this  great  and  sovereign  being 
consists,  and  which  theologians  commonly  call  the  attributes" 
of  God.  You  know  what  the  word  Godhead  signifies,  even 
the  nature  and  essence  of  God.  "  The  fulness  of  the  Godhead" 
then  is  that  rich  and  incomprehensible  abundance  of  perfec- 
tions, of  which  the  supreme  and  adorable  nature  is  full  ; 
namely,  his  life,  his  power,  his  wisdom,  his  justice,  his  good- 
ness, his  immensity,  his  eternity,  his  holiness,  and  all  the 
other  properties,  which  it  has  in  an  ineffable  manner  ;  and 
which  our  understandings,  according  to  their  mean  capacity, 
conceive  in  it  ;  as  the  form  of  the  Deity,  that  is  necessary  for 
its  having  that  name;  a  nature  that  wants  it  being  incapable 
of  being  called  God  otherwise  than  falsely  and  improperly. 
I  grant  that  some  resemblances,  or  rather  some  touches  and 
lineaments,  of  these  perfections  of  the  Godhead  appear  in  the 
noblest  of  the  creatures  ;  as  in  the  angels  for  instance,  who 
are  immortal,  and  endowed  with  superior  holiness,  virtue,  and 
power.  But  the  fulness  of  them  is  not  in  any  creature  at  all  ; 
neither  can  it  be  found  that  ever  the  Scripture  speaks  in  this 
manner  of  angels,  and  says  that  the  "  fulness  of  the  Godhead" 


CHAP,  II.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  299^ 

is  in  them.  Besides,  these  blessed  spirits,  and  other  creatures, 
however  excellent  jou  may  imagine  them  to  be,  participate 
in  these  divine  perfections  only  in  a  very  little  measure  ; 
whereas  the  Lord  Jesus  has  them  wholly.  And  to  make  this 
evident  to  us,  the  apostle  thought  it  not  enough  to  say  that 
the  "  fulness  of  the  Godhead"  is  in  him  ;  but  expressly  de- 
clared that  "  all"  this  fulness  dwelleth  in  him  ;  that  we 
might  be  assured  that  there  is  not  any  perfection,  or  excel- 
lency, or  attribute  in  the  divine  nature  that  is  not  found  in 
him. 

Thus,  in  these  two  or  three  words,  he  has  comprised  all 
that  the  Scriptures  teach  us  in  various  places  of  the  richness 
of  the  perfections  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour.  For  instance,  it 
tells  us  that  he  is  full  of  grace  and  truth;  that  he  is  the  wisdom 
and  the  power  of  the  Father;  that  he  has  the  words  of  life; 
that  he  is  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life  ;  that  in  him  are 
hid  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  ;  that  he  has  that 
might  and  strength  which  sustains  all  things  now,  and  which 
created  them  at  first  ;  that  he  is  the  everlasting  Father,  and 
has  immortality  and  incorruption  ;  and  has  an  infinite  under- 
standing, whereby  he  tries  the  reins  and  discerns  all  the 
thoughts  of  the  hearts  of  men  ;  that  he  has  a  pre-eminent 
glory,  to  which  all  creatures  ought  to  do  homage,  yea,  the 
angels  themselves,  who  indeed  adore  him  ;  the  empire  and 
dominion  over  all  the  world  ;  the  right  and  authority  to  judge 
all  men,  and  a  multitude  of  such  things  as  these.  Truly  Paul 
has  comprised  it  all  in  one  word,  saying  here  that  "  all  the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead"  is  in  Jesus  Christ  ;  it  being  evident 
that  if  he  wanted  any  of  these  names,  rights,  and  attributes, 
he  could  not  have  "all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead,"  which  is 
here  ascribed  to  him, 

II.  But  let  us  now  see  in  what  manner  he  possesses  these 
things  :  the  apostle  expresses  it  very  briefly,  saying  that  all  this 
fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwelleth  in  him  "bodily."  First,  the 
term  "  dwelleth  "  is  significant,  importing  that  all  this  copious 
abundance  of  perfections  does  not  reside  in  Jesus  Christ  for  a 
time  only,  appearing  for  a  short  period  and  then  withdrawing 
again,  so  making  a  transient  stay  in  him  for  a  few  moments  and 
no  more  ;  but  that  it  abides  in  him  constantly,  and  for  ever  ; 
for  so  the  word  diuell  in  Scripture  signifies.  The  word  and  the 
glory  of  God  appeared  in  Moses  and  the  prophets,  when,  being 
moved  by  the  power  of  his  Spirit,  they  uttered  and  acted  di- 
vine things  ;  but  it  dwelt  not  in  them.  It  only  rested  on  them 
a  few  hours,  in  order  that  by  those  marks  of  God's  providence, 
and  of  his  communion  with  them,  his  servants  might  be  ren- 
dered acceptable  and  their  authority  be  confirmed.  Whereas 
the  whole  "fulness  of  the  Godhead"  was,  and  is,  and  ever  shall 
be  in  Christ  Jesus.    Therefore  the  apostle  speaks  expressly  in 


30ft  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXI. 

the  present  tense,  and  says  "  dwelleth  "  in  him,  not  that  it  had 
dwelt  in  him,  that  no  one  might  imagine  that  at  any  time  it 
retreated. 

But  however  great  and  admirable  is  the  signification  of  the 
word  "  dwelleth,"  yet  the  Scripture  frequently  makes  use  of  it 
to  express  the  continual  solicitude  which  divine  Providence 
has  for  the  faithful  ;  as  when  it  is  said  in  many  places  that  God 
dwelleth  in  the  midst  of  his  people  ;  and  when  the  Lord  him- 
self says,  with  reference  to  his  ark,  whereon  he  sometime  mani- 
fested himself  to  his  ancient  people,  "  I  will  dwell  among  the 
children  of  Israel,  and  will  be  their  God,"  Exod.  xxix.  45.  And 
when  again,  speaking  of  Zion,  he  says,  "  This  is  my  rest  for 
ever  :  here  will  I  dwell,  because  I  have  desired  it,"  Ps.  cxxxii. 
14.  The  apostle  therefore,  to  distinguish  and  sever  the  dwell- 
ing of  the  Godhead  in  Jesus  Christ  from  the  now  mentioned 
and  all  other  kinds  of  its  dwelling  other  where,  adds  that  the 
fulness  thereof  dwelleth  in  him  "  bodily."  He  opposes  body  to 
a  shadow  or  an  image  ;  as  when  he  says  in  this  chapter,  con- 
cerning the  ceremonies  of  the  law,  that  they  were  "  shadows  of 
things  to  come;  but  the  body  is  of  Christ,"  ver.  17.  "The 
body,"  that  is,  the  truth  and  thing  itself.  The  shadow  is  but  a 
slight  and  imperfect  representation  of  it.  I  think  therefore 
that  it  is  in  this  sense  the  apostle  says  here  that  the  fulness  of 
the  Godhead  dwelleth  bodily  in  Christ  ;  that  is  to  say,  really 
and  truly  ;  in  substance,  and  not  in  shadow  ;  in  truth  and  not 
in  figure.  The  Godhead  dwelt  in  time  past  in  the  ark  of  the 
covenant,  but  in  shadow  only.  For  it  was  not  the  supreme 
Majesty  itself  that  was  present  there  ;  but  a  symbol  only,  and 
some  token  of  his  glory;  whereas  it  is  the  body  itself  (if  I  may 
so  speak)  of  the  divinity,  and  not  its  shadow,  that  resides  in 
Jesus  Christ  ;  all  the  perfections  thereof  being  in  him  really, 
and  in  their  whole  truth. 

By  this  is  excellently  represented  to  us  that  admirable  and 
ineffable  union  of  the  divinity  with  the  flesh  of  our  Saviour 
which  the  church  ordinarily  calls  personal;  so  close  a  union, 
that  this  flesh,  and  the  Word  which  assumed  it,  make  but  one 
and  the  same  person  ;  the  human  nature  of  Jesus  Christ  sub- 
sisting only  in  the  person  of  the  Son.  For  if  it  were  other- 
wise, it  could  not  be  said  that  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwells 
bodily  in  Christ.  He  would  not  have  the  body  of  it,  any  more 
than  the  creatures  have,  to  whom  it  communicates  itself.  He 
would  have  only  some  lineaments  and  shadows  of  it,  and  not 
the  very  thing  itself.  For  example,  God  dwelt  heretofore  in  his 
ark,  inasmuch  as  he  manifested  his  presence  in  it.  But  because 
the  things  which  he  placed  and  exhibited  there  were  not  his 
very  nature,  or  the  selfsame  perfections  with  which  it  is  filled  ; 
but  some  simple  effects  of  his  power,  whereby  the  images  of 
some  of  his  perfections  were  in  a  manner  delineated  ;  it  is  evi- 


CHAP.  II.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  801 

dent  that  it  cannot  be  truly  said  that  the  fulnesa  of  his  Godhead 
dwelt  there  bodily.  Thus  also  he  manifested  himself  to  Moses 
in  the  burning  bush  ;  and  afterwards  to  the  apostles  in  cloven 
tongues  as  of  fire  ;  and  before  that,  the  Holy  Ghost  appeared  in 
the  form  of  a  dove.  But  besides  that  these  manifestations  being 
but  transient,  it  cannot  be  said  that  God  dwelt  in  the  bush,  or 
in  the  places  where  those  other  symbols  appeared.  In  addition 
to  this,  it  is  evident  that  the  flame  at  the  bush  was  not  at  all 
the  divine  nature,  or  any  one  of  its  perfections  ;  and  that  nei- 
ther the  dove  nor  the  fiery  tongues  were  any  more  the  proper 
essence  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  any  one  of  his  real  and  divine 
perfections;  all  these  things  being  but  forms  created  by  God, 
and  consequently  his  productions  and  works,  in  which  he  re- 
presented to  his  servants,  as  in  a  portrait  or  rough  sketch,  some 
slight  resemblance  of  what  he  is  indeed.  Supposing  however 
that  it  might  with  propriety  be  said  (which  it  cannot  be)  of  the 
places  where  these  things  appeared,  that  the  fulness  of  the  God- 
head dwelt  in  them,  still  it  would  be  false  to  say  that  it  dwelt 
in  them  bodily  ;  it  being  clear  that  the  things  on  account  of 
which  it  would  be  said  to  have  dwelt  there  were  not  the  body 
and  the  truth  of  his  nature,  but  its  shadow  and  symbol  only. 
I  say  the  same  of  prophets,  and  of  saints,  and  of  angels  them- 
selves, to  whom  God  most  intimately  communicates  himsel£ 
For  the  things,  in  consequence  of  which  the  Scripture  says  that 
he  dwells  in  them,  are  holiness,  joy,  and  knowledge,  which  he 
works  and  preserves  in  them.  Now  every  one  sees  that  nei- 
ther the  knowledge,  nor  the  piety,  nor  the  charity,  nor  the  joy, 
nor  the  constant  and  uninterrupted  felicity  of  the  saints,  are  the 
very  nature  of  God,  or  the  body  itself  (if  I  may  so  speak)  of  his 
immense  and  incomprehensible  perfections,  in  which  the  ful- 
ness of  his  Godhead  consists:  these  things  are  only  effects  and 
works  of  God,  engravings  and  impressions  of  his  hand,  marks 
of  his  operation  ;  so  that  however  high  may  be  their  excellency, 
and  however  exact  the  image  of  God  in  these  saints,  yet  it 
cannot  be  said  that  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwells  in  them 
bodily,  since  it  is  clear  from  what  has  been  said  that  it  dwells 
in  them  by  shadows  only,  by  the  illustrious  and  glorious  traces 
which  his  operation  has  left  in  them,  and  not  in  substance.  We 
conclude  then  from  the  apostle's  express  assertion  here,  that  all 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwelleth  bodily  in  Christ;  that  the 
divinity  is  in  him  after  a  totally  different  manner  than  either 
in  the  symbols,  by  which  it  is  represented,  or  the  creatures,  on 
which  he  sheds  his  grace  and  glory  ;  that  it  so  dwells  in  Jesus 
Christ,  as  that  he  has  in  him  not  some  delineations  and  models 
by  which  it  is  portrayed,  not  those  qualities  and  dispositions 
alone  which  it  works  by  the  presence  of  its  grace  in  the  most 
holy  of  its  creatures;  but  its  very  self:  that  he  has  the  body 
and  verity  of  it,  that  is,  (as  the  church  expresses  this  mystery 


302  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXI. 

in  one  word,)  that  the  Godhead  is  personally  united  with  his 
flesh  ;  it  being  not  otherwise  possible  that  the  fulness  of  the 
Godhead  should  dwell  in  him  bodily. 

Now  that  such  is  this  divine  union  of  the  eternal  Word  with 
the  flesh  of  Jesus  Christ,  appears,  first,  from  the  fact  that  nei- 
their  the  apostle  nor  any  other  of  the  sacred  writers,  ever  said 
of  saints  or  angels  that  which  we  here  read  of  our  Lord  ;  namely, 
that  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwelleth  in  him  bodily  ;  an 
evident  sign  that  this  is  a  glory  which  appertains  to  none  but 
him  alone.  Secondly,  from  the  qualities,  the  actions,  and  the  at- 
tributes of  the  divinity  being  communicated  to  the  Man  who  was 
born  of  the  blessed  virgin  ;  and  reciprocally  the  sufferings,  the 
qualities,  and  the  actions  of  the  flesh,  which  was  born  of  Mary, 
being  attributed  to  the  eternal  Son  of  God  ;  as  when  the  Scrip- 
ture says  that  God  has  redeemed  the  church  with  his  own  blood  ; 
that  the  Lord  of  glory  was  crucified  ;  that  Jesus  Christ  is  be- 
fore Abraham  was  ;  that  he  founded  the  earth  at  the  beginning, 
and  the  heavens  are  the  work  of  his  hands  ;  and  other  similar 
expressions.  Dear  brethren,  such  is  the  sense  of  these  divine 
words  of  the  apostle.  Admire  the  force  and  the  richness  of  the 
Scripture,  which  has  in  so  few  .words  blasted  and  beaten  down 
all  the  inventions  and  dogmatizings  of  error  against  the  truth, 
respecting  the  two  natures  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  and  of  the 
union  of  them  in  his  person. 

First,  these  words  overthrow  the  impiety  of  those  who  be- 
reave Jesus  Christ  of  his  divinity,  and  reduce  him  to  the  de- 
gree and  condition  either  of  a  mere  man,  or  of  a  person  raised 
indeed  above  man,  yet  made  and  created  at  the  beginning,  as 
well  as  other  celestial  and  terrestrial  creatures.  How  can  such 
blasphemy  subsist  before  this  sacred  oracle,  which  proclaims 
not  simply  that  the  divinity,  but  that  the  Godhead,  and  not 
this  simply  either,  but  that  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead,  yea,  in 
addition  to  this,  that  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead,  dwelleth 
in  him  bodily?  If  he  be  but  a  man,  no  part  of  this  fulness  of 
the  Godhead  dwells  in  him;  neither  its  power,  nor  its  wisdom, 
neither  its  goodness  nor  its  justice,  neither  its  glory  nor  its 
eternity.  For  none  of  these  divine  qualities  dwell  in  one  who 
is  but  a  man.  We  must  affirm  that  he  has  in  him  verily  those 
perfections  that  fill  up  the  Godhead,  (that  is,  the  divine  nature,) 
or  deny  that  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwelleth  in  him. 
But  if  you  grant  me  (as  deny  it  3^ou  cannot,  without  giving  the 
the  apostle  the  lie)  that  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwells  in 
him,  you  must  of  necessity  confess  also  that  he  is  God  ;  no  one 
(if  he  be  not  God)  being  capable  of  receiving,  holding,  and  pos- 
sessing in  himself  the  fulness  of  God,  For  this  fulness  being 
infinite,  there  is  none  but  God  that  can  contain  it,  since  there 
is  none  but  he  alone  who  is  infinite.  Now  it  dwells  all  in  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  it  must  therefore  of  necessity  be  confessed 
that  he  is  God  of  a  nature  infinite. 


CHAp.il]         the  epistle  to  the  COLOSSIAIsrs.  303 

The  frigid  and  frivolous  evasions  of  those  impious  men  are 
therefore  refuted,  who,  taking  away  from  Jesus  Christ  the 
reality  and  true  glory  of  divinity,  leave  him  only  the  name, 
and  make  a  titular  God  of  him  ;  a  God  (as  they  affirm)  created 
and  raised  up  some  time  since,  who  has  but  the  title  of  God, 
not  the  nature;  the  office,  not  the  essence.  Who  can  suf- 
ficiently detest  the  audaciousness  of  these  deceivers,  who,  by 
this  impiety,  overthrow  all  the  ground-work  of  the  Scripture, 
which  reveals  nothing  more  clearly  or  more  expressly  than  the 
oneness  of  the  true  God;  who  is  likewise  so  jealous  of  his  glory, 
as  that  he  forbids  us,  upon  pain  of  death,  to  give  his  name,  or 
his  worship,  or  his  attributes  to  any  creature,  whatever  may  be 
his  quality  ?  If  Jesus  Christ  be  not  the  true  eternal  God, 
Creator  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  how  will  you,  miserable 
men,  avoid  this  condemnation,  you  that  give  him  the  name 
and  the  adoration  of  the  true  God  ?  But  Paul  lays  all  their 
subtilty  in  the  dust,  by  formally  saying  that  "  all  the  fulness 
of  the  Godhead  dwelleth  in  him  bodily."  The  fulness  of  the 
Godhead  is  not  an  empty  name,  or  a  titular  dignity.  It  is  that 
which  fills  it  ;  it  is  that  glory,  that  light,  that  nature,  that  truth, 
and  that  perfection,  with  which  the  Godhead  is  full.  It  is  this 
therefore  that  dwells  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  substance  of  a  true 
and  real  divinity,  not  a  hollow  and  a  vain  shadow  ;  it  is  the 
essence  and  not  the  title  of  Deity. 

But  as  the  apostle  by  these  words  condemns  the  impiety  of 
those  who  bereave  our  Lord  and  Saviour  of  the  glory  of  his 
divinity,  so  he  likewise  confounds  the  extravagance  of  others, 
who  deprive  him  of  his  human  nature,  foolishly  affirming  that 
he  had  but  a  false  appearance  in  the  flesh.  For  here  are  two 
subjects  clearly  presented  to  us;  one  that  dwells  (that  is,  the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead)  ;  another,  in  which  this  fulness  dwells, 
namely,  Jesus  Christ  ;  the  one  is  the  temple,  the  other  is  the 
God  that  resides  in  that  temple  ;  the  one  our  Saviour's  human 
nature,  the  other  the  eternal  Son  of  the  Father  ;  two  real  and 
veritable  subjects,  by  the  wonderful  union  of  which  this  sacred 
and  adorable  sanctuary  of  God  is  composed.  To  take  away 
the  truth,  either  of  his  Godhead,  with  the  former,  or  of  his 
flesh  with  the  latter,  is  to  destroy  the  fabric.  Again,  these 
words  of  the  apostle  in  the  same  manner  overthrow  the  error 
of  those  who  have  corrupted  the  union  of  these  two  natures  in 
Jesus  Christ;  on  one  hand  by  dividing  them,  as  did  the 
Nestorians  ;  and  on  the  other  by  confounding  them,  as  did  the 
Eutychians.  For  if  we  sever  Jesus  Christ  into  two  persons, 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  will  not  dwell  bodily  in  his  flesh. 
This  man  will  have  but  gifts  of  the  divinity,  which  are,  as  it 
were,  some  resemblance  and  lineaments  of  it  ;  he  will  not  have 
the  truth  and  the  very  body  of  it.  Neither  must  it  be  replied, 
that  the  temple  in  which  God  resides  is  a  substance  difierent 


304  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XXI. 

from  his  person  ;  for  the  body  is  the  residence  of  the  soul  ;  yet 
soul  and  body  have  but  one  and  the  same  subsistence,  and  con- 
stitute but  one  and  the  same  person.  So  that  the  dwelling  of 
the  Son  in  his  human  nature,  as  in  his  temple,  does  not  pre- 
vent his  human  nature  from  subsisting  with  him  in  one  and 
the  same  person.  Yet  though  we  must  not  divide  these  two 
natures  of  our  Lord,  it  does  not  follow  that  we  must  mix  and 
confound  them,  as  they  do  who  define  the  union  of  ihem  by 
the  human  nature  being  made  equal  with  the  divine,  and 
maintain  that  it  is  infinite,  and  immense,  and  endowed  really 
in  itself  with  all  the  properties  of  the  divine  nature.  The 
apostle  says,  indeed,  that  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwells  in 
Christ,  but  he  does  not  say  that  his  flesh  was  really  changed 
into  the  Godhead.  The  body,  by  being  personally  united  to 
the  soul,  does  not  thereby  become  soul.  It  preserves  its  own 
nature,  and  derives  only  this  advantage  from  that  intimate 
connection  which  knits  it  with  the  soul,  that  they  subsist 
together,  and  make  up  but  one  and  the  same  person.  Just  so, 
the  flesh  of  our  Lord,  by  the  Word's  dwelling  in  it,  becomes 
with  it  one  selfsame  person,  being  truly  the  body,  and  the  soul, 
and,  in  one  word,  the  nature  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  yet  it  still 
keeps  its  original  being  and  essential  properties.  The  Lord  is 
a  true  Divinity,  dwelling  in  a  true  flesh,  and  true  flesh  dwelt 
in  by  a  true  Divinity.  There  is  a  Divinity  and  a  humanity 
truly  distinct  one  from  the  other,  and  each  of  them  retaining 
its  own  being  and  proper  qualifications  ;  but  there  is  one  only 
and  the  same  person,  who  takes  his  name  sometimes  from  the 
one,  and  sometimes  from  the  other,  and  sometimes  jointly  from 
them  both.  For  we  call  him  the  Son  of  Mary  and  the  seed  of 
David,  by  reason  of  his  flesh  ;  the  everlasting  God,  and  the 
Word  of  the  Father,  and  the  Lord  of  glory,  on  account  of  his 
Divinity  ;  Immanuel,  (that  is  to  say,  God  with  us,)  and  God 
manifested  in  flesh,  by  reason  of  these  two  natures  together. 

I  confess  that  this  is  a  mystery  that  surpasses  our  compre- 
hension, and  a  wonder  that  has  no  parallel.  But  we  must  not 
measure  the  truths  of  religion  by  the  rule  of  our  understand- 
ings, especially  when  the  question  relates  to  God,  whose  nature 
reason  itself  confesses  to  be  infinite  and  incomprehensible.  It 
is  sufficient  that  the  word  of  the  Lord  informs  us  that  it  is  so  ; 
and  though  our  reason  cannot  discern  the  manner  of  this  union, 
et  it  being  once  illuminated  by  divine  revelation,  it  acknow- 
edges  a  kind  of  necessity  for  it.  For  presupposing  what  the 
Scripture  reveals  and  reason  approves,  of  the  desert  of  sin,  the 
infinite  punishment  that  is  due  to  it,  and  the  inflexible  con- 
stancy of  divine  justice,  which  cannot  let  sin  pass  unpunished, 
it  evidently  follows  that  man  could  not  have  been  reconciled 
to  God  unless  his  justice  were  satisfied,  nor  his  justice  have 
been  satisfied  without  a  sacrifice  of  infinite  worth  and  merit. 


I 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  805 

So  it  being  the  office  of  Christ  to  reconcile  men  unto  God,  it  is 
clear  that  for  effecting  this  great  design  he  must  ofîer  to  the 
Father  a  sacrifice  of  infinite  value,  and  consequently  be  God  ; 
since  nothing  can  proceed  from  a  finite  subject  but  what  is 
also  finite,  and  none  is  infinite  but  God  alone.  It  was  necessary, 
therefore,  for  our  redemption,  that  all  the  fulness  of  the  God- 
head should  dwell  bodily  in  our  Mediator  ;  not  to  speak  of 
other  advantages  which  this  admirable  union  of  our  nature 
with  the  divine,  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  affords  us — as 
the  assurance  it  gives  us  of  the  infinite  love  of  God,  and  of  our 
salvation;  the  title  it  procures  us  to  the  merits  of  our  Saviour 
whom  it  has  made  our  Brother,  and  consequently  rendered  us 
capable  of  being  his  co-heirs  ;  the  consolation  of  Him  whom 
we  serve  which  it  sheds  into  our  hearts,  he  having  an  infinite 
power  and  wisdom  to  defend  us  in  our  conflicts,  to  strengthen 
us  in  our  weakness,  to  preserve  us  against  all  the  assaults  of 
hell  and  the  world,  and  to  redeem  us  from  death,  the  last  of 
our  enemies;  it  being  evident,  that  if  we  had  but  a  mere  man 
for  a  saviour,  however  holy  and  excellent  he  might  be,  there 
would  remain  to  us  still  very  great  and  just  causes  of  diffidence 
and  fear. 

Therefore,  blessed  for  ever  be  the  Father  of  our  Lord  ; 
blessed  be  his  love,  and  that  great  mercy  which  induced  him 
to  send  us  so  excellent  and  admirable  a  Mediator,  who  has  all 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwelling  in  him  bodily.  Let  us 
receive  him  with  faith,  adore  him  with  devotion,  and  serve  him 
with  zeal.  Neither  let  his  flesh  be  an  offence  to  us.  It  is  very 
flesh  I  grant,  but  the  flesh  of  an  eternal  God  ;  who,  under  this 
pavilion  of  his  visible  abasement  of  himself,  which  the  world 
so  insolently  despised,  has  lodged  all  the  glory  of  heaven,  and 
all  the  fulness  of  the  Divinity.  Nor  let  his  majesty,  and  this 
fulness  of  the  Godhead,  which  dwells  in  him,  affright  us.  He 
is  a  great  God  I  confess,  but  a  God  manifested  in  flesh,  dwell- 
ing in  our  nature,  humbling  himself  to  our  condition,  and  par- 
taking of  our  flesh  and  our  blood,  that  he  might  bring  us  to 
himself.  Let  us  embrace  with  reverence  that  most  sacred  re- 
ligion which  he  has  brought  us  from  heaven.  And,  indeed,  if 
the  world  has  followed  and  held  fast,  and  still  in  various 
places  follows  and  holds  fast,  with  so  much  earnestness,  reli- 
gions invented  and  erected  by  vain  men,  who  were  full  of 
ignorance  and  error,  what  respect  do  we  not  owe  to  our  reli- 
gion, which  has  been  given  to  us  by  the  hand  and  mouth  of  a 
person  in  whom  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  ! 
Moses  was  but  God's  servant,  and  you  see  what  respect  the  an- 
cient people  bore  him,  and  with  what  severity  all  disobediences 
and  rebellions  against  his  ordinances  were  punished  ;  and  how 
that  poor  nation  still  at  this  day  in  vain  adores  the  sepulchre 
and  relics  of  the  law,  which  died  and  was  abrogated  long  ago. 

o9 


;306  .  AN   EXPOSITION"   OF  [SERM.   XXI. 

What  penalties,  then,  must  we  expect,  if  we  despise  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Son,  who  is  eternally  blest  with  the  Father — this 
"  great  salvation,"  as  the  apostle  calls  it,  "  which  began  to  be 
spoken  by  the  Lord  !"  Heb.  ii.  3.  All  other  religions  are  per- 
,ished,  or  will  iu  time  perish.  Even  that  of  Moses  waxed  old, 
and  in  the  end  was  abolished.  But  the  institutions  of  Christ 
shall  remain  for  ever  all-holy  and  all-perfect,  immutable  and 
unalterable;  nor  do  they  need  any  reformation,  or  addition  or 
amplification.  After  the  Lord,  we  do  not  look  for  any  other 
new  teacher  to  come  into  the  world.  Moses  promised  the 
people  of  God  another  prophet  after  his  death.  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Prophet  so  promised,  will  have  no  successor.  He  does  not 
promise  us  any;  but  only  assures  us  of  various  seducers  who 
would  usurp  his  name,  and  counterfeit  his  voice,  and  put  on 
sheep's  clothing,  to  seduce  his  disciples.  We  ought,  therefore, 
to  shun  all  those  who  pretend  to  add  anything  whatever  to  his 
sacred  doctrine. 

Besides,  the  qualification,  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  is  suificient 
to  induce  us  to  content  ourselves  with  him,  and  to  give  ear  to 
no  other.  "  For  in  him,"  says  the  apostle,  "  dwelleth  all  the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily."  Seeing  he  has  fulness,  the 
man  can  want  nothing  who  possesses  him  ;  according  to  what 
John  saith,  "  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life,"  1  John  v.  12  ;  that 
is,  eternal  salvation,  which  is  all  that  we  desire.  This  short 
sentence  of  the  apostle  is  enough  to  secure  us  against  the  arti- 
fices of  all  seducers.  If  they  set  before  us  the  delicacies  and 
subtilties  of  philosophy,  colouring  their  fond  imaginations 
with  a  vain  semblance  of  wisdom,  let  us  arm  ourselves  with 
this  consideration,  that  we  have  in  Christ  Jesus  all  the  true 
wisdom  that  is,  since  in  him  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the 
Godhead.  If  any  man  offer  to  us  ancient  traditions,  let  us  re- 
member that  the  authors  of  them  were  but  men  ;  who,  how- 
ever great  and  holy,  were  all  liable  to  error  :  whereas  the  gos- 
pel which  we  embrace  is  his  doctrine  in  whom  all  the  fulness 
of  the  Godhead  dwelleth  bodily,  and  consequently  it  is  pure 
and  divine  truth.  As  for  those  ancients,  and  bishops,  and  pon- 
tiffs, whose  names  and  authority  are  urged  upon  us  by  our  ad- 
versaries, I  know  not  who  they  were  ;  or,  to  speak  more  cor- 
rectly, I  know  well  that  they  were  men  subject  to  failing;  so 
that  neither  jon  nor  I  can  have  any  firm  and  certain  assu- 
rance that  their  assertions  are  true.  But  as  for  this  Jesus,  with 
whose  gospel  I  am  content,  we  all  know  that  he  was  the 
Son  of  God,  in  whom  wisdom  and  truth  dwell  bodily,  with  all 
the  fulness  of  the  Deity.  Moses  himself  must  be  silent  when 
the  Lord  Jesus  appears,  as  the  stars  withdraw  their  light  when 
the  sun  sheds  abroad  his  resplendent  beams.  The  law  of 
Moses  is  no  longer  worthy  of  regard  when  the  gospel  of  Jesus  is 
risen. 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  807 

In  conclusion  :  this  sentence  of  the  apostle  overturns  not 
only  all  the  traditions  of  men  in  general,  but  even  each  of 
them  singly  and  in  particular.  For  example,  we  are  pressed 
to  serve  and  invocate  angels  and  departed  saints.  I  will  not 
for  the  present  allege  that  God,  whose  voice  is  the  rule  of  ray 
faith,  has  given  no  command  about  it.  I  will  not  say  that 
religious  worship  does  not  belong  to  any  creature.  I  will 
not  inquire  whether  saints  hear  in  heaven  the  prayers 
which  are  directed  to  them  on  the  earth  ;  nor  whether,  being 
finite  and  created,  they  behold  the  motions  of  our  hearts  :  I 
will  only  demand  of  our  adversaries  why  they  would  have  us 
to  serve  and  invocate  saints.  To  the  end  (say  they)  that  we 
may  gain  their  favour  and  their  intercession  with  the  Father. 
But,  poor  men,  have  we  not  in  Jesus  Christ  all  the  grace  and 
favour  that  we  need?  And  if  we  had  nothing  else  to  urge, 
would  it  not  be  great  imprudence  for  us  to  have  recourse  to 
others,  since  we  have  him  near  to  us  in  whom  dwelleth  all  the 
fulness  of  the  Deity  ?  They  extol  the  merits  and  satisfactions 
of  the  saints,  and  the  indulgences  of  their  popes.  I  enter  not 
upon  a  strict  examination  of  these  things  ;  nor  do  I  make 
inquiry  for  the  present,  whether  or  not  they  are  in  reality 
merits,  and  satisfactions,  and  indulgences.  If  they  really  are 
what  those  men  affirm  them  to  be,  yet  it  is  clear  that  they  are 
useless  to  us  ;  since  we  find  in  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  sufiicient 
for  us,  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead,  dwelling  in  him  even 
bodily.  If  you  have  need  of  mercy,  of  grace,  of  consolation, 
of  righteousness,  of  merit,  of  assistance,  of  life,  none  of  these 
good  things  are  wanting  in  him,  in  whom  dwelleth  all  the  ful- 
ness of  the  Deity.  And  I  am  well  assured  that  you  will  find 
no  portion  of  them  anywhere  else,  either  in  heaven  or  in  earth. 
But  though  some  drop  of  them  might  be  met  with  elsewhere; 
yet  it  is  certain  (and  you  yourselves  will  not  deny  it)  that  these 
blessings  are  not  to  be  obtained,  either  in  saints  or  in  angels, 
so  undoubtedly,  or  so  abundantly,  as  in  Jesus  Christ.  Why, 
then,  while  I  have  so  rich  a  treasure  in  my  hands,  would  you 
wish  me  to  go  begging  elsewhere  ?  It  is  sufficient  for  me  to 
be  saved.  Since  the  fulness  of  things  necessary  for  my  salva- 
tion dwells  in  Jesus  Christ,  I  will  content  myself  with  having 
recourse  to  him  alone,  with  fixing  my  trust  and  my  love  on 
him,  and  with  addressing  my  services  and  supplications  to 
him  ;  nor  will  I  be  so  imprudent  as  to  lose,  or,  at  least,  hazard 
my  time  and  my  devotions,  in  directing  them  to  others,  while 
I  am  sure  that  î  may  successfully  offer  them  to  him. 

Dear  brethren,  let  us  hold  to  this  Lord  alone.  Let  us  not 
divide  our  adorations  between  him  and  any  other.  Let  him 
alone  have  our  whole  hearts,  and  all  our  desires,  since  he  alone 
has  all  that  fulness  which  is  necessary  to  make  us  happy.  He 
is  the  true  Fountain  of  livinsr  water  ;  let  us  not  draw  from 


308  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XXII, 

any  other  source  :  we  bave  no  need  of  cisterns  ;  this  divine 
Eock,  that  follows  the  camp  of  his  own  Israel,  can  abundantly 
satisfy  all  his  people.  He  wants  nothing  who  has  fulness. 
Only  let  us  bring  him  souls  hungering  after  his  benefits,  and 
thirsting  for  his  righteousness  ;  hearts  longing  for  the  plea- 
sures of  his  sanctuary,  and  panting  after  him  as  the  hart  after 
the  brooks  of  water.  Let  us  serve  him  constantly,  and  keep 
faithfully  the  holy  doctrines  which  he  has  given  us  in  a  con- 
tinual exercise  of  piety  and  charity.  This  is  all  that  he  de- 
mands for  the  love  he  has  borne  us,  for  the  favours  he  has  be- 
stowed upon  us,  and  for  the  glory  which  he  promises  us.  Let 
us  not  deny  him,  I  beseech  you,  so  just  a  return.  Let  us  do 
what  he  requires  of  us,  and  he  will  liberally  give  what  we  ask 
of  him.  He  will,  through  his  great  goodness,  communicate 
this  divine  fulness  to  us  which  dwells  in  himself;  that  being 
justified  by  his  merit,  guided  by  his  light,  upheld  by  his 
power,  enriched  by  his  treasures,  quickened  by  his  Spirit,  and 
fed  with  his  abundance,  we  may,  after  the  petty  conflicts  and 
slight  trials  of  this  life,  have  part  in  his  crowns,  and  in  his 
glory,  to  be  made  eternally  happy  in  him.     Amen. 


SERMON   XXII. 

VERSES   10,  11. 


And  ye  are  complete  in  him,  luliich  is  the  head  of  all  principality 
and  power  :  in  ivhom  also  ye  are  circumcised  with  the  circum- 
cision made  ivithout  hands,  in  putting  off  the  hody  of  the  sins 
of  the  flesh  hy  the  circumcision  of  Christ. 

Dear  brethren,  it  was  with  great  propriety  that  our  Lord 
and  Saviour,  when  he  would  magnify  the  love  of  God  towards 
mankind,  said  that  "  he  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life,"  John  iii.  16  ;  for  this  gift  of 
Christ  which  he  has  presented  to  us  is  without  contradiction 
the  greatest  and  most  admirable  evidence  of  his  love  that  he 
could  have  given  us.  I  confess  that  this  mighty  fabric  which 
he  freely  bestowed  on  us  at  the  first  creation,  this  world,  roofed 
with  those  stately  heavens  which  environ  us,  enlightened  by 
those  brilliant  luminaries  which  revolve  incessantly  about  us, 
and  filled  with  an  infinite  variety  of  good  things,  was  an  ex- 
cellent sign  of  wonderful  beneficence  and  love  ;  and  that  the 
psalmist  had  reason  to  cry  out,  as  if  ravished  with  the  consid- 


CHAP.  II.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  ANS.  309 

eration,  "  What  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him,  and  the 
son  of  man,  that  thou  visitest  him  ?  For  thou  hast  made  him 
a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  and  hast  crowned  him  with 
glory  and  honour.  Thou  madest  him  to  have  dominion  over 
the  works  of  thy  hands  ;  thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his 
feet,"  Psal.  viii.  4 — 6.  Yet  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  all 
this  liberality  of  God  towards  us,  which,  considered  in  it- 
self is  so  great  and  ravishing,  is  but  a  small  matter  in  com- 
parison with  the  ineffable  and  incomprehensible  love  which 
he  has  exhibited  in  giving  us  his  Christ  ;  whether  you 
compare  the  gifts  themselves  one  with  the  other,  or  consi- 
der the  fruit  which  each  of  them  produces.  For,  first,  the 
world  is  a  kind  of  a  magazine  of  the  riches  of  nature  ;  Je- 
sus Christ  is  the  treasury  of  all  the  perfections  of  the  God- 
head. In  the  one,  God  has  set  forth  and  put  together  only 
the  works  of  his  hands,  which  are  effects,  and  as  it  were  sha- 
dows, of  his  greatness  :  in  the  other,  he  has  poured  out  all  the 
abundance  of  his  own  nature  ;  and  as  the  apostle  told  us  in  the 
preceding  verse,  "  in  Christ  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  God- 
head bodily  ;"  whereas  in  the  world  dwells  only  the  fulness  of 
the  creature.  As  much  then  as  the  operator  is  greater  than 
his  work,  and  the  Creator  than  the  creature  ;  so  much  more 
excellent  and  admirable  is  the  gift  which  God  has  made  us  of 
his  Son  in  the  economy  of  grace,  than  that  of  the  world  in 
the  administration  of  nature.  Again,  the  difference  of  the 
fruit  which  we  gather  from  each  of  these  gifts  of  God  is  suit- 
able to  this  disproportion  which  we  observe  between  the  things 
themselves.  For,  first,  the  enjoyment  of  the  world  could  only 
continue  life  to  man,  who  before  possessed  it  ;  it  could  not  re- 
store it  to  any  that  had  lost  it  :  whereas  Jesus  Christ  gives  life 
to  the  dead,  and  perpetuates  it  to  the  living.  Again,  that  life 
which  the  due  use  of  the  world  could  sustain  was  terrestrial, 
carnal,  and  liable  to  perish  ;  whereas  the  life  which  we  have 
from  Jesus  Christ  is  celestial,  spiritual,  and  immutable. 

The  holy  apostle,  having  represented  in  a  few  words  the  in- 
finite greatness  of  Christ  in  himself,  as  having  all  the  fulness 
of  the  Godhead  dwelling  in  him  bodily,  goes  on  to  unfold  the 
admirable  abundance  of  fruit  which  we  draw  from  him  ;  the 
whole,  as  we  have  often  told  you,  being  designed  to  confute 
the  ingratitude  and  vanity  of  certain  seducers,  who,  not  con- 
tent with  that  inexhaustible  source  of  blessings  which  God  has 
opened  for  us  in  his  Son,  would  needs  join  with  it  philosophi- 
cal inventions  and  legal  ceremonies.  The  apostle  prosecutes 
this  intention  down  to  the  15th  verse  ;  and  beginning  it  at  the 
text  which  you  have  heard,  tells  the  faithful  Colossians,  first, 
that  they  are  made  complete  in  Jesus  Christ,  "  who  is  the  head 
of  all  principality  and  power."  Afterwards,  entering  upon  a 
particular  deduction  of  this  completeness  which  we  have  in 


310  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SEBM.  XXII. 

Christ,  he  adds,  in  the  following  verse,  that  we  are  circumcised 
in  him  "  with  the  circumcision  made  without  hands,  in  putting 
off  the  body  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh  by  the  circumcision  of 
Christ."  Then,  in  conclusion,  he  sets  forth  other  graces  and 
benefits  which  we  derive  from  the  fulness  of  our  Lord.  But 
we,  for  the  present,  will  content  ourselves  with  the  two  verses 
we  have  read.  And  for  giving  you  a  full  exposition  of  them, 
to  your  edification  and  consolation,  we  will  consider,  by  the 
favourable  assistance  of  God,  the  two  points  which  offer  them- 
selves to  our  notice.  First,  in  general,  the  completeness  which 
the  apostle  says  we  have  in  Jesus  Christ.  Secondly,  in  par- 
ticular, the  circumcision  made  without  hands,  which,  he  adds, 
we  have  in  him. 

I.  Let  us  notice  the  completeness  which  we  have  in  Jesus 
Christ.  The  perfections  and  riches  of  anything  are  of  no 
advantage  to  us  if  they  are  not  communicated.  A  spring, 
however  fair  and  fresh,  does  us  no  service  if  it  is  sealed  up  ; 
and  a  garden-plot  walled  in  rather  pains  then  pleases  our  de- 
sires ;  neither  does  an  inaccessible  treasure  lessen  our  need. 
The  tree  of  life,  and  the  other  wonders  of  the  Paradise  of 
Eden,  enriched  that  delightful  place,  but  afforded  our  first 
parents  no  refreshment,  when  entrance  into  it  was  prohibited. 
For  this  reason  the  apostle  considers  it  not  enough  to  have 
told  us  that  all  the  fulness  of  the  Deity  dwells  bodily  in  Jesus 
Christ.  Perhaps  the  false  teachers  themselves  did  not  contest 
this  abundance  in  him,  but,  confessing  that  he  had  all  in  him- 
self, only  denied  that  he  would  communicate  it  entirely  to  us  ; 
he  having  it  only  for  the  perfection  of  his  own  person,  and 
not  for  our  happiness.  To  banish  this  false  conceit  from  our 
hearts,  the  apostle  adds,  that  we  are  made  "  complete  in  him  ;" 
that  is  to  say,  his  fulness  is  communicative  :  the  Father  has 
poured  forth  into  him  those  precious  gifts  and  graces  with 
which  he  is  filled,  that  each  of  us  might  draw  out  as  much  as 
we  need.  He  is  the  true  tree  of  life,  laden  with  fruit,  that  we 
might  gather  ;  set  open  before  our  eyes  and  to  our  hands,  not 
shut  up  (as  the  other  was  after  the  fall)  in  a  place  inaccessible. 
He  has  received,  to  give  unto  us.  He  is  rich,  to  enrich  us. 
He  is  full,  to  replenish  us.  His  abundance  is  our  bliss,  and 
his  treasures  the  relief  of  our  necessity.  The  Father  gave  him 
to  the  world,  and  in  him  life  and  immortality. 

Neither  suppose  that  he  will  impart  only  some  of  his  bene- 
fits ;  as  he  has  an  all-fulness  of  them  in  himself,  so  he  com- 
municates them  all  to  us.  He  leaves  no  part  of  our  nature 
empty.  He  fills  up  all  with  his  graces.  We  derive  from 
him  all  that  is  necessary  to  complete  us.  This  is  that  which 
the  apostle  signifies  by  these  words  ;  and  they  may  be  taken 
two  ways  ;  either  as  importing  that  we  are  filled,  or  (as  our 
Bibles  have    rendered  it)  that    we   are   made  "  complete    in 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSI  ANS.  311 

Jesus  Christ  :"  but  both  amount  to  the  same  sense,  tbe  dif- 
ference being  only  in  the  manner  of  signification,  and  not  in 
the  thing  signified.  For  each  of  these  expressions  denotes 
that  we  receive  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  all  things  requisite 
to  the  perfection  and  happiness  of  our  persons,  which  things, 
namely,  the  grace  of  Crod,  righteousness,  wisdom,  consolation, 
and  sanctification,  reside  m.ost  abundantly  in  him.  If  you 
read  that  we  have  been  filled  in  Jesus  Christ,  it  will  be  a 
similitude  taken  from  empty  vessels,  which  are  filled  with  ex- 
traneous substances.  For  our  nature  being  of  itself  empty, 
and  destitute  of  the  glory  of  God,  and  of  its  necessary  perfec- 
tions, our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  fills  it  from  his  own  abundance, 
and  furnishes  it  with  all  perfective  graces.  He  clothes  it 
with  his  righteousness,  that  it  may  appear  with  freedom  before 
the  throne  of  the  Father.  He  illuminates  it  by  his  Spirit  unto 
saving  knowledge.  Pie  comforts  it  with  his  peace,  and  decks 
it  with  holiness  and  love,  and  in  his  treasury  on  high  keeps 
for  it  that  blessed  life  and  immortality  with  which  he  will 
enrich  it  at  the  day  of  resurrection. 

This  sense,  as  you  perceive,  has  a  very  clear  coherence 
with  the  expression  of  the  apostle,  "  In  him  dwelleth  all  the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily  ;"  and  is  exactly  parallel  to  that 
of  John  in  his  gospel,  that  "  of  his  fulness  have  all  we  re- 
ceived, and  grace  for  grace,"  John  i.  16.  As  in  nature  the  sua 
has  not  only  in  itself  a  fulness  of  that  resplendent  light  which 
renders  it  so  beautiful  and  admirable,  but  also  diffuses  it 
abroad  from  itself,  and  replenishes  with  it  all  the  luminous 
bodies  which  circulate  around  it,  as  the  moon,  the  planets,  and 
this  earth  whereon  we  dwell  ;  all  which  have  no  other  bright- 
ness than  that  which  this  great  luminary  sheds  upon  them  : 
so  in  grace  (if  we  may  compare  the  mysteries  thereof  with  na- 
tural things)  Jesus  Christ,  the  true  Sun  of  righteousness, 
has  not  only  in  himself  all  the  fulness  of  the  Deity  dwell- 
ing there  bodily,  but  he  also  communicates  his  fulness  to  all 
the  souls  of  men  that  look  to  him,  and  move  and  live  in  his 
communion.  He  fills  them  with  his  abundance,  and  clothes 
them  with  his  light,  changing  them  into  his  image,  and  of  dim 
and  dark  lumps,  as  they  were  originally  in  themselves,  making 
them  so  many  stars  and  luminous  bodies. 

Now  if  you  take  the  apostle's  words  in  another  sense,  as 
importing  that  v;^e  have  been  made  complete  in  Jesus  Christ, 
they  will  still  be  very  pertinent.  For  we,  being  destitute  of 
all  perfections  meet  for  our  nature,  it  will  exceedingly  well  ex- 
press the  grace  of  Christ  to  say  that  we  have  been  made  "com- 
plete in  him,"  as  signifying  that  it  is  he  who  has  filled  up 
our  breaches,  and  repaired  in  us  what  the  first  Adam  had 
ruined,  by  giving  us  all  that  we  needed.  Besides  this,  I 
observe  that  this  term  will  also  very  aptly  answer  to  that 


.312  AN  EXPOSITION   OP  [SERM.  XXII. 

title  which  the  apostle  gave  a  little  before  to  the  ceremonies 
of  the  Mosaic  law,  where  he  called  them  "  the  rudiments  of 
the  world  ;"  that  is,  the  beginnings,  the  first  and  plainest 
lessons  of  piety  ;  and  such  as  consequently  were  unable  to 
bring  to  perfection,  as  he  says  expressly  in  another  place, 
Heb.  vii.  19  ;  Gal.  iv.  ;  for  which  reason  he  styles  the  time 
of  the  law  the  infancy  of  the  church,  that,  is  the  age  of  its 
imperfection.  Opposing  therefore  Jesus  Christ  to  the  law  in 
this  respect,  he  now  says  that  we  are  "  complete  in  him,"  and 
that  with  great  propriety,  as  he  has  the  body,  whereas  the 
law  had  but  the  shadow  ;  he  has  fulness,  whereas  the  law  had 
but  some  small  parcel  of  the  requisites  of  our  salvation.  For 
the  same  reason  he  calls  the  ceremonies  of  it  weak,  and  poor 
or  "  beggarly  elements,"  Gal.  iv.  9.  As  for  the  law,  says  he, 
it  only  began  with  us,  and  drew  some  slight  and  dark  linea- 
ment upon  us  of  that  true  form  which  God  purposed  to  im- 
print ;  whereas  Jesus  Christ  has  finished  us.  In  him  it  is  we 
have  that  perfection,  that  entire  body,  that  truth  and  fulness, 
of  which  the  law  had  but  the  beginning,  the  shadow,  and 
figure. 

By  this  the  holy  apostle  gives  those  seducers,  with  whom 
he  is  combating,  a  fatal  blow,  discovering  the  foolishness  of 
their  design  in  endeavouring  still  to  enforce  the  ceremonies 
of  the  law  upon  those  who  were  made  complete  in  Jesus 
Christ  ;  an  attempt  no  less  ridiculous  than  if  one  should  put 
a  man  to  his  ABC  again,  who  had  received  the  last  tincture 
of  highest  erudition  in  the  university  ;  pretending  that  he 
could  not  be  thoroughly  intelligent  and  accomplished,  except 
he  still  daily  study  the  rudiments  and  plainest  lessons  of  chil- 
dren. But  that  which  follows  in  the  apostle's  words,  namely, 
that  Jesus  Christ  "  is  the  head  of  all  principality  and  power," 
is  added  to  prevent  another  error  of  those  deceivers,  who,  as 
we  shall  hereafter  hear,  taught  the  worshipping  and  serving 
of  angels  ;  pretending  that  it  was  necessary  that  we  should 
address  ourselves  to  them,  as  to  spirits  capable  of  interceding 
with  God  for  us,  and  of  obtaining  by  their  interposition  with 
his  Supreme  Majesty  those  graces  and  perfections  which  we 
need.  Paul  shows,  in  these  few  words,  the  vanity  of  this  false 
doctrine.  For  since  the  Lord  Jesus  is  the  Head  of  angels,  who 
does  not  see  that  we  have  most  abundantly  in  him  everything 
which  these  people  could  expect  from  them — and  that  pos- 
sessing Jesus  Christ,  as  we  do  by  faith  in  his  gospel,  we  have 
no  need  to  repair  to  angels,  who  depend  u})on  him,  and  have 
nothing  but  what  is  found  much  more  richly  in  their  Head  ?  As 
if  a  man  who  possesses  the  son  of  a  prince,  should,  nevertheless, 
make  use  of  the  favour  and  interpositions  of  his  servants  with 
him.  Members  have  neither  motion,  nor  sensation,  nor  life, 
which  is  not  found  much  more  abundantly  in   their   head. 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  313 

Subjects  and  servants  possess  nothing  which  the  prince  cannot 
far  better  and  more  easily  communicate  to  us  than  they. 
Since  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Head  and  Prince  of  angels,  it  is  clear 
that,  having  him,  we  can  want  nothing  which  the  angels  caa 
give  to  us.  Upon  the  same  ground  the  impiety  of  the  error 
of  these  seducers  also  appears.  For  since  the  angels  are  sub- 
ject to  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  evident,  by  the  light  of  Scripture, 
that  no  one  can  render  to  them  that  religious  worship  which 
these  people  ascribe  to  them  without  becoming  guilty  of  idol- 
atry, the  greatest  and  most  flagrant  outrage  which  man  caa 
perpetrate  against  his  Creator.  For  no  christian  can  be  ig- 
norant that  God  throughout  his  whole  word  forbids  us  to 
serve  any  creature,  however  high  and  excellent  he  may  be  es- 
teemed ;  religious  worship  being- a  homage  which  belongs  to 
the  divine  nature,  and  cannot  be  performed  to  any  other  with- 
out sacrilege. 

;  I  presume  you  all  are  aware  that  by  these  principalities  and 
powers  of  which  the  apostle  speaks  he  signifies  angels,  as  we 
explained  in  the  preceding  chapter,  ver.  16.  He  says  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  their  Head,  that  is,  their  Lord.  And  this 
quality  belongs  to  him,  not  only  as  he  is  the  eternal  Son  of 
the  Father,  of  the  same  essence  and  power  with  him  ;  who, 
having  created  them  at  the  beginning,  and  continuing  to  pre- 
serve them  by  his  goodness  and  might,  is  by  every  kind  of 
right  their  true  Master  and  natural  Lord  ;  but  also  as  he  is  the 
Christ  and  Mediator.  For  since  he,  in  this  relation,  and  under 
this  quality,  has  been  constituted  the  Lord  of  all  things,  su- 
perior, inferior,  and  intermediate  ;  having,  in  consequence  of 
his  humiliation,  received  such  a  name  as  is  above  every  name, 
and  unto  which  every  knee  bows,  both  of  those  that  are  in 
heaven,  and  that  are  on  earth,  and  that  are  under  the  earth, 
Phil.  ii.  9,  10  ;  it  is  evident  that  in  this  sense  he  has  dominion 
and  empire  over  angels  as  well  as  others.  And  this  also  Peter 
expressly  teaches  us,  saying  that  angels,  and  authorities,  and 
powers  have  been  made  subject  to  him,  1  Pet.  iii.  22.  For 
this  cause  these  spirits  are  often  called  the  angels  of  Christ,  as 
in  Matthew,  "  The  Son  of  man  shall  send  his  angels,"  chap, 
xiii.  41  ;  xxiv.  31  ;  and  in  the  Apocalypse,  where  John  says 
that  Jesus  Christ  sent  by  his  angel  the  things  that  were  re- 
vealed to  him,  chap.  i.  1;  and  in  the  same  book,  "I  Jesus 
have  sent  mine  angel,"  chap.  xxii.  16.  Only  we  must  observe, 
that  the  Lord  Jesus  is  not  called  the  Head  of  the  angels  in  the 
same  manner  and  sense  as  he  is  styled  the  Head  of  his  church. 
The  former  title  signifies  only  the  empire  and  lordship  which 
he  has  over  the  angels  ;  the  second  signifies  also  the  union 
which  he  has  with  his  true  believers,  who  are  saved  and  re- 
deemed by  the  merit  of  his  death,  and  are  animated  and  quick- 
ened by  the  Spirit  of  his  resurrection.  For  he  indeed  com- 
40 


gl4  AN   EXPOSITION-   OF  [SERM.  XXIL 

mands  the  angels,  as  their  true  and  legitimate  Master;  but  he 
has  not  assumed  their  nature,  nor  washed  them  from  their 
sins  ;  these  holy  and  blessed  beings  having  never  committed 
any:  nor  has  he,  by  his  merit,  obtained  for  them  that  life  and 
bliss  which  they  enjoy;  these  being  benefits  pertaining  to 
none  but  men.  Accordingly,  we  do  not  find  that  the  angels 
are  called  his  body  or  his  members.  These  titles  are  peculiar 
to  his  believers,  agreeably  with  what  the  apostle  says  to  the 
Ephesians,  namely,  that  Christ  is  the  Saviour  of  his  body, 
chap.  V.  23  ;  and  every  one  knows  that  he  is  not  the  Saviour 
of  angels,  since  they,  having  not  fallen  from  their  original 
purity  and  felicity,  have  had  no  need  of  being  saved. 

II.  We  now  come  to  the  second  point  of  our  text,  which 
the  apostle  lays  before  us  in  these  words  :  "  In  whom  also  ye 
are  circumcised,"  &c.  He  begins  here  to  notice  particularly, 
and  in  detail,  that  of  which  he  had  before  spoken  generally, 
namely,  our  having  been  made  complete  in  Jesus  Christ  ; 
specifying,  in  order,  the  perfections  for  which  those  false  teach- 
ers fruitlessly  sought  in  vain  observances  ;  and  showing  that 
they  are  to  be  found  plentifully  in  Jesus  Christ,  so  that  there 
is  no  need  to  have  recourse  to  any  besides,  or  to  add  anything 
to  his  gospel  for  their  requirement.  Among  all  those  observ- 
ances which  these  seducers  sought  to  force  into  religion,  there 
was  none  which  they  more  strenuously  pressed  than  circum- 
cision, which,  as  you  know,  was  one  of  the  sacraments  of  the 
old  covenant,  in  which,  by  cutting  ofî'  the  foreskin,  was  pre- 
figured and  exhibited  to  the  Israelites,  not  only  the  purification 
of  their  nature  by  the  abolition  of  their  sins  and  excision  of 
their  vices,  but  also  their  entrance  into  the  communion  of  God. 
In  effect,  this  ceremony  was  of  infinite  importance.  For  it 
was  the  seal  of  all  the  old  covenant;  the  person  who  received 
it  being  thereby  consecrated  and  initiated  to  the  discipline 
of  Moses,  and  solemnly  obliged  to  observe  his  laws  ;  as  the 
apostle  represents  to  the  Galatians,  when  he  says,  "  I  testify 
again  to  every  man  that  is  circumcised,  that  he  is  a  debtor  to 
do  the  whole  law,"  chap.  v.  3,  For  this  reason  he  commences 
with  it  in  this  place,  well  knowing  of  what  consequence  was 
this  error,  which  annihilated  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  over- 
threw the  whole  mystery  of  his  grace.  Let  none  object,  says 
he,  against  this  completeness  which  you  have  in  Jesus  Christ, 
that  having  not  been  circumcised,  you  want  the  first  and  prin- 
cipal piece  of  sanctification.  This  part  of  your  perfection  is 
no  more  wanting  than  others  ;  and  if  you  carefully  consider 
what  Jesus  Christ  has  given  you  through  his  gospel,  you  will 
find  that  though  the  knife  of  Moses  has  not  touched  you,  yet 
you  have  a  circumcision  through  the  goodness  of  our  Lord  ; 
yea,  one  that  is  not  only  equally  excellent  with  the  other,  but 
even  much  more  perfect.     Whence  you  see  to  how  little  pur- 


CHAP,  il]  the   epistle   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  315 

pose  these  men  endeavour  to  make  you  subject  to  this  ancient 
incision  of  the  law  ;  it  being  altogether  superfluous  to  those 
who  have  passed  through  the  hands  of  Jesus  Christ.  The 
apostle  sets  this  consideration  before  the  Philippians,  in  his 
dispute  against  the  same  seducers:  "  We,"  says  he,  "are  the 
circumcision,  which  worship  God  in  the  spirit,  and  rejoice  in 
Christ  Jesus,  and  have  no  confidence  in  the  flesh,"  chap.  iii.  3. 
But  here  he  explains,  in  what  follows,  this  admirable  circum- 
cision which  we  have  received  in  Jesus  Christ;  and  says,  first, 
that  is  not  made  with  hands  :  he  next  states  in  what  it  con- 
sists, namely,  in  putting  off  the  body  of  sins  :  and  lastly,  he 
terms  it  the  circumcision  of  Christ. 

He  says,  then,  first,  that  this  circumcision  which  we  have  in 
our  Lord  and  Saviour  is  not  made  with  hands  ;  by  which  he 
afiirms  that  it  is  not  formally  and  precisely  that  circumcision 
which  Moses  gave  the  Jews,  the  hand  of  man  effecting  that  in 
their  flesh  ;  whereas  this  is  made  by  the  operation,  not  of  man, 
but  of  God;  with  the  instrument,  not  of  Moses,  but  of  Christ  ; 
that  is,  by  his  word  accompanied  by  his  Spirit,  which  is 
''sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword,"  Heb.  iv.  12.  In  which 
respect  alone  it  has  a  great  advantage  over  the  circumcision 
of  the  Jews,  it  being  evident  that  the  works  of  God  are  in- 
comparably more  excellent  than  the  works  of  men.  And  as 
the  apostle,  when  telling  us,  in  another  place.  2  Cor.  v.  1,  that 
the  building  which  we  look  for,  after  the  dissolution  of  this 
earthly  tabernacle,  is  not  made  with  hands,  by  that  very  rea- 
son demonstrates  the  excellency  of  it,  even  that  it  is  a  work 
not  of  human  art  or  nature,  but  of  the  wisdom  and  power  of 
God  ;  in  the  same  manner  he  here  represents  the  worth  and 
value  of  our  circumcision  in  Jesus  Christ,  by  saying  that  it  is 
"  made  without  hands." 

Secondly,  the  thing  itself  no  less  demonstrates  its  superior- 
ity than  the  quality  of  the  operation  by  which  we  receive 
it.  For  this  "  circumcision  made  without  hands,"  which  wo 
have  in  Jesus  Christ,  is,  as  the  apostle  here  defines  it,  the 
"  putting  off  the  body  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh."  You  know 
what  he  and  the  other  holy  writers  signify  by  the  flesh;  they 
mean  not  only  this  infirm  and  mortal  body,  but  also  our  de- 
filed and  corrupted  nature,  which  we  all  bring  into  the  world  ; 
comprehending  not  only  the  body  and  the  senses,  but  also 
the  soul,  all  which  are  tainted  and  infected  with  the  pollutions 
of  sin,  and  in  a  manner  transformed  into  flesh  by  the  carnal  qual- 
ities and  habits  with  which  they  are  invested  ;  the  understand- 
ing being  wholly  dull  and  sensual,  the  will  earthly  and  brutish^ 
and  the  affections  rebellious  against  the  law  of  Heaven,  and  all 
of  them  cleaving  to  the  flesh.  This  nature  of  man  thus  framed 
is  that  which  Paul,  both  here  and  in  other  places,  calls  flesh. 
The  sins  of  this  flesh  are  the  habits  of  those  various  vices 


816  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXII. 

whicl]  cover  and  envelope  it  on  all  sides  ;  not  only  those  which 
properly  relate  to  the  body,  and  the  gratification  of  its  irregu- 
lar appetites,  such  as  gluttony,  drunkenness,  and  luxury  ;  but 
also  all  others  which  militate  against  the  law  of  God,  and 
overthrow  that  order  of  righteousness  and  holiness  which  he 
has  appointed  for  all  the  faculties,  motions,  and  sentiments 
of  our  nature,  as  we  are  taught  by  the  apostle  in  many  places, 
and  particularly  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  chap.  v.  19, 
20,  where  he  places  among  the  works  of  the  flesh,  not  only 
adultery,  fornication,  and  drunkenness,  but  also  idolatry, 
heresy,  enmity,  clamours,  envyings,  wrath,  murders,  and  other 
such  sins. 

The  mass  of  all  these  vices  is  that  which  he  here  calls  "  the 
body  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh  ;"  and  he  uses  this  mode  of  speech 
again  in  another  place,  Rom.  vi.  6,  when  he  says  that  "our 
old  man  is  crucified  with  Christ,  that  the  body  of  sin  might 
be  destroyed."  And  it  must  be  confessed  that  this  figure  is 
exceedingly  elegant  and  appropriate;  for  as  the  body  compre- 
hends in  itself  its  several  members,  which  have  each  of  them 
their  particular  function  and  exercise;  so  this  mass  of  cor- 
ruption which  we  bear  about  in  our  nature  is  composed  of 
many  different  vices,  which  have  each  of  them  their  peculiar 
motion  and  operation.  Ambition  tends  one  way,  avarice  and 
intemperance  another.  Envy  defiles  us  in  one  manner,  cruelty 
in  another  ;  and  each  of  these  pests  has  its  own  sentiment  and 
ends.  Their  motions  are  sometimes  even  contrary,  and  thwart 
one  another,  as  unclean  spirits  which  do  not  agree;  but  all 
these  evils  nevertheless  come  from  one  and  the  same  source, 
and  live  in  one  and  the  same  mass  ;  as  all  the  members  make 
up  but  one  and  the  same  body.  Hence  the  apostle  sometimes, 
speaking  of  sins  under  this  idea,  calls  them  our  members,  or 
the  members  of  our  flesh  ;  as  when  he  commands  us  to  mor- 
tify our  " members  which  are  upon  the  earth;  fornication, 
uncleanness,  inordinate  affection,"  and  other  such  vices.  Col. 
iii.  5.  Moreover,  as  this  body,  in  which  we  live,  covers  us 
all  around  ;  so  that  mass  of  vices,  with  which  our  nature  is 
infected,  encompasses  and  infolds  us  on  all  sides,  there  being 
no  part  or  faculty  in  us  but  what  is,  as  it  were,  invested  and 
besieged  with  it.  Such  is  the  corruption  which  we  derive 
from  the  first  Adam,  for  which  reason  the  apostle  sometimes 
also  calls  it  the  old  man.  He  says,  therefore,  that  the  circum- 
cision which  we  have  in  Jesus  Christ  is  the  putting  off  this 
body  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh  ;  when  the  true  believer,  by  the 
virtue  of  the  word  and  Spirit  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  cuts  off  all 
the  vices  of  the  flesh,  which  are  its  members,  and  strips  him- 
self of  this  old  habit  of  sin  and  death,  with  which  the  first 
Adam  clothed  us.  This  is  what,  in  another  place,  he  calls  a 
putting  off'  the  old  man  as  to  the  former  conversation,  "  which 


CHAP.  II.]         THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  317 

is  corrupt  according  to  the  deceitful  lusts,"  Eph.  iv.  22.  And 
in  this  present  Epistle,  chap.  iii.  8,  a  putting  off  "  anger, 
wrath,  malice,  blasphemy,"  and  other  such  sins  ;  and  again, 
in  another  place,  a  crucifying  of  "  the  flesh,  with  its  affections 
and  lusts,"  Gal.  v.  24.  All  this  amounts  to  the  same  sense, 
and  signifies  the  mortifying  of  the  flesh,  and  the  cutting  off 
its  vices,  that  there  may  be  an  abstinence  from  all  the  sins 
which  they  are  accustomed  to  produce  in  the  lives  of  men  of 
the  world. 

The  apostle  adds,  in  conclusion,  that  this  is  the  circumci- 
sion of  Christ.  First,  because  our  Lord  and  Saviour  has  ex- 
pressly instituted  it  in  his  gospel,  commanding  us  to  be  born 
again,  to  deny  ourselves,  to  change  our  deportment,  to  put  on 
a  simplicity  and  humility  like  that  of  little  children,  and  to 
break  all  the  ties  which  fasten  us  to  the  flesh  and  the  world, 
if  we  will  follow  him  and  have  part  in  his  kingdom.  This  is 
the  first  and  most  important  instruction  contained  in  the 
Scriptures.  Secondly,  it  is  the  circumcision  of  Christ,  because 
it  is  he  alone  who  is  the  author  of  it,  and  effects .  it  in  us  *, 
neither  is  there  anything  besides  his  gospel  which  can  un- 
clothe man  of  this  body  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh  ;  for  it  is  im- 
possible that  a  soul  on  whom  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ 
has  been  imprinted  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  should 
fail  to  renounce  the  world  and  the  flesh.  Philosophy  was  so 
far  from  curing  this  malady,  that  it  did  not  so  much  as  ex- 
actly understand  it.  The  law  discovered  it  indeed,  and  made 
man  to  feel  the  tyrannous  strength  of  this  rebellious  body  of 
the  flesh,  which  naturally  clothed  and  surrounded  him.  But 
it  was  unable  to  subdue  and  mortify  it,  as  the  apostle  teaches 
us  at  large  in  the  7th  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Komans. 
There  is  none  but  Jesus  Christ  who,  by  the  efficacy  of  his 
heavenly  truths,  and  the  divine  example  of  his  holiness,  im- 
planted in  our  hearts  by  the  hand  of  his  Spirit,  can  circumcise 
us  in  this  manner,  unloosing  these  wretched  bonds,  stripping 
us  of  them  by  degrees,  and  weakening  and  extinguishing  the 
life  of  the  flesh  in  us. 

Compare  now  this  circumcision  of  our  Saviour  with  that 
of  Moses,  and  you  will,  without  difficulty,  perceive  that  it 
infinitely  surpasses  it  in  dignity  and  excellency.  That  of 
Moses  wounded  the  body;  this  of  Christ  enlivens  the  soul. 
The  one  pared  away  a  little  skin  ;  the  other  mortifies  the 
whole  body  of  the  flesh.  The  one  was  in  itself  but  a  typical 
ceremony  ;  the  other  is  a  mystical  truth.  The  one  wounded 
the  flesh  ;  the  other  heals  and  ennobles  the  heart.  Without 
the  one,  a  man  could  have  no  part  in  the  communion  of  the 
carnal  Jews;  and  by  the  other  we  enter  into  the  alliance  of 
the  spiritual  Jews,  whose  praise  is  of  God  and  not  of  men. 
Whereby  you  may  judge  how  extravagant  was  the  conception 


gl8'  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXII. 

of  those  seducers  wbom  the  apostle  here  opposes,  who,  not- 
withstanding that  excellent  and  divine  circumcision  which 
christians  have  received  in  their  Saviour's  school,  would  yet 
bring  them  under  that  of  Moses,  which  was  poor  and  weak, 
and  in  so  many  respects  defective,  as  if  christians  could  not, 
upon  a  far  better  ground  than  the  Jews,  glory  that  they  truly 
are  the  circumcision  of  God. 

Now  for  a  right  comprehension  of  the  force  of  the  apostle's 
reasoning,  it  must  be  remembered  that  circumcision,  as  well  as 
the  other  ceremonies  of  the  Mosaic  law,  was  a  figure  which 
represented  the  abscission  of  the  vices  and  lusts  of  the  flesh, 
as  the  prophets  themselves  clearly  show,  when  they  promise 
the  ancient  people  that  God  will  circumcise  their  hçart,  and 
the  heart  of  their  seed,  that  they  may  love  him  and  live,  Deut. 
XXX.  6  ;  and  when  they  command  them  to  circumcise  them- 
selves unto  the  Lord,  and  to  take  away  the  foreskin  of  their 
hearts,  Jer.  iv.  4  ;  an  evident  sign  that  this  external  action 
referred  to  the  internal  mortification  and  sanctification  of  the 
soul.  Sin<;e  then  the  figure  is  unprofitable  when  the  truth  is 
attained,  and  models  are  serviceable  only  until  the  things 
themselves  be  formed  and  perfected,  the  use  of  them  when 
this  is  done  being  no  longer  necessary  ;  you  plainly  perceive 
that,  from  the  apostle's  assertion  here,  that  in  Jesus  Christ  wo 
have  this  putting  off,  or  cutting  off,  the  sins  of  the  flesh,  (that 
is,  the  truth,  of  which  circumcision  was  the  figure  and  model,) 
it  evidently  follows  that  it  is  no  longer  necessary  for  us,  and 
that  wilfully  to  retain  it  still  is  to  accuse  Jesus  Christ  of 
having  not  fulfilled  in  his  discipline  the  thing  represented  by 
this  ancient  type.  It  is  true,  that  even  in  the  time  of  the  old 
testament  the  faithful  had  some  part  of  the  sanctification 
signified  by  their  circumcision  ;  but  what  they  had  was  weak 
and  small  in  measure,  because  the  true  causes  on  which  it 
depends,  being  all  comprised  in  the  mysteries  of  the  new  tes- 
tament, were  then  but  foretold  and  promised,  not  fully  and 
clearly  revealed,  as  they  are  now  by  their  accomplishment. 
It  was  therefore  meet  that  during  the  whole  of  that  time  they 
should  be  exercised  in  the  observance  of  these  typical  rites, 
and  held  in  and  kept  under  the  discipline  of  Moses  until  the 
fulness  of  time,  according  to  the  apostle's  doctrine  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians.  Now  that  Jesus  Christ  has  openly 
exhibited  the  very  body  of  truth,  and  fully  brought  to  light 
all  the  causes  and  motives  of  true  sanctification,  these  exercises, 
so  suitable  to  the  infancy  of  the  church,  are  no  longer  season- 
able ;  and  they  who  still  adhere  to  them  are  no  less  ridiculous 
than  he  who  would  still  keep  up  the  supports  of  an  arch  or 
the  models  of  a  building  after  the  fabric  is  finished  and 
brought  to  its  perfection,  or  retain  under  the  scourge  of  a 
schoolmaster,  and  in  the  restraints  of  childhood,  a  man  grown 
up  and  come  to  years  of  maturity. 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  ANS.  319 

Thus  we  have  finished  the  exposition  of  this  text.  It  re- 
mains for  us,  in  conclusion,  to  extract  those  instructions  and 
consolations  which  an  attentive  consideration  of  it  will  afford. 

First,  Since  the  apostle  assures  us  that  we  are  complete  in 
Christ,  you  see  how  vain  are  the  pretensions  of  those  men  who 
set  forth  certain  rules  of  perfection,  as  they  call  them,  which 
are  not  to  be  found  in  the  gospel.  Let  us  content  ourselves 
with  our  Lord's  fulness,  and  seek  our  perfection  in  him  alone; 
and  instead  of  amusing  ourselves  with  the  inventions  of  men, 
embrace  and  practise  the  doctrines  of  Christ,  advancing  daily 
towards  the  utmost  degree  of  perfection  ;  for  we  must  not  flat- 
ter ourselves  with  an  imagination  that  a  man  can  be  united  to 
Christ  while  he  leads  a  vicious  and  corrupt  life.  Paul  here 
protests  plainly  to  us,  that  all  those  who  are  in  him  are  made 
complete,  It  therefore  necessarily  follows,  that  those  who  are 
not  complete  are  not  in  his  communion,  and  consequently  should 
not  promise  themselves  any  share  in  his  salvation  ;  it  being 
prepared  for  those  only  who  are  in  him.  If  this  doctrine  trou- 
ble us,  let  us  impute  it  to  our  vices  and  our  irresolution  ;  and 
taking  once  this  truth  to  heart,  endeavour  with  all  our  might 
to  obtain  that  perfection  which  is  in  Jesus  Christ,  accounting 
that  without  it  we  cannot  possess  either  his  grace  in  this  world, 
or  his  glory  in  the  world  to  come.  I  well  know  that,  to  speak 
absolutely,  no  one  is  perfect  ;  and  that  if  we  compare  our  con- 
dition on  earth  with  that  in  heaven,  all  our  perfections  are  but 
weaknesses.  Yet  it  is  true  that  Jesus  Christ,  even  in  this  life, 
in  some  sense,  completes  his  faithful  people,  and  this  perfection 
which  he  gives  them  is  not  a  vain  name  or  an  imagination  ;  it 
is  something  substantial,  a  real  truth  ;  it  is  a  piety  and  love 
sincere  and  free,  and  without  hypocrisy  ;  and  though  it  may 
sometimes  vary,  it  nevertheless  produces  true  fruits  and  works 
quite  different  from  those  of  worldlings  and  hypocrites,  accord- 
ing to  what  our  Lord  said,  "  Except  your  righteousness  shall 
exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall 
in  no  case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Tell  me  not 
that  you  are  yet  on  earth,  and  that  perfection  is  not  to  be  found 
but  in  heaven  ;  and  that  to  live  as  an  angel  one  should  be 
without  a  body.  It  is  not  the  perfection  of  heaven  which  we 
demand  of  you.  The  Lord  will  not  reject  you  for  not  having 
had  in  this  life  the  transcendent  brightness  of  the  next.  But 
though  a  child  is  not  expected  to  conduct  his  life  with  as  much 
prudence  and  reason  as  a  man  of  years,  it  does  not  follow  that 
he  has  a  license  to  live  without  rule,  and  in  the  intemperance 
and  disorders  of  slaves.  Every  age  has  its  bounds,  and  its 
measures,  and  its  perfection.  Our  childhood  here  below  must 
not  be  without  discipline,  under  the  pretence  that  it  is  not  come 
to  full  growth.  Christians,  I  complain  not  that  there  are  de- 
fects in  your  knowledge  and  practice  which  have  no  place  in 


320  -^-^   EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XXII. 

heaven  ;  but  that  there  are  in  you  vices  which  ought  to  have 
no  place  on  earth.  I  blame  you  not  that  there  is  a  great  dif- 
ference between  you  and  angels  ;  but  that  there  is  none  between 
you  and  worldly  men,  I  require  not  what  is  above  the  strength 
of  your  age,  but  what  is  worthy  of  your  profession,  and  doe» 
not  at  all  exceed  your  light.  I  beseech  you  only  to  labour  as 
much  for  Jesus  Christ  as  the  children  of  this  generation  do  for 
the  interests  of  their  lusts.  This  does  not  exceed  the  capacity 
of  our  nature,  since  you  see  what  the  servants  of  sin  do  ;  and 
it  is  necessarily  your  duty,  except  you  imagine  that  we  owe 
less  to  Jesus  Christ  than  worldlings  do  to  their  foolish  and  vain 
passions. 

The  first  piece  of  that  completeness  which  we  have  in  him  is 
this  divine  circumcision,  which  is  not  made  with  hands  but  by 
the  efhcacy  of  his  Spirit.  Without  it  we  can  have  neither  place 
in  the  communion  of  his  people,  nor  right  to  his  inheritance. 
It  is  a  circumcision  of  which  we  may  truly  say,  that  every  soul 
who  does  not  receive  it  shall  be  cut  off  from  his  people.  The 
apostle  shows  us  in  what  it  consists,  namely,  "  in  putting  off 
the  body  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh."  Jesus  Christ  has  put  into 
our  hands  the  sword  which  is  necessary  to  cut  away  this  wretch- 
ed flesh,  namely,  his  sacred  word,  in  which  he  discovers  the 
hideousness  of  sin,  the  infernal  venom  of  vice,  and  the  vanity 
and  iniquity  of  all  the  lusts  of  the  flesh.  He  has  showed  us 
the  perdition  into  which  they  fall  who  serve  it,  and  has  put  it 
to  death  on  his  cross,  and  buried  it  in  his  sepulchre.  He  has 
spread  before  our  eyes  the  wonders  of  God's  love,  and  the  eter- 
nity of  the  kingdom  appointed  for  faithful  servants.  He  has 
given  us  rules  and  examples  of  this  part  of  our  sanctification 
in  his  gospel  and  in  his  life,  and  offers  us  the  lights  and  conso- 
lations of  his  Spirit  to  lead  us  in  this  work.  Let  us  then  grasp 
this  divine  sword  of  his  gospel  ;  let  us  thrust  it  resolutely  into 
our  hearts,  and  cut  out  thence  all  the  impurity  of  our  vices  ; 
let  us  rid  ourselves  of  them,  and  cast  them  behind  us.  Let  us 
exterminate  all  the  productions  of  the  flesh  as  execrable  things, 
and  leave  not  one  of  them  in  ourselves.  Having  subdued  ava- 
rice, let  us  combat  ambition.  Let  us  pluck  out  luxury  and  all 
its  passions  from  our  inward  parts.  Let  us  root  up  hatred, 
and  wrath,  and  cruelty,  and  spare  the  life  of  none  of  these  mon- 
sters. Let  us  not  rest  until  we  have  cleansed  our  hearts  of  all 
this  cursed  brood.  For  it  is  not  enough  to  cut  off  some  of  them. 
One  enemy  alone  abiding  in  our  bosom  is  able  to  destroy  us. 
"The  body  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh"  must  be  put  off,  says  the 
apostle,  and  not  one  or  two  of  its  sins  only.  I  confess  the  la- 
bour is  hard,  but  is  necessary,  and  that  at  all  times,  (for  it  is 
the  task  of  our  whole  life,)  in  an  especial  manner  at  present, 
now  that  the  death  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  and  his  resurrec- 
tion, and  his  holy  supper,  call  us  to  extraordinary  efforts  of 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  821 

piety  and  holiness.  And  if  the  labour  be  great,  the  felicity  and 
the  glory  that  follow  it  are  infinite.  Let  us  employ  ourselves 
in  it,  my  beloved  brethren,  with  ardour  and  generosity,  putting 
off  the  body  of  all  our  sins,  that  having  truly  crucified  our  old 
man  with  the  Lord  Jesus,  we  may  also  rise  again  with  him, 
to  be  enlivened  by  his  celestial  food,  and  have  part  for  ever, 
after  the  short  trials  of  this  life,  in  his  blessed  immortality. 
Amen. 


SERMON    XXIII. 

VERSE   12. 


Buried  with  him  in  baptism^  wherein  also  ye  are  risen  with  him 
through  the  faith  of  the  operation  of  God  who  hath  raised  him 
from  the  dead. 

Dear  brethren,  it  is  very  true  that  the  solemnity  of  this 
great  day,  which  has  been  consecrated  by  all  christians  to  the 
resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  sanctified  by  the  mysteries 
of  his  table,  at  which  we  have  communicated,  requires  of  us 
more  than  ordinary  devotion  and  meditation  ;  yet  there  was  no 
need  for  me  to  seek  a  subject  suitable  for  the  present  exercise 
in  any  other  place  than  the  regular  series  of  texts  which  I 
have  undertaken  to  expound  to  you  ;  the  words  which  I  have 
read,  and  which  immediately  succeed  those  you  heard  last 
Lord's  day,  excellently  suiting  each  of  those  duties  to  which 
this  day  is  particularly  dedicated  ;  inasmuch  as  they  treat  of 
our  Lord's  resurrection,  and  of  the  fruits  which  thereby  re- 
dound to  us:  of  baptism,  in  which  they  are  communicated  to 
us,  and  which  ordinance,  for  this  reason,  was  formerly  solemnly 
administered  in  the  ancient  church  on  the  night  before  Easter; 
and  of  that  faith  by  which  we  become  i)ossessed  of  this  divine 
resurrection.  Lastly,  they  speak  of  the  interest  which  we  have 
in  his  burial,  the  consequence  of  his  precious  death,  the  blessed 
commemoration  of  which  we  have  celebrated  this  morning. 
These  are  subjects  which  are,  as  is  plain  to  all,  eminently 
adapted  for  the  devotion  of  this  day.  This,  then,  shall  be,  by 
the  will  of  God,  the  subject  of  this  discourse.  Dear  brethren, 
afford  it  a  vigorous  and  a  deep  attention,  elevating  your 
thoughts  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  Prince  of  our  salvation,  and 
Author  of  our  immortality,  while  we  shall  endeavour  to 
represent  to  you  what  his  apostle  here  teaches  about  our  com- 
munion in  his  burial  and  resurrection. 

You  may  remember,  that  to  confound  the  impiety  of  certain 

41 


$2ê  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXIII. 

Seducers,  who  would  urge  upon  christians  the  necessity  of 
being  circumcised  according  to  the  law  of  Moses,  this  holy  man 
alleged,  in  the  preceding  text,  that  we  have  in  Jesus  Christ 
that  substance  and  truth  of  which  the  Judaical  circumcision 
was  but  the  shadow  and  model,  having  in  him  put  off  the  body 
of  the  sins  of  the  flesh  ;  so  that  having  received,  through  the 
grace  of  Jesus,  this  mystical  and  divine  circumcision,  the  other 
carnal  and  typical  one  is  altogether  useless,  and  cannot  be  de- 
sired or  practised  by  christians,  without  wronging  their 
Saviour.  He  still  prosecutes  that  same  intention  ;  and  to  show 
how  rich  that  sanctifying  grace  is  which  we  have  in  Jesus 
Christ,  he  adds,  that  besides  our  being  circumcised  by  the 
virtue  of  his  word,  and  divested  of  the  body  of  the  sins  of  the 
flesh,  we  have  moreover  been  buried  with  him  in  baptism;  and 
further,  that  we  are  therein  risen  again  with  him,  "through  the 
faith  of  the  operation  of  God,  who  hath  raised  him  from  the 
dead." 

For  a  right  understanding  of  these  words,  we  will  consider, 
first,  the  communion  which  we  have  both  in  the  burial  and 
resurrection  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  And,  secondly,  the 
twofold  means  by  which  this  communion  is  given  to  us, 
namely,  baptism,  and  the  faith  of  the  operation  of  God,  who 
has  raised  our  Lord  from  the  dead. 

I.  We  are  to  notice  the  communion  which  we  have  both  in 
the  burial  and  resurrection  of  Christ.  The  apostle  expresses 
this  point  in  these  words,  "  Buried  with  him  in  baptism, 
wherein  also  ye  are  risen  with  him."  As  for  our  burial  with 
the  Lord,  you  know  that,  having  suffered  on  the  cross  that 
painful  and  accursed  death  which  we  had  merited,  his  sacred 
body  was  loosened  from  the  mournful  tree,  and  being  wrapped 
up  in  a  sheet,  was  by  Joseph  of  Arimathea  laid  in  a  new 
sepulchre,  where  it  remained  in  this  sad  state,  (the  last  of  our 
infirmities,)  without  motion,  without  respiration,  and  without 
life,  until  the  beginning  of  the  third  day,  when  he  gloriously 
rose  again.  The  transcendent  wisdom  of  the  Father,  which 
ordained  all  the  parts  of  this  great  work,  thus  fitly  ordered  it 
for  the  purpose  of  justifying  the  truth  of  his  Son's  death,  by 
his  continuance  in  the  grave.  For  if  he  had  resumed  his  life 
immediately  after  he  laid  it  down,  and  had  descended  from  the 
cross  alive,  I  confess  such  a  miracle  might  have  astonished  and 
transported  the  minds  of  the  spectators,  and  demonstrated  that 
this  divine  crucified  person  was  more  than  man;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  would  have  rendered  his  death  suspicious,  and 
without  doubt  would  have  led  men  to  imagine  that  it  had  been 
but  a  feigned  and  false  appearance,  and  not  a  real  separation 
of  his  soul  from  his  body,  which  opinion  would  evidently  have 
shaken  and  overthrown  our  salvation,  it  being  entirely  founded 
on  the  death  of  the  Lord  Jesus.     Therefore  as  it  so  highly  con- 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  323 

cerns  us  to  believe  the  fact  of  his  death,  God  has  so  assured 
and  certified  the  truth  of  it,  that  we  have  not  even  the  shadow 
of  a  reason  to  call  it  in  question.  It  was  his  will,  therefore, 
that  the  Lord  Jesus,  after  having  commended  his  spirit  into 
his  hands,  should  be  laid  in  the  sepulchre,  and  continue  there 
three  days  ;  there  remaining  after  this  no  more  reason  to  doubt 
that  he  was  truly  dead,  since  he  was  so  long  a  time  in  the  state 
of  the  dead.  Moreover,  our  consolation  required  that  he 
should  enter  into  our  sepulchres,  to  take  away  for  us  the 
horrors  of  them,  and  to  assure  us,  by  his  example,  that  they 
have  not  force  sufficient  to  detain  our  bodies  for  ever,  or  to 
hinder  them  from  rising  again.  It  is  for  these  and  other  similar 
reasons  that  Jesus  Christ  went  down  into  the  grave,  death's 
last  entrenchment. 

The  apostle  says  then  that  true  believers  have  been  buried 
with  him.  How  so,  you  will  say,  seeing  that  they,  being  living 
persons,  were  never  laid  in  the  grave  ;  and  surely  not  in  our 
Lord's,  which  was  situate  on  Mount  Calvary,  nigh  to  Jerusalem, 
places  very  far  distant  from  our  abode  ?  Dear  brethren,  there 
is  no  man  so  ignorant  but  that  he  must  plainly  see  that  these 
words  are  not  to  be  taken  according  to  the  letter,  but  figura- 
tively ;  and  that  they  signify  not  a  natural,  but  a  mystical 
sepulchre.  And  in  such  a  sense  it  may  be  said  two  ways  that 
we  have  been  buried  in  Christ,  or  with  him.  First,  with  re- 
gard to  our  justification  ;  that  is,  the  remission  of  our  sins. 
And,  secondly,  with  regard  to  our  sanctification,  and  the 
mortifying  of  the  old  man.  Concerning  the  first,  it  is  evident 
that  Jesus  Christ  was  buried  for  us,  as  he  was  neither  crucified 
nor  put  to  death  but  for  us  only.  Burial  is  nothing  else  but  a 
consequence  of  death.  It  is  the  sad  and  dismal  state  to  which 
it  reduces  men  ever  since  they  became  guilty  ;  that  is  to  say,  it 
makes  up  a  part  of  the  punishment  of  sin  ;  for  it  is  indeed  a 
hideous  and  mournful  spectacle  to  see  so  noble  and  excellent 
a  creature,  in  whom  the  image  of  God  shines  forth,  and  who 
had  been  formed  for  immortal  glory,  to  be  brought  down  to 
the  grave,  under  the  power  of  worms  and  putrefaction.  Jesus 
Christ,  therefore,  having  undergone  this  ignominious  infirmity 
for  us,  and  for  our  salvation,  that  he  might  leave  none  of  our 
penalties  unpaid,  it  is  evident  that,  when  he  was  buried,  we 
were  buried  in  him,  and  with  him,  since  it  was  properly  for  us 
that  he  descended  into  the  sepulchre.  He  bore  us  upon  the 
cross  ;  he  bore  us  in  the  grave.  We  all  were  in  him,  forasmuch 
as  he,  in  all  this  work,  acted  but  for  us.  We  did  and  suffered 
these  things,  since  we  are  the  cause  of  his  doing  and  suffering 
them.  We  were  buried  in  him,  inasmuch  as  by  his  burial  he 
has  discharged  this  part  of  our  punishment,  and  so  changed 
the  nature  of  our  graves,  that  instead  of  being  prisons,  and 
places  of  execution,  they  are  now  so  many  beds  and  dormitories, 


824  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXIII 

in  which  our  bodies  repose  until  the  resurrection.  Thus  his 
burial  has  freed  ours  from  the  curse,  which  is  naturally  upon 
it  ;  and  this  benefit  makes  up  a  part  of  that  justification  which 
he  has  merited  for  us,  comprehending  an  exemption  from  all 
the  penalties  which  are  due  to  our  sins. 

But  it  is  not  in  this  sense  that  the  apostle  says  we  have  been 
buried  with  Jesus  Christ  ;  for  he  speaks  here  of  the  first  part 
of  our  sanctification,  which  is  nothing  else  but  the  mortifying 
of  the  body  of  sin  or  old  man  in  us,  and  its  burial,  that  is,  its 
destruction.  It  is  therefore  properly  in  this  respect  Paul  says 
that  we  have  been  buried  with  Jesus  Christ,  even  inasmuch  as 
by  the  virtue  of  his  death  and  burial  our  old  man  has  been  de- 
stroyed, and  suffered  a  death  and  burial  analogous  to  that  of 
Jesus  Christ's.  For  as  his  flesh,  after  it  was  deprived  of  life, 
was  laid  in  a  grave  ;  in  like  manner  the  old  man  of  true  be- 
lievers, having  been  slain,  is  interred  and  reduced  to  nothing. 
And  as  the  Lord  Jesus  left  in  the  sepulchre  his  funeral  linen 
clothes,  together  with  all  the  infirmity  and  mortality  he  pos- 
sessed, and  came  forth  vested  with  a  nature  and  a  life  fully  re- 
fined from  all  that  weakness  of  the  first  Adam  which  appeared 
in  him  during  the  days  of  his  flesh;  even  so  believers  put  off 
for  ever  that  body  of  sin  with  which  their  first  parent  had  first 
enwrapped  them,  and  leave  it  in  their  mystical  sepulchre,  to  be 
resumed  no  more,  but  that  they  may  henceforth  lead  a  life  free 
and  exempt  from  all  its  filthiness  and  turpitude.  Lastly,  as 
the  burial  of  our  Saviour  was  properly  but  a  progression  and 
continuation  of  his  death  ;  so  likewise  that  of  our  old  man  is 
but  a  prosecution  of  his  destruction  ;  it  is  the  state  this  puts 
him  in,  and  under  it  he  abides  for  ever,  without  rising  any  more. 
Paul  elsewhere  clearly  shows  us  that  it  is  thus  we  must  under- 
stand his  words,  when  he  says,  in  the  6th  to  the  Romans,  ver. 
4,  5,  that  "  we  are  buried  with  him  by  baptism  into  death  ;  that 
like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the 
Father,  even  so  we  also  should  walk  in  newness  of  life  ;"  and 
immediately  after  he  says,  that  "  if  we  have  been  planted  to- 
gether in  the  likeness  of  his  death,  we  shall  be  also  in  the  like- 
ness of  his  resurrection."  To  which  must  be  also  added,  that 
it  is  in  him,  and  with  him,  we  have  been  buried  in  this  man- 
ner, because  in  his  death  and  burial  the  principles  and  causes 
of  ours  were  contained.  His  death  has  destroyed  our  old  man, 
and  his  burial  has  interred  him  ;  it  being  evident,  that  if  our 
Lord  had  not  suffered  both  for  our  salvation,  sin  would  still 
live  and  reign  in  us  ;  for  it  is  the  love  of  God,  and  his  peace, 
and  the  hope  of  glory,  the  true  effect  of  our  Saviour's  death 
and  burial,  that  gives  the  death's  wound  to  our  old  man,  and 
that  abolishes  and  buries  his  whole  life. 

See  then  how  we  are  buried  with  him  ;  not  that  our  bodies 
really  enter  into  the  sepulchre  in  Joseph  of  Arimathea's  gar- 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  325 

den,  where  his  abode  three  days  ;  (away  with  so  childish  a  con- 
ception!) but  the  virtue  of  his  death  and  holy  sepulchre  pro- 
duces in  us  an  image  and  a  copy  of  his  burial,  destroying  and 
burying  our  old  man  by  his  efficacy,  and  bringing  on  him  a 
mystical  death  and  burial  conformable  to  his  own  real  and  mys- 
tical one.  That  which  the  apostle  now  adds,  that  we  are  also 
risen  again  together  with  him,  must  also  be  understood  in  the 
same  manner.  As  our  death  and  burial  with  him  is  mystical 
and  spiritual,  so  is  likewise  our  resurrection  ;  these  words  sig- 
nifying nothing  else  than  that  he,  by  the  virtue  of  his  resurrec- 
tion, works  and  produces  one  in  us  which  bears  a  resemblance 
and  an  analogy  with  his  own.  And  this  resurrection  of  the 
faithful,  in  consequence  and  by  the  efficacy  of  that  of  Jesus 
Christ,  is  their  being  renewed  unto  a  holy,  spiritual,  and  evan- 
gelical life.  For  even  as  the  Lord,  having  put  off  on  the  cross, 
and  left  in  the  grave,  that  earthly,  infirm,  and  natural  life  which 
he  had  led  here  below,  during  the  days  of  his  flesh,  put  on  a 
new  one,  that  was  glorious,  spiritual,  and  immortal,  rising  from 
the  grave  a  heavenly  man,  and  living  to  eternity  by  the  sole 
strength  of  a  quickening  Spirit:  so  likewise  all  his  true  mem- 
bers, having  quitted  their  old  man,  as  destroyed  and  abolished 
by  the  virtue  of  his  death,  put  on  the  new,  which  is  formed  in 
righteousness  and  holiness  ;  and  instead  of  that  vile  and  wretch- 
ed life  which  they  led  before  in  the  guilt  and  pollution  of  sin, 
they  take  up  another  wholly  new,  which  is  quickened  by  the 
Spirit  from  on  high,  upheld  by  his  power,  and  which  shines 
all  over  with  the  glorious  lights  of  his  holiness,  love,  and 
purity. 

But  besides  this  conformity  between  the  new  nature,  which 
we  receive  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  which  he  put  on  at  his 
coming  forth  from  the  grave,  we  are  said  to  rise  again  with 
him,  because  it  is  the  virtue  of  his  resurrection  which  produces 
all  this  change  in  us.  His  resurrection  is  the  cause  of  ours  ; 
without  it  we  should  still  lie  dead,  and  in  bondage  to  sin.  This 
will  appear  if  you  consider  it  with  ever  so  little  attention  ;  for 
that  which  forms  the  new  man  in  us,  and  gives  us  the  courage 
to  renounce  the  world,  that  we  may  live  pure  and  holy,  is,  as 
every  one  knows,  the  persuasion  of  the  love  of  God,  and  of  the 
remission  of  our  sins,  and  the  hope  of  a  blissful  and  glorious 
immortality.  Now  it  is  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  which 
gives  us  all  this  assurance,  putting  into  our  hands  a  convincing 
proof  of  the  satisfaction  of  divine  justice,  by  the  deliverance  of 
our  Surety  ;  and  of  our  immortality,  by  his  having  taken  pos- 
session there  for  himself  and  us  ;  so  that  our  souls  being  as- 
sured of  the  transcendent  goodness  of  God,  and  of  their  own 
happiness,  ardently  embrace  his  instruction,  and  endeavour  to 
lead  a  new  life.  Besides,  that  faith  which  purifies  our  hearts, 
and  by  which,  as  we  shall  hear  presently,  we  are  risen  again 


326  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXIII. 

in  Jesus  Christ,  could  not  take  place  in  us,  if  he  were  not  risen 
from  the  dead,  since  it  is  by  that  he  was  "declared  to  be  the 
Son  of  God  with  power,  according  to  the  spirit  of  holiness," 
Eom,  i.  4.  Therefore  Peter  says  it  is  by  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead  that  God  "  has  begotten  us  again 
unto  a  lively  hope,"  1  Pet.  i.  3.  And  Paul,  for  this  very  rea- 
son, protests,  that  if  Christ  were  not  risen,  our  faith  would  be 
vain,  and  we  should  be  still  in  our  sins,  1  Cor.  xv,  17.  It  must 
then  be  concluded  that  in  rising  again  he  raised  us  up  also  by 
the  same  means,  inasmuch  as  by  rising  he  gave  being  and  clear- 
ness to  the  principles  and  causes  of  our  mystical  resurrection. 
Opening  his  own  tomb,  he  by  that  means  opened  ours.  He 
broke  in  pieces  the  doors  and  bars  of  our  sepulchres  by  quitting 
his  own;  and  raising  himself  from  the  dust,  he  drew  us  up  out 
of  the  earth,  and  brought  us  forth  from  the  abode  of  death  ; 
that  glorious  life  also  with  which  he  then  vested  himself  has 
inspired  into  us  all  the  spiritual  life,  motions,  and  sentiments 
which  we  possess. 

0  hoty  and  blessed  communion  !  O  divine  and  incorruptible 
fruits  of  the  sepulchre  of  Jesus  Christ!  The  death  of  the  first 
man  killed  us,  but  the  death  of  the  Second  makes  us  alive.  The 
sepulchre  of  the  one  is  our  prison,  that  of  the  other  is  our  lib- 
erty. In  the  former  appear  horror  and  malediction,  the  signs 
of  our  guilt  and  of  the  just  wrath  of  God  ;  but  from  the  latter 
peace  and  life  germinate,  and  glory  and  immortality  shoot  forth. 
The  grave  of  Adam  extinguished,  and  shut  up  for  ever  in  a 
state  of  inanition,  all  the  beauty,  strength,  and  life  of  our  na- 
ture. The  sepulchre  of  Jesus  Christ  has  destroyed  nothing 
but  our  sin  ;  it  has  shut  up  and  kept  in  only  our  old  man,  that 
is,  the  loathsomeness  and  misery  of  our  lives  ;  and  instead  of 
this  abominable  body  of  sin  and  death,  of  which  it  has  divest- 
ed us,  it  has,  as  it  were,  teemed  with  and  brought  forth  a  celes- 
tial and  immortal  nature,  which  it  puts  on  us  together  with 
our  Saviour.  And  thus  you  see  what  are  the  fruits  of  our  com- 
munion with  Jesus  Christ,  namely,  the  destruction  of  our  old 
man  and  the  creation  of  the  new,  signified  by  the  apostle  in 
these  words,  we  are  buried  and  risen  again  with  him. 

II.  Let  us  now  consider  the  twofold  means,  here  intimated 
by  the  apostle,  by  which  God  makes  us  partakers  of  them. 
The  first  is  baptism:  "Buried,"  says  he,  "with  Christ  in  bap- 
tism, wherein  also  ye  are  risen  with  him  ;"  for  so  I  take  these 
words,  rendering  "wherein,"  not  in  whom;  and  referring  this 
term,  not  to  Jesus  Christ,  but  to  baptism  ;  as  if  it  had  been 
said,  in  which  baptism  ye  are  also  risen  again  together  with 
the  Lord  ;  this  construction  being  more  natural  and  more  con- 
venient than  the  other,  as  they  who  understand  the  original 
language  in  which  the  apostle  wrote  will  easily  perceive,  if 
they  take  the  pains  to  consider  this  text  ;  though,  in  reality, 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  327 

it  makes  no  difference  which  of  these  two  ways  it  is  taken,  both 
amounting  to  the  same  sense,  whether  you  say  that  we  are 
risen  again  in  baptism,  or  in  Jesus  Christ. 

In  truth,  all  the  means  of  which  God  makes  use  in  religion 
have  no  other  tendency  than  to  communicate  Jesus  Christ  to 
us,  as  dead,  buried,  and  risen  again  for  us,  to  the  destruction  of 
our  old  man  and  the  vivification  of  the  new.  Nor  do  they 
ever  fail  to  produce  these  two  effects  in  any  of  those  who  re- 
ceive them  as  they  ought.  Therefore  the  holy  apostles  fre- 
quently ascribe  them  to  the  word  of  the  gospel,  which  is  the 
first  and  principal  means  which  God  employs  to  save  us,  in 
consequence  of  which  it  is  called  his  power  to  salvation,  Rom. 
i.  16.  As  for  the  destruction  of  the  old  man,  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  attributes  to  the  word  the  virtue  which  operates  and 
effects  it  in  us,  saying  that  it  is  "quick  and  powerful,  sharper 
than  any  two-edged  sword,  piercing  even  to  the  dividing  asun- 
der of  the  soul  and  spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow,"  Heb. 
iv.  12;  and  Paul  elsewhere  calls  it  a  "weapon  mighty  to  the 
pulling  down  of  strong  holds,  casting  down  imaginations,  and 
every  high  thing  that  exalteth  itself  against  the  knowledge  of 
God,  and  bringing  into  captivity  every  thought  to  the  obedi- 
ence of  Christ,"  2  Cor.  x.  4,  5.  And  as  to  the  life  of  the  new 
man,  you  know  Peter  teaches  us  that  the  gospel  which  is  preached 
to  us  is  the  seed  of  this  life,  telling  us  that  it  is  thereby  we  are 
born  again,  1  Pet.  i.  23,  25.  That  holy  supper,  of  which  we 
have  participated  this  morning,  has  also  the  same  effects.  For 
since  it  communicates  to  us  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,  dead  and 
buried,  and  risen  again  for  us,  we  need  not  doubt  that  it  gives 
•us  also  the  virtue  which  it  possesses,  and  which  is  inseparably 
adherent  to  it,  for  the  putting  to  death  the  old  Adam,  and 
making  the  new  to  live  in  us,  by  its  bedewing  our  consciences 
with  his  blood,  and  feeding  our  souls  with  his  flesh. 

But  although  these  two  effects  are  common  to  all  the  means 
which  God  has  instituted  and  makes  use  of  in  religion,  yet  the 
apostle  speaks  here  only  of  baptism,  first,  because  it  is  the  first 
seal  which  we  receive  of  our  Saviour,  and  the  proper  sacra- 
ment of  our  regeneration,  which  contains  the  initials  and  be- 
ginning of  our  spiritual  life  in  the  house  of  God  ;  conse- 
quently, when  treating  of  the  same  subject  in  his  Epistle  to 
the  Romans,  chap.  vi.  3,  4,  he  makes  mention  of  baptism  in 
the  same  manner  :  "  Know  ye  not,"  says  he,  "  that  so  many  of 
us  as  were  baptized  into  Jesus  Christ  were  baptized  into  his 
death  ?  Therefore,  we  are  buried  with  him  by  baptism."  Se- 
condly, he  so  speaks  that  he  might  with  more  clearness  con- 
fute the  error  which  he  here  combats,  even  by  opposing  to  the 
circumcision  which  the  seducers  pressed  that  baptism  which 
we  have  received  in  Jesus  Christ,  by  which  has  been  fully 
communicated  to  us  all  that  these  people  pretended  to  draw 


•328  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XXIII. 

from  the  use  of  circumcision.  Their  folly  was,  therefore,  so 
much  the  more  insupportable,  as  they  not  only  retained  a  sha- 
dow, of  which  Jesus  Christ  has  given  us  the  true  body,  but 
also  would  not  allow  one  of  the  old  sacraments  of  Moses  to 
give  place  to  one  of  those  which  Jesus  instituted.  If  the  ques- 
tion be  of  the  substance  and  very  effect  of  circumcision,  we 
have  that  truth  and  fulness  in  Jesus  Christ,  of  which  it  had 
only  some  part  shadowed  out  by  its  figure.  If  the  subject  be 
the  sacrament  itself,  the  Lord  has  given  us  one  highly  excel- 
ling, namely,  baptism.  So  that,  whichever  way  it  is  taken, 
there  is  no  reason  whatever  that  any  man  should  desire  still  to 
retain  circumcision. 

But  to  proceed:  it  is  not  only  in  this  place  that  the  apostle 
attributes  so  great  an  effect  to  baptism  ;  he  speaks  thus  of  it 
constantly  :  as,  for  example,  when  he  says  that  Christ  sanctifi- 
eth  the  church,  "cleansing  it  with  the  washing  of  water  by 
the  word,"  Eph.  v.  26  ;  "  and  that,  as  many  as  have  been  bap- 
tized into  Christ,  have  put  on  Christ,"  Gal.  iii.  27;  and  again, 
that  "  by  one  Spirit  we  all  are  baptized  into  one  body,"  1  Cor. 
xii.  13.  For  the  sacraments  of  Christ  are  not  vain  and  hollow 
pictures,  in  which  the  benefits  of  his  death  and  resurrection 
are  nakedly  portrayed,  as  in  a  piece  of  art,  which  gives  us 
merely  an  unprofitable  view  of  what  it  represents.  They  are 
effectual  means,  which  he  accompanies  with  his  virtue,  and 
fills  with  his  grace  ;  effectively  accomplishing  those  things  in 
us  by  his  heavenly  power  which  are  set  before  us  in  the  sacra- 
ment, when  we  receive  it  as  we  ought.  He  inwardly  nourishes, 
by  the  virtue  of  his  flesh  and  blood,  the  soul  of  him  who  duly 
takes  his  bread  and  his  cup.  He  washes  and  regenerates  that 
man  within  who  is  rightly  consecrated  by  baptism.  And  if 
the  infirmity  of  infancy  prevents  the  effect  from  appearing  at 
the  instant  in  children  baptized,  yet  his  virtue  does  not  fail  to 
accompany  his  institution,  to  preserve  itself  in  them,  and  to 
bring  forth  its  fruits  upon  them  in  their  season,  when  their  na- 
ture is  capable  of  the  operations  of  understanding  and  will. 
In  the  primitive  church,  this  double  effect  of  baptism  was 
more  clearly  represented  in  the  external  performance  of  the 
sacrament  than  it  is  at  this  day.  For  the  greater  part  of  those 
who  were  baptized,  being  persons  of  age,  who  came  over  to 
Christianity  from  Judaism,  or  paganism,  they  were  unclothed, 
and  then  plunged  into  the  water,  from  whence  they  immedi- 
ately came  forth,  and  so  were  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Fa- 
ther, and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  iloly  Ghost;  by  which  they 
testified  that  they  put  off  the  body  of  sin,  the  habit  of  the  first 
Adam,  and  buried  it  in  the  saving  waters  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  in 
its  mystical  grave,  and  came  forth  thence  risen  up  to  a  new 
life  ;  for  a  symbol  of  which  they  took  up  a  white  habit,  and 
wore  it  a  whole  week.     Now,  thouijh  the  water  with  which  we 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  329 

baptize  does  not  carry  so  express  a  figure  of  this  mystical  se- 
pulchre and  resurrection  as  that  of  the  ancients,  since  this 
ceremony  cannot  be  practised  towards  infants  without  very 
great  inconvenience,  and  even  danger  to  their  lives,  in  so  ten- 
der an  age,  and  especially  in  such  cold  countries  as  ours  ; 
nevertheless,  the  virtue  of  holy  baptism  is  still  the  same  ;  that 
Jesus,  whom  in  it  we  put  on,  communicating  to  us,  by  the  vir- 
tue of  his  Spirit,  the  mystical  image  of  his  burial  and  resurrec- 
tion ;  that  is,  as  we  have  showed,  the  annihilation  of  the  old 
man,  and  creation  of  the  new.     [See  note  on  page  333.] 

If  we  meet  with  any  baptized  persons,  as  there  are  but  too 
many,  in  whom  the  old  man  is  so  far  from  being  buried,  that 
he  lives  and  reigns  with  absolute  power,  and  the  new  man  has 
neither  life  nor  action  at  all,  it  must  not  be  imputed  to  Jesus 
Christ,  who  always  accompanies  his  sacraments  with  his  saving 
virtue  ;  but  to  the  person's  own  unbelief,  who  wretchedly  re- 
pels the  operation  of  the  grace  of  Christ,  and  deprives  it  of  all 
the  effect  which  it  would  have  assuredly  produced  in  them,  if 
their  unworthiness  had  not  frustrated  its  efi&cacy  towards  them. 
For  I  acknowledge  that  neither  baptism  nor  the  word  works 
in  any  but  such  as  receive  them  with  faith.  And  in  this,  as  in 
all  other  things,  the  admirable  wisdom  of  our  Lord  appears. 
For  the  subject  being  man,  a  reasonable  creature,  he  deals  with 
him  in  a  way  proper  and  suitable  to  his  nature.  The  means 
he  uses  for  his  salvation  do  not  operate  in  him  as  drugs  and 
simples,  by  a  physical  action,  which  produce  their  effect,  what- 
ever may  be  the  disposition  of  the  man  who  takes  them.  But 
the  operation  of  the  word  and  sacraments  depends  upon  the 
preparation  of  their  hearts  to  whom  they  are  administered. 
They  work  when  they  are  received  with  faith  ;  they  produce 
nothing  when  they  are  received  with  unbelief.  And  thus  it  is 
fit  that  the  understanding,  which  is  the  guide  and  ruler  of  all 
our  moral  actions,  should  be  first  persuaded  of  the  truth  of 
God,  and  then  our  wills  and  affections  should  take  impression, 
and  be  changed  by  the  efficacy  of  his  power. 

This  very  thing  the  apostle  here  shows  us  with  much  clear- 
ness, by  saying,  in  addition  to  baptism,  that  we  are  buried  and 
raised  again  with  Christ  by  faith  ;  an  evident  token  that  the 
sacrament  mortifies  sin  in  us,  and  raises  us  up  unto  holiness,  ac- 
cording to  the  faith  in  us  with  which  it  meets.  It  left  Simon 
Magus  in  the  bonds  of  iniquity  and  in  the  gall  of  bitterness, 
because  it  found  in  him  no  faith  at  all,  but  a  heart  hardened  in 
unbelief,  and  full  of  hypocrisy.  But  as  for  Lydia,  and  all 
those  who  have  a  true  faith,  it  assuredly  mortifies  sin  in  them, 
and  causes  the  new  man  to  live  in  them  unto  righteousness  and 
holiness.  For  it  is  impossible  that  the  person  who  is  firmly 
persuaded  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel  can  live  in  sin,  the  venom 
and  horror  of  which  this  divine  doctrine  so  clearly  reveals  ; 
42 


330  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXIII. 

on  the  contrary,  lie  will  embrace  that  holiness  whose  beauty 
and  blessedness  it  so  magnificently  sets  before  us  ;  man  natu- 
rally flying  from  what  he  believes  to  be  pernicious  and  de- 
structive ;  and  adhering,  with  the  same  necessity,  to  that  which 
he  judges  healthful  and  advantageous. 

But  the  apostle,  who  everywhere  exalts  the  grace  of  God, 
and  casts  down  the  pride  of  man,  lest  any  one  should  imagine 
that  this  faith,  upon  which  all  our  felicity  depends,  is  a  pro- 
duction of  our  own  will,  by  the  way  informs  us  that  it  is  a 
gift  of  our  Lord,  calling  it  "  the  faith  of  the  operation"  or  of 
the  efficacy  "  of  God,"  that  is  to  say,  which  the  efficacy  of  his 
hand  produces  in  us.  By  this  he  refutes  the  error  of  those 
who  contend  that  God,  for  the  producing  of  faith  in  us,  merely 
sets  before  us,  either  outwardly  by  his  word,  or  inwardly  by 
his  Spirit,  the  object  of  truth,  leaving  it  to  the  liberty  of  our 
will  to  believe  or  to  reject  it.  Upon  this  supposition,  faith 
would  not  be  the  faith  of  the  operation  of  God  ;  since,  accord- 
ing to  this  doctrine,  he  would  exert  upon  us  none  at  all.  But 
the  apostle  styles  it  "  the  faith  of  the  operation  of  God."  We 
must  conclude,  therefore,  that  in  giving  us  faith  he  operates  in 
us,  powerfully  forming  our  hearts,  and  opening  them  by  the 
might  of  his  Spirit,  that  they  may  receive  his  truth  ;  yea,  that 
he  imprints  and  engraves  it  on  them  himself  by  a  most  effica- 
cious action.  The  term  energy  (for  such  is  the  original,  and 
it  is  that  which  we  have  rendered  operation)  deserves  great 
consideration,  properly  signifying,  in  the  style  of  the  book  of 
God,  a  powerful  operation,  which  surely  accomplishes  its  de- 
sign, and  infallibly  produces  its  intention  ;  such  as  the  action 
by  which  God  created  the  world  ;  an  evident  sign  that  the 
operation  by  which  he  produces  faith  in  us  is  so  strong,  that 
it  bears  down  all  contradiction  ;  so  that  none  of  those  upon 
whom  he  vouchsafes  to  confer  it  can  resist  it,  or  hinder  their 
understanding  from  believing. 

The  apostle  adds,  that  God  has  raised  Jesus  Christ  from  the 
dead,  either  to  determine  the  object  of  our  faith,  which  is  prin- 
cipally Jesus  raised  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father  ; 
or  (which  I  think  to  be  more  pertinent)  to  compare  our  mys- 
tical resurrection  with  that  of  Jesus  Christ.  For  seeing  it  is 
God  who,  by  his  efficacious  operation,  gives  us  that  faith  by 
which  we  rise  again  in  Christ  ;  and  seeing  it  is  he  again  who 
has  raised  our  Lord  from  the  dead  ;  it  is  evident  that  both 
these  works  have  the  self-same  principle,  namely,  the  almighty 
power  of  God.  Christians,  judge  with  what  power  he  works 
in  his  faithful  people,  since  he  exerts  the  same  power  to  give 
them  faith  as  that  by  which  he  raised  his  own  Son  from  the 
dead,  as  the  apostle  informs  us  yet  more  clearly  in  another 
place,  where  he  pra3''s  that  "  we  may  know  what  is  the  exceed- 
ing  greatness    of  his    power    to   us-ward,  who  believe,   ac- 


CHAP.  II.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  831 

cording  to  the  working  of  his  mighty  power,  which  he 
wrought  in  Christ,  when  he  raised  him  from  the  dead,"  Eph.  i. 
19,  20.  Neither  let  his  saying  that  the  Father  raised  him  dis- 
quiet you,  as  if  this  contradicted  our  Lord's  assertion  in  an- 
other place,  that  he  himself  raised  up  the  temple  of  his  body 
when  the  Jews  had  destroyed  it,  John  ii.  19.  It  is  true  that 
he  raised  up  himself;  but  since  his  power  is  the  power  of  the 
Father,  they  being  one  only  and  the  same  God,  it  is  evident 
that  it  may  be  truly  said  that  the  Father  raised  him  up  ;  the 
work  of  one  being  the  work  of  the  other,  as  our  Saviour  de- 
clares in  John,  that  "what  things  soever  the  Father  doeth, 
these  also  doeth  the  Son  likewise,"  chap.  v.  19.  Consequently 
the  Scriptures  attribute  the  creation  of  the  world  indifferently 
to  both  the  Father  and  the  Son. 

Dear  brethren,  this  is  what  the  holy  apostle,  the  great  minis- 
ter of  God,  tells  us  in  this  text.  Oh,  how  happy  should  we 
be,  if  we  had  these  divine  instructions  written  in  our  hearts, 
and  engraven  in  capital  letters  upon  all  the  parts  of  our  lives  ! 
if  our  actions  justified  what  our  words  profess,  that  we  are 
buried  and  risen  again  with  Jesus  Christ  by  baptism,  and  by 
the  faith  of  the  operation  of  God,  who  raised  him  from  the 
dead  !  But,  alas  !  it  must  be  confessed,  to  our  shame,  there 
appears  in  the  lives  of  most  of  us  no  print  of  the  burial,  and 
least  of  all  of  the  resurrection,  of  Jesus.  The  flesh  lives,  and 
exercises  as  horrible  a  tyranny  in  them  as  it  does  in  the  lives 
of  the  men  of  the  world.  It  has  all  its  sentiments  and  all  its 
motions  at  liberty.  The  new  man,  that  breathes  nothing  but 
heaven,  and  loves  nothing  but  holiness,  has  no  place  in  them  ; 
it  is  so  far  from  reigning  there  that  it  is  banished  thence,  and 
acts  no  more  than  a  dead  body  fast  shut  up  in  the  grave.  Yet 
if  nothing  depended  on  the  matter  but  our  shame,  impudence 
would  bear  it  out  ;  but  the  worst  is,  our  salvation  and  our 
eternal  damnation  depend  upon  it  ;  for  Jesus  Christ  saves  none 
but  his  members,  such  as  are  made  conformable  to  his  image, 
and  have  been  buried  and  raised  again  with  him.  Let  us 
awake,  therefore,  from  this  mortal  lethargy,  which  has  be- 
numbed our  senses  to  this  day.  Let  us  labour  day  and  night 
in  prayer,  with  sighs  and  tears,  and  not  cease  until  we  feel  the 
old  man  die,  and  the  new  live  in  our  hearts.  As  for  the  for- 
mer, both  nature  and  experience  sufficiently  show  us  the  extra- 
vagance of  its  desires,  and  the  vanity  of  all  its  motions.  Tell 
me,  I  beseech  you,  what  profit  the  flesh  receives  from  all  the 
trouble  which  it  takes  itself,  or  which  it  gives  to  others? 
What  benefit  has  it  from  the  turmoiling  of  its  avarice,  or  the 
burning  of  its  ambition,  or  the  shamefulness  of  its  pleasures, 
or  the  sweetness  of  its  revenges  ?  It  torments  itself,  it  wearies 
itself,  it  embraces  wind  and  smoke,  and  then  perishes,  often- 
times shortening  its  own  duration  by  the  violence  of  its  agita- 


832  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXIII. 

tions.  It  has  but  a  little  body  (whicb  daily  weakens)  to  lodge, 
and  feed,  and  clothe  for  some  years  ;  yet  it  travails  and  dis- 
quiets itself  as  much  as  if  it  had  a  million  to  maintain  for  the 
space  of  many  ages.  Was  there  ever  a  greater  folly  ?  Cer- 
tainly, should  a  man  of  composed  mind  behold  our  busy  em- 
ployments in  the  earth,  with  the  motives  and  designs  of  those 
numerous  motions  and  troubles  in  which  we  consume  oui-selves, 
I  have  little  doubt  that  he  would  take  nearly  every  man  for 
frantic  or  foolish,  and  cry  out,  not  simply  with  the  wise  man, 
"Vanity  of  vanities,  all  is  vanity  ;"  but  yet  louder,  and  in  a 
tone  more  tragical,  O  madness  !  O  frenzy  !  all  the  world  is  but 
a  company  of  senseless  men  ! 

But  merely  seeing  the  vanity  of  the  flesh  is  not  sufficient 
for  a  due  conception  of  its  horror.  Christian,  enter  into  the 
sepulchre  of  your  Saviour,  and  you  will  there  perceive  that, 
besides  vanity,  the  life  of  the  old  man  is  completely  full  of 
venom  and  wretchedness.  This  sacred  body  which  you  see 
lying  in  that  tomb,  in  so  pitiful  a  state,  was  pierced  with  nails, 
potioued  with  gall,  crowned  with  thorns,  covered  with  the  re- 
proaches of  men  and  the  curse  of  God,  separated  from  its  soul, 
and  brought  down  to  the  dust,  to  divert  from  you  the  punish- 
ments justly  prepared  for  the  disorders  of  your  flesh.  Think 
"what  hells  it  deserved,  since  it  was  necessary  that  the  Lord  of 
glory  should  suffer  such  strange  usage  to  redeem  it  from  them. 
Having  once  discerned,  by  such  sensible  evidences,  the  vanity 
and  malignity  of  the  old  man,  and  the  perdition  into  which 
he  leads  his  vassals,  how  can  you  have  the  heart  to  let  him 
live  within  you  ?  Beloved  brethren,  away  with  him  from  the 
world,  crucify  him  !  He  is  unworthy  to  live.  Pierce  him 
through  with  the  thorns  and  nails  of  your  Jesus.  Give  him 
his  gall  to  drink.  Put  him  to  death  with  him,  and  bury  him 
in  his  sepulchre,  to  come  forth  no  more.  Let  his  avarice,  and 
ambitions,  and  all  his  concupiscenses  remain  eternally  extinct 
in  the  dust  of  that  salvific  grave,  that  there  may  henceforth 
no  more  appear  any  of  his  track  in  your  whole  course.  And 
instead  of  that  infernal  vigour  with  which  he  heretofore  influ- 
enced and  disturbed  your  whole  life,  put  on  that  new  man, 
whom  Jesus  has  on  this  day  caused  to  come  forth  out  of  his 
sepulchre.  Drink  in  his  Spirit,  fill  your  veins  with  his  blood, 
and  your  arteries  with  his  fire.  Receive  his  sentiments,  and 
deck  yourselves  with  his  light.  Lead  henceforth  a  life  worthy 
of  his  resurrection,  and  of  his  baptism,  and  of  that  immortal  food 
which  you  have  taken  at  his  table.  Let  your  actions  aim  at 
nothing  but  heaven.  It  is  there  your  treasure  is.  Christian, 
what  do  you  yet  seek  on  earth  ?  Your  Lord  is  no  longer  here. 
This  day  saw  him  arise  to  take  his  seat  on  high,  at  the  right 
hand  of  God,  and  to  carry  up  your  hearts  with  him,  giving 
them  all  his  motions,  that  where  he  is  ye  may  be  also.     And 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  333 

if  his  will  is  that  you  shall  tarry  yet  a  while  on  earth,  spend 
the  whole  time  in  the  same  manner  that  he  spent  his  forty  days 
after  his  resurrection,  in  a  continual  meditation  on  heavenly 
things,  in  the  company  of  apostles,  in  the  entertainment  of 
saints,  in  the  exercise  of  an  ardent  love,  in  tlie  preparatives 
of  your  ascension  to  his  kingdom  ;  wholly  managing  this 
short  space  to  his  glory  and  to  the  instruction  and  edification 
of  men.  This  is  what  we  owe,  dear  brethren,  to  the  burial 
and  resurrection  of  our  Lord.  There  is  no  occasion  to  run  to 
Palestine,  nor  to  go  up  Mount  Calvary,  to  enter  into  his  sepul- 
chre. You  are  entered  into  it,  and  buried  with  him,  if  you  by 
the  faith  of  his  gospel  mortify  and  destroy  sin,  according  to 
the  intention  of  your  baptism.  Nor  is  it  any  more  necessary, 
in  order  to  have  part  in  his  resurrection,  to  go  and  kiss  the 
last  print  of  his  feet  upon  Mount  Olivet.  You  are  risen  again 
with  him,  if  you  are  affected  with  the  glory  which  he  brought 
out  of  his  tomb,  and  persuaded  of  the  truth  of  the  discoveries 
which  he  made  of  blessed  immortality,  and  live  according  to 
the  form  of  his  gospel,  in  purity  and  holiness. 

May  God,  who  raiseth  the  dead  by  his  glorious  power,  be 
pleased  to  reveal  the  same  might  upon  our  hearts,  and  form 
such  a  lively  faith  in  them,  as  may  be  the  true  workmanship 
of  his  hand,  and  the  faith  of  his  efficacy,  that  we  may  thereby 
be  buried  and  raised  up  with  Christ  ;  and  after  these  first-fruits 
of  his  holiness,  be  hereafter  transformed  into  a  perfect  resem- 
blance of  his  glory,  that  we  may  eternally  possess  that  great 
and  blessed  heavenly  kingdom  with  him,  which  he  has  pur- 
chased for  us  by  the  merit  of  his  death,  and  insured  to  us  by 
the  virtue  of  his  resurrection.     So  be  it. 

[Note  referred  to  p.  329. — The  Presbyterian  Board  are  not  to  be  regarded 
as  fully  endorsing  the  views  of  the  author  on  the  efficacy  of  Baptism,  or  as 
adopting  all  his  expressions. — Ed.  Près.  Bd.] 


SERMON    XXIV. 

VERSE   13. 


And  you,  being  dead  in  your  sins  and  the  uncircumcision  of 
your  flesh,  hath  he  quickened  together  with  him,  having  forgiven 
you  all 


Dear  brethren,  philosophers  commonly,  and  very  properly, 
say  that  contraries  illustrate  each  other  ;  for  nothing  enables 
us  better  to  understand  the  excellence  of  liberty  than  the  con- 
sideration of  the  miseries  of  bondage  ;  and  there  is  nothing 
which  shows  us  the  nature  and  advantages  of  virtue  more 
than  the  deformity  and  wretchedness  of  its  opposite  vices. 


334  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXIV. 

The  beauty  and  usefulness  of  light  is  perceived  by  the  hide- 
ousness  of  black  obscurity,  and  the  sweetness  of  health  by  the 
inconveniences  of  sickness.  For  this  reason  the  ministers  of 
God,  to  teach  us  the  true  worth  of  his  benefits,  frequently 
represent  to  us  the  misery  of  that  state  out  of  which  he  de- 
livered us.  The  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament  likewise  con- 
tinually put  the  Israelites  in  mind  of  their  once  sad  and  piti- 
ful state  in  Egypt  under  the  tyranny  of  Pharaoh.  They  would 
have  them  keep  it  in  their  eye,  that  they  might  thereby  duly 
relish  the  redemption  of  God,  and  the  sweetness  of  that  liberty 
which  he  had  given  to  them.  Under  the  New  Testament  the 
apostles  are  no  less  intent  to  represent,  at  every  turn,  the 
extreme  hideousness  of  our  original  condition,  that  we  may 
acknowledge  so  much  the  more  grace  which  God  has  showed 
us  in  his  Son,  by  translating  us  out  of  the  kingdom  of  dark- 
ness into  his  marvellous  light.  Thus  Paul,  in  the  text  which 
we  have  read,  that  the  Colossians  might  be  brought  more  fully 
to  comprehend  the  inestimable  excellency  of  the  benefit  they 
had  received  from  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  when  they  were  raised 
again  with  him  in  baptism  by  the  faith  of  his  operation,  as  he 
expressed  in  the  foregoing  verse,  now  lays  before  them  the 
misery  in  which  they  were  before  ingulfed  :  "And  you,  being 
dead  in  your  sins  and  the  uncircumcision  of  your  flesh,"  &c. 

Now  this  discourse  also  hits  the  mark  at  which  he  princi- 
pally aimed  in  the  whole  dispute  ;  which  is,  as  you  have  often 
heard,  to  refute  the  pernicious  error  of  those  who  considered 
the  observance  of  circumcision,  and  other  ceremonies  of  Moses, 
necessary  for  christians.  Surely  all  the  profit  which  they 
could  pretend  would  be  reaped  from  them  was  either  the  re- 
mission of  our  sins,  or  the  sanctification  of  our  lives.  But 
the  apostle  here  shows  us,  in  a  few  words,  that  we  have  both 
these  graces  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  first,  since  God  has  freely 
forgiven  us  all  our  offences  in  him.  The  second,  since  being 
dead,  as  we  were  in  ourselves,  he  has  made  us  alive  with  him  ; 
which  renders  it  evident  that  the  ceremonies  of  the  law  are 
henceforth  wholly  useless  to  us.  There  is  no  need  of  the 
knife  of  Moses  any  longer,  God,  by  the  sole  gospel  of  his 
Christ,  dying  and  risen  again  for  us,  the  true  sword  of  heaven, 
infinitely  sharper  than  any  of  the  metals  of  nature,  has  cut 
off'  all  the  corruption  of  our  flesh.  He  has  done  even  much 
more  ;  for  by  the  power  alone  of  the  same  Christ  he  has  res- 
cued us  from  death,  and  animated  us,  and  given  us  new  life. 
And  as  for  the  sins  of  which  we  were  guilty,  he  has  pardoned 
them  all.  His  pure  grace  in  Jesus  Christ  has  effectually  ful- 
filled whatever  was  promised  or  prefigured  by  the  law  of 
Moses.  You  have  experienced  it,  says  the  apostle  to  the  faith- 
ful at  Colosse  ;  you  have  seen  and  felt  the  efficacy  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  yourselves.      Kemember  what  you  were,  when  you 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  335 

believed  ou  him,  and  consider  what  you  are  since  you  passed 
through  his  hands.  Ye  were  dead,  and  ye  are  alive  :  ye 
were  covered  with  crimes,  and  are  fully  absolved  from  them. 
Do  not  so  affront  your  Deliverer,  as  to  think  that,  having 
wrought  such  great  miracles  by  his  own  power  alone,  he  needs 
the  elements  of  the  law  to  finish  his  work  in  you;  and  that 
he  cannot  complete,  without  Moses,  what  he  so  magnificently 
began  and  advanced  without  him.  This,  my  brethren,  is  the 
apostle's  express  design,  in  these  words. 

We,  who  through  the  grace  of  God  are  not  troubled  with 
the  error  of  these  false  teachers,  which  died  and  was  buried 
long  ago,  will  consider  this  text  more  generally,  and  view  it 
in  its  whole  extent,  for  our  edification  and  consolation,  with- 
out insisting  precisely  upon  that  particular  use  for  which  it 
was  first  written  to  the  Colossians  ;  and  that  nothing  in  it  may 
escape  us,  we  will  examine,  if  God  permit,  the  two  heads  which 
are  proposed  in  it,  distinctly  one  after  the  other. 

The  first  is,  the  state  we  were  in  before  the  vocation  of  God 
in  his  Son;  ye  were  "dead,"  says  the  apostle,  "in  your  sins 
and  the  uncircumcision  of  your  flesh." 

The  second  is,  the  grace  that  God  has  showed  us  in  Jesus 
Christ  ;  he  hath  "  quickened  you,"  says  he,  "  together  with 
him,  having  forgiven  you  all  trespasses." 

Here  is,  in  substance,  the  map  of  our  whole  redemp- 
tion. The  first  part  represents  to  us  our  misery  by  nature. 
And  the  second,  our  happiness  under  grace.  That  is,  the 
achievement  of  the  first  and  of  the  Second  Adam  ;  the  death 
into  which  the  one  had  sunk  us,  and  the  life  unto  which  the 
other  has  raised  us. 

I.  There  are  none  so  ignorant  as  not  to  know  what  life  and 
death  are.  As  life  is  the  sweetest  and  dearest  of  all  our  good 
things  ;  so  death  is  the  greatest  and  the  last  of  all  our  evils. 
Accordingly,  you  see  how  prudently  nature  has  given  to 
animals  such  an  instinct,  as  to  use  all  the  strength  and  skill 
they  possess  to  preserve  themselves  alive,  and  to  prevent  them 
from  dying.  Every  other  evil  takes  from  us  but  some  part 
of  our  comforts.  Death  bereaves  us  of  them  all.  Bondage 
deprives  us  of  liberty,  banishment  of  our  country,  sickness 
afflicts  our  bodies,  shame  or  infamy  our  souls,  pain  troubles 
our  senses,  poverty  embarrasses  our  life.  But  there  is  no 
calamity  so  great  as  not  to  leave  us  the  use  or  enjoyment  of 
some  good,  or  at  least  of  ourselves.  Death  extinguishing  our 
life,  and  by  this  means  sapping  and  overthrowing  the  very 
foundation  of  our  enjoyments,  at  the  same  time  despoils  us 
of  all  other  good  things  together.  Wherefore  the  holy  apos- 
tle, and  the  other  sacred  writers,  that  they  might  represent 
the  hideousness  and  misery  of  the  condition  of  men  who  are 
without  the  grace  of  God,  do  not  call  it  simply  a  bondage,  a 


336  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXIV. 

banishment,  a  sickness,  a  disgrace,  a  bHndness,  a  poverty,  a 
calamity,  a  nakedness;  they  term  it  a  death,  to  signify  that  it 
is  the  utmost  of  all  the  evils  which  can  befall  our  nature  ;  that 
it  is  a  privation  not  of  some  good  things  only,  but  generally 
of  all  ;  so  that  nothing  remains  either  in  the  spirit,  or  in  the 
senses,  or  in  the  body  of  these  miserable  creatures,  which  de- 
serves to  be  called  good.  It  is  the  term  Isaiah  makes  use  of 
to  express  the  state  of  people  while  they  had  no  part  in  the 
covenant  of  God  :  '*  They  that  dwell  in  the  land  of  the  shadow 
of  death,  upon  them  hath  the  light  shined,"  Isa.  ix.  2.  And 
the  Lord  Jesus  puts  us  all  in  the  same  condition  before  he 
has  called  us.  "  The  hour  is  coming,  and  now  is,  when  the 
dead  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  they  that 
hear  shall  live,"  John  v.  25.  And  without  doubt  it  is  to  these 
kinds  of  dead  that  he  commanded  one  of  his  disciples  to  leave 
the  care  of  burying  their  dead,  Matt,  viii,  22.  And  you  know 
what  the  apostle  says  of  that  widow  who  passes  her  time  in 
the  pleasures  of  sin,  that  she  "  is  dead  while  she  liveth,"  1 
Tim.  V.  6.  And  our  Saviour  tells  that  person  who  led  a 
wicked  life,  under  a  false  reputation  of  piety,  "  Thou  hast  a 
name  that  thou  livest,  and  art  dead,"  Eev.  iii.  1.  Paul,  fol- 
lowing the  style  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  calls  them  dead  who, 
abiding  in  the  ignorance  which  is  natural  to  all  men,  neither 
know  God  nor  his  will  :  "  Ye  were  dead,"  (says  he  to  the 
Bphesians,  speaking  of  the  time  they  spent  in  the  darkness 
of  paganism,)  "  ye  were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,"  Eph.  ii. 
1.  And  a  little  after,  putting  himself  in  the  same  number, 
though  he  was  a  Jew,  he  says,  "When  we  were  dead  in  sins, 
God  "  quickened  us  together  with  Christ,"  ver.  5  ;  which  are 
precisely  the  same  terms  as  those  which  he  here  applies  to 
the  Colossians,  whose  original  condition  was  in  eflect  the 
same  with  that  of  the  Ephesians,  they  being  both  by  birth  pa- 
gans. 

I  well  know  that  the  men  of  the  world,  and  generally  those 
who  have  no  part  in  the  grace  of  God,  have  life,  sense,  and 
motion  ;  they  desire,  and  fear,  and  hope,  and  exercise,  in  gen- 
eral, all  the  actions  in  which  life  is  ordinarily  made  to  con- 
sist. Yea,  I  confess  that,  to  measure  things  by  appearances, 
and  by  the  outside  only,  there  are  none  but  they  who  seem  to 
live,  filling  the  world  with  the  noise  of  their  actions  and 
motions,  while  the  majority  of  the  faithful  groan  in  some 
corner,  or  pass  their  days  obscurely  in  the  silence  of  retire- 
ment, unsought  and  unobserved  ;  so  that  it  may  be  said  of 
them,  in  this  respect,  as  the  apostle  says  in  another,  that  "God 
hath  chosen  things  which  are  not  to  bring  to  nought  things 
that  are,"  1  Cor.  i.  28  ;  the  flesh  no  more  accounting  the  faith- 
ful to  be  anything  than  if  they  neither  lived  nor  existed  at 
all,  but  considering  none  but  men  of  the  world  when  they 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  337 

would  reckon  up  the  things  that  live,  and  which  indeed  are. 
But  Paul  himself  clearly  shows  us  that  he  speaks  not  here  of 
the  privation  of  this  kind  of  life,  inasmuch  as  he  says  not 
simply  that  we  were  dead,  but  that  we  were  dead  in  sins  and 
in  the  uncircumcision  of  our  flesh.  We  must  know,  there- 
fore, that  there  are  two  kinds  of  life  :  the  one  carnal  and 
natural,  which  consists  in  the  exercise  of  natural  actions  and 
faculties,  such  as  are  common  to  us,  partly  with  sensitive  crea- 
tures, as  drinking,  eating,  sleeping,  and  the  like;  and  partly 
with  evil  spirits,  as  sinning,  offending  God,  and  our  neighbour. 
The  other  sort  of  life  is  spiritual  and  divine,  having  for  its 
principle  the  image  of  God  and  his  grace,  and  for  its  actions 
the  exercise  of  piety  towards  God,  and  of  love  towards  our 
neighbour  ;  such  a  life  as  Adam's  would  have  been  if  he  had 
persevered  in  the  innocence  in  which  he  was  created,  and 
such  as  is  the  life  of  the  holy  angels  now  in  heaven.  To  these 
two  kinds  of  life  answer  two  kinds  of  death  :  the  one  natural, 
which  is  the  separation  of  the  soul  from  the  body,  and  an 
abolition  of  the  actions,  and  motions,  and  sensations,  which 
the  union  of  these  two  parts  of  our  being  produces  in  us  ;  the 
other  spiritual,  which  is  nothing  else  than  a  privation  of  the 
image  of  God,  and  of  those  good  and  holy  faculties,  habits, 
and  actions  with  which  it  is  accompanied.  It  is  this  second 
kind  of  death  which  the  apostle  here  intends,  when  he  says 
that  we  were  dead  in  sins  and  in  the  uncircumcision  of  our 
flesh.  For  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  true  judge  and  estimator  of 
things,  counts  all  those  for  dead  which  have  not  the  life  of 
God,  however  full  of  life  they  may  be  with  respect  to  the 
earth  and  the  flesh  :  and  that  truly  for  a  just  cause;  for  if  we 
consider  the  thing  in  the  light  of  true  reason,  we  shall  find 
that  what  men  call  life  in  them  is  unworthy  of  that  name  ;  it 
being,  properly  speaking,  mere  death.  For  living  is  right 
acting,  and  the  exercise  of  the  faculties  suitable  to  one's  na- 
ture, with  that  satisfaction  and  pleasure  of  which  he  is  capa- 
ble ;  so  that  the  true  life  of  man  (for  of  such  we  speak)  is 
nothing  else  but  a  continual  exercise  of  good,  and  holy,  and 
just  actions,  suitable  to  his  true  nature,  and  worthy  of  that 
immortal  soul  which  was  given  him  at  the  beginning,  with 
such  high  contentment  as  must  needs  accompany  them.  Now 
it  is  evident  that  those  who  are  in  the  flesh  do  nothing  like 
this.  Instead  of  those  excellent  and  noble  actions  for  which 
they  were  created,  they  perform  none  but  base  and  bad  ones. 
Instead  of  meditating  on  God  their  Creator,  and  on  heavenly 
and  divine  things,  they  dream  of  nothing  but  the  flesh  and 
the  earth,  unworthily  weltering  in  these  bogs  with  all  the  sense 
and  understanding  they  have.  Instead  of  loving  God  above 
all,  of  adoring  and  serving  him  with  all  the  strength  of  their 
soul,  their  whole  will  is  set  on  creatures  and  vanity.  And 
43 


338  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XXIY. 

their  appetites,  instead  of  being  subject  to  right  reason,  drag 
it  into  corruption  and  unrighteousness.  Surely  this  universal 
disorder  in  actions  and  motions  is  not,  properly  speaking,  the 
life  of  a  man  ;  it  is  a  depravation  from  it,  and  an  overthrow 
of  it,  which  deserves  the  name  of  death  rather  than  that  of 
life.  As  when  a  clock  is  damaged,  and  all  its  works  are  put 
into  disorder,  there  is  no  longer  the  going  of  a  clock  ;  though 
it  still  has  the  parts,  it  no  longer  performs  its  office  ;  it  has 
only  the  name  of  a  clock,  it  is  not  one  in  reality.  So  is  it 
with  m.an  ;  he  has  still  the  broken  remains  and  ruins  of  his 
primitive  nature  ;  but  the  pieces  being  confused,  the  wheels 
pressed  together,  and  all  the  motions  disordered,  he  has  no 
longer  the  true  life  thereof,  but  only  a  false  and  deceptive 
image  of  it.  Again,  acting  in  this  horrible  confusion,  is  it 
impossible  that  he  can  have  that  pure  and  calm  contentment 
without  which  his  life  is  not  life.  He  must  of  necessity  be 
always  in  doubt,  in  distrust,  in  fear,  and  disquietude,  and 
must  at  last  fall  under  those  just  executions  which  this  dis- 
order deserves  ;  that  is,  into  that  eternal  death  which  is  the 
wages  of  sin.  And  though  he  does  not  yet  suffer  this  final 
misery  while  he  is  on  earth,  yet  because  it  is  infallibly  his 
portion,  and  will,  ere  long,  assuredly  befall  him,  we  are  to 
count  him  even  at  present  a  dead  man,  and  to  look  upon 
him  as  on  a  malefactor  who  is  on  the  point  of  being  con- 
demned and  executed.  For  though  he,  in  the  mean  time,  lives 
and  breathes,  yet  we  hesitate  not  to  say  that  such  a  one  is  a 
lost  man,  because  his  punishment  is  certain.  Thus  you  see  it 
is  very  justly  that  the  apostle  reckons  all  those  to  be  dead  who 
are  without  the  grace  of  God,  inasmuch  as  they  perform  none 
of  the  actions  of  true  life,  and  that  eternal  death  is  unavoid- 
able while  they  remain  in  this  state. 

But  the  apostle's  words  signify  still  something  more.  For 
to  be  dead  is  not  simply  to  cease  from  exercising  the  actions  of 
life,  it  is  a  loss  of  the  principles  of  life,  and  an  incapacity  for 
performing  the  actions  thereof.  You  do  not  call  him  a  dead 
man  who  is  simply  without  action,  and  does  not  exercise 
sensation  or  motion  ;  (for  they  who  are  asleep,  or  in  a  swoon, 
are  in  that  condition,  yet  they  are  not  dead  ;)  but  him  who 
cannot  any  longer  act,  or  feel,  or  move,  and  with  action  has 
lost  the  faculty  or  power  of  it.  Surely,  then,  since  the  apostle 
says  that  carnal  men  are  dead,  he  means  not  only  that  they  are 
without  the  operations,  and  motions,  and  sentiments  of  true 
life,  but  that  they  also  lie  destitute  of  the  faculty  and  power 
to  perform  them.  He  expressly  teaches  us  this  in  another 
place.  For  as  to  their  understanding,  which  is  the  foremost 
and  ruling  guide  of  all  actions  properly  human,  he  does  not 
simply  say  that  it  comprehends  not  the  things  of  God,  but 
also  that  it  cannot  discern  them  :  "  The  natural  man  receiveth 


CHAP.  II.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  339 

not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  for  they  are  foolishness 
unto  him  ;  neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they  are 
spiritually  discerned,"  1  Cor.  ii.  14.  And  as  for  the  affections, 
which  are  another  principle  of  human  actions,  he  affirms  like- 
wise, in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  that  "  the  carnal  mind," 
or  the  affection  of  the  flesh,  "is  enmity  against  God,"  that  "it 
is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be,"  Rom. 
viii.  7.  Our  Saviour  also  says  of  such  as  are  in  this  miserable 
state,  that  they  cannot  believe,  John  v,  44  ;  and  one  of  his 
prophets  had  said  long  before,  that  the  ear  of  that  people  was 
uncircumcised,  and  that  they  could  not  hearken  ;  and,  in  gene- 
ral, that  they  could  no  more  do  any  good  than  the  Ethiopian 
could  change  his  skin,  or  the  leopard  his  spots,  Jer.  vi.  10  ; 
xiii.  23. 

But  the  apostle  here  further  shows  us  the  quality  and  the 
cause  of  this  death  under  which  we  lay  before  the  Lord  called 
us  ;  ye  were  "  dead,"  says  he,  "  in  your  sins  and  the  uncircum- 
cision  of  your  flesh."  I  acknowledge  that  this  word  is  some- 
times taken  in  the  Scripture  for  the  external  condition  of 
the  Gentiles  ;  and  circumcision,  on  the  contrary,  for  the  state 
of  the  Jews  :  it  follows,  therefore,  that  the  former  of  those 
terms  is  used  to  signify  the  Gentiles,  and  the  latter  the  Jews  ; 
as  when  the  apostle  says  elsewhere  that  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  to  the  uncircumcision  was  committed  unto  him,  and 
the  circumcision  unto  Peter  ;  that  is,  he  received  the  charge 
of  publishing  the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles,  and  Peter  to  the 
Jews.  I  confess  also,  that  these  Colossians  to  whom  he  writes 
were  by  birth  Gentiles  ;  so  that  it  may  be  said  of  them,  that 
they  were  dead  in  that  miserable  heathen-like  state  in  which 
they  formerly  were.  Yet  I  do  not  think  that  this  is  intended 
by  the  apostle  in  this  place.  For  in  that  case  it  would  have 
been  sufficient  to  say  simply,  when  ye  were  "  dead  in  uncircum- 
cision," i.  e.  in  paganism,  and  there  would  have  been  no  occa- 
sion to  add,  as  he  does,  "  in  the  uncircumcision  of  your  flesh." 
Besides,  it  appears  evident  that  he  makes  here  a  secret  opposi- 
tion between  that  uncircumcision  of  which  he  speaks,  and 
that  circumcision  which  the  Colossians  had  received  from  the 
hand  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  which  he  spake  immediately  before, 
saying  that  in  Jesus  Christ  they  had  been  "  circumcised  with 
a  circumcision  made  without  hands,  by  putting  off  the  body 
of  the  sins  of  the  flesh."  Therefore,  as  by  circumcision  m 
that  passage  a  spiritual  and  mystical  cutting  off  was  signified, 
so  in  the  text  the  apostle  takes  the  word  "  uncircumcision" 
mystically,  and  not  literally,  for  the  internal  corruption  of 
our  nature,  and  (as  he  expressed  it  before)  for  the  body  of  the 
sins  of  the  flesh,  not  simply  for  the  external  condition  and 
mark  of  paganism.  Ye  were  "  dead  in  the  uncircumcision  of 
your  flesh  ;"  that  is,  in  the  corruption  of  your  flesh  ;  precisely 


340  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXIV. 

in  the  same  sense  that  Moses  meant,  when  he  commanded  the 
Israelites  to  circumcise  the  foreskin  of  their  heart,  that  is,  to 
cut  off  the  vices  and  corruptions  of  their  hearts.  This  mys- 
tical uncircumcision  of  the  flesh  is  nothing  else  than  the  de- 
pravity of  our  nature  ;  the  sins  and  perverse  habits  and  quali- 
ties which  have  seized  on  all  its  faculties  ;  the  blindness,  error, 
and  folly  of  the  understanding  ;  the  disorder  of  the  will,  and 
its  adherence  to  vanity  and  earthly  things  ;  the  rebellion  of 
the  appetites  and  lusts,  all  tainted  with  gall  and  bitterest 
poison.  This  is  properly  the  principle  of  that  death  with 
which  we  all  were  struck  before  the  vocation  of  God.  This 
is  the  cursed  root  from  which  it  springs  in  us.  In  the  stir- 
rings and  motions  of  this  hateful  source,  which  boils  inces- 
santly in  us,  and  which  casts  up  filth  continually,  does  this 
spiritual  death  consist. 

I  confess,  in  this  respect,  there  is  a  difference  between  the 
condition  of  the  dead,  commonly  so  called,  and  the  condition 
of  these  spiritually  dead,  of  whom  the  apostle  speaks.  For 
the  former,  as  they  do  no  good,  so  neither  do  they  commit 
any  evil.  Their  faculties  are  equally  disabled  for  the  one  as 
for  the  other.  Whereas  these  spiritually  dead  men  have  lost 
sense  and  motion  only  in  reference  to  that  which  is  good. 
They  have  both  these  faculties  in  sufficient  exercise,  but  it  is 
only  with  reference  to  evil.  They  understand,  they  love, 
they  desire,  but  not  that  which  is  good  ;  their  thoughts  and 
afiections  being  full  of  error,  extravagance,  and  malignity. 
As  for  true  good,  they  neither  comprehend,  nor  discern,  nor 
love  it,  any  more  than  if  they  had  neither  understanding  nor 
will  at  all.  Consequently,  while  the  deadness,  the  insensi- 
bility, and  immobility  of  other  dead  are  an  innocent  misery, 
deserving  our  pity  and  not  our  hatred,  those  of  these  men, 
on  the  contrary,  are  an  evil  infinitely  culpable,  and  merit 
not  compassion,  but  abhorrence  and  execration  from  every 
reasonable  creature  :  inasmuch  as  their  inability  to  love  God 
does  not  proceed  from  their  being  destitute  of  natural  faculties 
of  understanding  and  loving,  but  from  a  strong  and  obstinate 
rebellion  of  those  faculties,  and  from  that  invincible  passion 
which  carries  them  to  evil  ;  as  our  Saviour  shows  us,  when  he 
says  to  the  Jews,  "  How  can  ye  believe,  which  seek  honour 
one  of  another,  and  seek  not  the  honour  which  cometh  from 
God  only  ?"  John  v.  44.  An  evident  sign  that  the  impotency 
of  these  wretched  people  to  believe  came  from  nothing  but 
their  impiety,  their  stifi'and  inflexible  aversion  to  the  glory 
of  God,  and  that  ardent  and  invincible  affection  which  they 
had  for  vanity  and  their  own  glory. 

See  then,  beloved  brethren,  what  is  the  condition  of  all 
men  before  the  Lord  effectually  calls  them  to  the  grace  of 
his  Son.     Where  now  are  they  who  pretend  that  they  have 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  341 

the  power  of  a  free  determination,  and  a  will  equally  capable 
of  good  and  evil — who  contend  that  they  can  either  convert 
themselves  to  God,  (as  said  the  Pelagians  of  old,)  or  at  least 
prepare  themselves  for  conversion,  and  dispose  themselves 
for  grace,  as  the  greater  part  of  the  doctors  of  Rome,  and  with 
them  some  others  also,  maintain  at  this  day  ?  The  apostle 
blasts  all  this  pride  in  one  word,  when  he  says  that  we  were 
dead  in  our  sins,  and  in  the  uncircumcision  of  our  flesh.  If  a 
dead  man  is  able  to  make  himself  alive,  or  to  prepare  himself 
for  the  reception  of  life,  by  any  action  that  proceeds  from  him, 
I  will  confess  that  the  error  of  these  men  is  not  incompatible 
with  the  doctrine  of  Paul.  But  since  common  sense  assures 
us  that  the  dead  are  deprived,  not  of  the  actions  alone,  but 
also  of  the  power  of  life,  and  that  there  is  nothing  but  a  super- 
natural action  of  God  which  is  able  to  restore  them  to  the 
society  of  the  living,  so  that  they  can  contribute  nothing 
thereto  themselves,  we  must  needs  either  charge  a  falsehood 
upon  the  apostle,  who  says  that  before  grace  we  are  dead  in 
our  sins  ;  or  confess,  in  consequence  of  his  doctrine,  that  men 
neither  have  nor  can  have,  of  themselves,  any  action  or  dispo- 
sition unto  spiritual  life  ;  and  that  the  power  of  the  hand  of 
God,  working  supernaturally  in  them  by  his  grace,  is  the  only 
strength  that  raises  them  out  of  this  miserable  state.  If  their 
will  be  free,  it  is  free  to  evil  only,  which  it  embraces  and 
follows  most  freely,  that  is,  most  voluntarily,  and  without 
any  constraint,  taking  all  its  delight  therein.  If  their  under- 
standing act,  it  is  for  error,  which  it  conceives  and  most 
obstinately  embraces.  But  as  for  the  life  of  God,  they  have 
no  more  liberty  or  light  for  it  than  if  they  had  neither  will 
nor  understanding  at  all  ;  according  to  that  which  our  Saviour 
has  taught  us,  saying,  "  No  man  can  come  to  me,  except  the 
Father  which  hath  sent  me  draw  him  ;"  and  again,  "  If  the 
Son  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed,"  John  vi.  44  ;  viii. 
36.     Without  this,  a  man  can  have  neither  life  nor  liberty. 

II.  The  apostle  clearly  shows  it,  when,  having  represented 
the  death  in  which  we  were,  he  adds,  in  the  second  part  of  our 
text,  that  God  hath  quickened  us  together  with  Christ,  having 
forgiven  us  all  trespasses.  For  there  is  no  doubt  that  we  must 
refer  this  action  to  God,  of  whom  he  just  before  was  saying 
that  he  "  raised  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead."  It  is  therefore 
the  same  God  who  raised  up  the  chief  Shepherd  from  the  dead 
who  also  quickens  his  faithful  flock,  bringing  them  out  of  that 
spiritual  and  eternal  death  into  which  they  were  naturally 
sunk,  and  giving  them  a  celestial  and  immortal  life.  As  there 
is  none  but  he  who  could  inspire  and  quicken  that  dust  of 
which  he  at  first  formed  us;  so  there  is  none  but  he  who  can 
expel  out  of  our  flesh  that  death  which  has  seized  upon  it,  and 
restore  that  life  which  sin  has  extinguished  in  us.     Each  of 


842  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXIV. 

these  vivifications  is  the  work  of  his  hand  alone  ;  though,  to 
say  the  truth,  it  is  needful  for  him  to  put  forth  more  might  in 
the  accomplishment  of  the  second  than  he  did  in  effecting  the 
first.  For  if  that  handful  of  earth  of  which  he  created  Adara 
had  no  disposition  at  all  to  that  form  and  life  which  he  put  in 
it,  yet  it  had  at  least  no  repugnancy  thereto  ;  whereas  he  not 
only  now  finds  in  us  no  disposition  to  a  heavenly  life,  but  he 
meets  also  with  resistance  and  contrariety  ;  a  spirit  of  rebellion 
animating  the  whole  mass  of  our  flesh,  which  he  must  necessa- 
rily cast  out.  in  order  to  infuse  celestial  life.  Now  as  that 
death  in  which  we  lay  comprehends  two  things — namely,  first, 
the  corruption  of  a  nature  destitute  of  all  just  and  rational  ap- 
prehensions and  motions  ;  and,  secondly,  the  guilt  of  sin,  and 
an  obligation  to  eternal  punishment  ;  in  like  manner  that  life 
to  which  God  calls  us  by  his  grace  consists  in  two  particulars  : 
first,  a  restoration  of  his  image  in  us,  by  the  infusion  of  princi- 
ples and  faculties  of  true  life  ;  and,  secondly,  the  remission  of 
our  sins.  The  apostle  here  briefly  speaks  of  them  both  :  of  the 
first,  in  saying  that  God  has  quickened  us  together  with 
Christ  ;  of  the  second,  in  adding  that  he  has  forgiven  all  our 
trespasses. 

God  has  quickened  us,  first,  in  that,  delivering  us  from  the 
death  we  were  under,  he  has  put  into  us,  by  the  grace  of  his 
Spirit,  the  principles  of  a  heavenly  life,  and  formed  in  us  new 
hearts  ;  hearts  illuminated  with  a  new  light,  namely,  the  good 
knowledge  of  his  truth,  and  of  the  mysteries  of  his  will.  Then, 
in  the  second  place,  by  the  virtue  of  this  divine  flame,  he 
enkindles  in  our  souls  the  love  of  his  most  excellent  Majesty, 
charity  towards  our  neighbour,  affection  for  just  and  honest 
things,  zeal  for  his  glory,  abhorrence  and  hatred  of  sin,  and,  in 
a  word,  sanctification,  and  all  the  virtues  which  it  comprehends, 
and  which  are  the  sproutings  and  productions  of  that  second 
celestial  and  happy  life  which  in  his  great  mercy  he  confers 
upon  us.  From  this  new  nature,  as  from  a  blessed  root,  issue 
good  and  holy  actions,  prayer,  worshipping  of  God,  frequent 
meditation,  and  reading  of  his  word,  ecstasies  of  love  to  him, 
exertions  for  his  glory,  sufferings  for  his  name,  relieving,  in- 
structing, and  assisting  our  neighbour,  and  many  others,  which 
are,  as  it  were,  the  flowers  and  fruits  ;  in  the  production  of  which 
that  life  which  God  has  given  us  in  his  Son  properly  consists. 
It  is  the  same  thing  which  the  apostle,  in  his  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians,  comprises  in  a  few  words,  saying  that  "  we  are  the 
workmanship  of  God,  created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works, 
which  God  hath  before  ordained  that  we  should  walk  in  them," 
chap.  ii.  10  ;  and  again,  in  another  place,  that  our  new  man 
(that  is,  the  second  nature,  which  he  forms  in  us  when  he 
quickens  us  by  his  grace)  "  is  created  after  God  in  righteous- 
ness and  holiness,"  chap.  iv.  2-i.     The  Holy  Spirit,  being  rich 


CHAP,  il]  the   epistle   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  343 

and  magnificent  in  his  expressions,  explains  this  admirable 
and  blessed  operation  of  the  grace  of  God  in  us  by  various 
terms,  taken  from  different  resemblances,  but  all  amounting  to 
the  same  sense.  To  set  it  forth,  he  says  not  only,  as  here,  that 
God  has  quickened  us,  but  also  that  he  has  created  us,  Eph.  ii. 
10  ;  and  in  another  place,  that  he  "  hath  begotten  us  again,"  1 
Pet.  i.  8.  The  same  is  meant  when  he  says  that  God  "  will 
take  away  the  stony  heart'  out  of  our  flesh,  and  will  give  us  a 
heart  of  flesh,"  Ezek.  xxxvi.  26,  in  which  he  will  write  his 
laws,  Jer.  xxxi.  33;  that  he  renews  us,  and  forms  us  into  new 
creatures,  or  new  men,  Eph.  iv.  23,  24;  that  he  grafts  us  by  his 
power  into  the  true  olive,  Eom.  xi.  24;  that  he  translates  us 
out  of  the  kingdom  of  darkness  into  his  marvellous  light.  Col, 
i.  13  ;  that  it  is  he  who  gives  increase,  the  ministers  of  the 
word  being  nothing,  1  Cor.  iii.  6  ;  that  he  opens  our  hearts, 
Acts  xvi.  14,  and  works  in  us  effectually  "  both  to  will  and  to 
do  of  his  good  pleasure,"  Phil.  ii.  13  ;  and  other  similar  phrases, 
which  are  found  in  various  parts  of  the  Scriptures. 

But  the  apostle  adds  here,  that  God  has  thus  quickened  us 
together  with  Christ  ;  showing  us,  by  these  words,  the  cause 
and  the  manner  of  our  vivification  ;  namely,  that  it  was 
effected  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  with  him  and  by  him.  For  as 
that  death  which  we  before  bore  in  ourselves  came  from  Adam, 
the  stock  and  origin  of  our  carnal  being,  who  by  destroying 
himself  destroyed  us  also  with  him  ;  and,  corrupting  his  own 
nature,  corrupted  ours  likewise  ;  as  it  is  in  him  and  from  him 
that  we  inherit  this  misery:  so,  on  the  contrary,  that  life  which 
we  have  now  received  from  God  comes  in  the  same  manner 
from  Jesus  Christ,  the  stock  and  root  of  the  new  nature  ;  who, 
raising  up  himself  to  life,  raised  us  up  also  ;  according  to  what 
the  apostle  saith  elsewhere,  that  "  as  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so 
in  Jesus  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive,"  1  Cor.  xv.  22.  But 
his  assertion,  that  God  has  quickened  us  together  with  Christ, 
particularly  refers  to  his  resurrection  ;  as  if  God,  in  restoring 
him  to  that  glorious  life,  which  he  received  at  his  issuing  from 
the  sepulchre,  had  at  the  same  time  given  us  also  part  therein. 
And  he  speaks  in  this  manner,  principally,  for  two  reasons  : 
first,  because  it  was  then  that  Jesus  Christ  brought  to  light 
that  blessed  life  of  which  we  have  been  made  partakers  ;  and 
from  him,  as  from  its  source,  has  it  been  communicated  to  us; 
so  that  the  day  of  his  resurrection  was  the  day  of  our  new  birth. 
For  if  he  had  not  been  made  alive,  no  more  should  we  ever 
have  been.  Not  but  that  the  Father  had  all  the  might  and 
power  which  were  necessary  to  give  us  life  again.  But  his 
justice  could  not  have  suffered  him  to  give  life  to  any  of  the 
sons  of  men,  if  their  Surety  and  Mediator  had  abode  under 
death.  The  second  reason  is,  that  he  being  our  Head,  and 
we  his  members  ;  he  our  Pattern,  and  we  copies  drawn  (if  I 


'344  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXIV. 

may  so  speak)  from  his  original  ;  when  God  raised  him,  he  re- 
enlivened  us  also  by  the  same  means,  since  by  this  action  he 
bound  himself  to  vivify  us  likewise;  it  being  evident  that 
without  this  we  should  not  have  that  conformity  with  our 
Head  to  which  he  predestinated  us  ;  not  to  mention,  for  the 
present,  the  efi&cacy  this  resurrection  has  to  form  in  us  faith, 
and  hope,  and  love  of  glorious  immortality,  which  are  the 
principles  of  that  new  life  that  God  puts  into  us  by  his  Spirit, 
as  we  intimated  in  the  exposition  of  the  preceding  verse. 

It  remains  now  for  us  to  consider  the  other  part  of  this 
blessed  life  which  God  gives  us  in  his  Son,  namely,  "  the  re- 
mission of  our  sins."  Paul  sets  it  before  us,  when  he  says 
that  God  has  forgiven  us  all  trespasses.  For  the  Spirit  of 
sanctification,  which  is  as  the  soul  of  that  new  life  which  he 
creates  in  our  hearts,  indeed  turns  away  our  affections  from 
vice,  and  obstructs  our  commission  of  unjust,  ungodly,  and 
impure  actions,  in  which  we  wallowed  before;  yet  this  re- 
spects only  the  present  and  the  future  ;  and  if  there  were  no 
more,  the  guilt  of  sins  committed  in  time  past,  during  our  spir- 
itual deadness,  would  nevertheless  remain  in  its  strength  ;  it  be- 
ing clear,  that  though  the  act  of  sin  be  past,  the  guilt  with  which 
it  defiles  him  who  commits  it  does  not  depart  so  soon.  It 
subsists  still,  both  in  the  conscience  of  the  sinner,  if  he  have 
any,  and  in  the  registers  of  the  justice  of  the  supreme  Judge 
of  the  world,  binding  over  the  sinner  to  punishment.  From 
which  it  follows,  that  supposing  a  man  to  be  perfectly  cured 
of  vicious  habits  and  inclinations,  yet  he  would  nevertheless 
be  guilty,  in  consequence  of  his  former  sins,  and  upon  that 
account  liable  to  the  curse  ;  with  which,  and  the  terrors  that 
precede  it,  true  life  is  so  incompatible,  that  it  is  not  to  be 
supposed  that  a  man  in  such  a  state  could  ever  resolve  to 
serve  God  freely  and  sincerely.  Therefore  God,  that  he  may 
thoroughly  quicken  us,  does  not  only  deliver  us  from  the 
tyranny  of  vice,  and  of  the  flesh,  by  that  princely  Spirit  which 
he  pours  into  our  inward  parts  ;  but  also  pardons  all  the  sins 
of  which  we  are  guilty  :  and  it  certainly  appears,  if  we  ac- 
curately observe  the  moments  of  his  action  in  us,  that  it  is 
there  he  begins,  first  remitting  our  former  offences,  to  the  end 
that  the  sense  of  this  his  goodness  may  cause  us  to  love  him, 
and  incline  us  to  obey  him,  and  conform  ourselves  with  all 
our  might  unto  his  holy  will. 

The  apostle  attributes  to  this  remission  two  remarkable 
qualities  :  one.  that  God  forgives  "  all  our  trespasses  ;"  that  is, 
does  not  impute  to  us  any  of  our  sins,  either  in  whole  or  in 
part  ;  but  treats  us  as  if  we  had  committed  none  at  all.  An- 
other iS;  that  he  does  it  freely,  and  of  mere  grace,  for  so  tho 
original  properly  signifies.  The  Scripture  tells  us  not  of  any 
other  kind  of  pardon.     For  as  to  that  which  our  adversaries 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  345 

assert,  namely,  that  the  fault  is  remitted,  but  the  punishment 
exacted,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  or  is  bought  out  with  the 
payment  of  our  own  satisfaction,  or  the  satisfaction  of  others, 
it  is  a  fiction  of  their  own  schools,  of  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
says  nothing  anywhere  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  represents 
that  remission  which  God  gives  the  faithful,  either  at  the  be- 
ginning or  in  the  progress  of  their  regeneration,  as  an  entire 
pardon,  and  purely  gratuitous.  As  for  that  satisfaction  by 
which  our  Lord  and  Saviour  obtained  it  for  us,  it  is  so  far 
from  any  way  diminishing,  that  it  infinitely  exalts  the  bounty  of 
God  towards  us,  inasmuch  as  it  shows  that  he  so  loved  us, 
that  in  order  to  pardon  our  sins  with  the  consent  of  his  jus- 
tice, he  gave  his  only  Son  to  shed  his  precious  blood  for  the 
satisfaction  thereof.  Thus  we  have  expounded  this  text  of  the 
apostle. 

Dear  brethren,  let  us  hold  fast  what  it  has  taught  us  of  the 
condition  in  which  all  men  naturally  are  before  God  calls  them 
to  his  grace.  Let  not  their  outward  appearance,  nor  the  plea- 
sures of  their  flesh,  nor  the  splendour  of  their  pretended 
virtues,  either  civil  or  moral,  deceive  you.  All  this  is 
but  a  false  image  of  life,  covering  a  carcass  loathsome  and 
abominable  before  God.  Account  them  to  be  dead  ;  and  if 
they  walk,  consider  it  not  to  be  a  true  principle  of  life,  but 
sin,  the  poison  of  life,  which  animates  them,  and  incites  them 
to  action.  The  issue  will  one  day  clear  it  to  us  all  ;  when  the 
just  judgment  of  God,  having  stripped  them  of  that  fallacious 
disguise  which  now  hides  the  deformity  of  their  nature,  shall 
show  it  before  heaven  and  earth,  and  make  us  plainly  see  that 
they  were  but  sepulchres,  whited  without,  and  full  of  filth  and 
infection  within  ;  and  consequently  cast  them  into  that 
wretched  and  eternal  death,  which  is  prepared  for  them  with 
the  <levil  and  his  angels. 

Let  us  bless  God,  who  has  delivered  us  from  this  perdition  by 
his  great  mercy,  and  hate  sin,  and  the  corruption  of  the  flesh, 
which  had  involved  us  in  it.  Let  us  consider  them  as  pests 
and  poisons  which  destroy  our  life,  and  reckon  that  we  have 
lived  only  during  that  time  which  has  been  exempted  from 
their  service.  You  deceive  yourself,  worldling,  who  count  the 
days  of  your  unclean  pleasures,  or  your  vain  honours,  the 
best  part  of  your  life.  To  speak  plainly,  it  was  the  time  of 
your  being  dead,  and  not  of  your  being  alive.  After  so  many 
years  as  you  have  roamed  up  and  down  the  earth,  you  have 
not  yet  lived  a  moment.  You  have  all  along  been  in  a  state 
of  death  ;  and  they  who  write  upon  your  tombs,  that  you  lived 
so  many  years,  and  died  such  a  day,  grossly  err.  You  did 
not  live  when  you  offended  God  and  your  neighbour,  or  lost 
your  time  in  the  filth  of  your  infamous  delights.  And  on 
the  day  that  you  shall  quit  the  earth,  you  will  not  cease  to 
44 


346  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXIV. 

live  (for,  properly  speaking,  you  never  lived)  ;  but  from  one 
kind  of  death  you  will  pass  into  another,  from  the  death  of 
sin  to  a  death  of  torment.  Christians,  if  you  love  life,  and 
hate  horror  at  death,  renounce  sin  and  mortify  your  flesh. 
You  cannot  live,  except  it  die.  Put  in  exercise  that  noble  life 
which  the  Lord  has  given  you  in  his  Son.  Act  according  to 
the  principles  which  he  has  put  into  you  by  his  Spirit,  and 
exhibit  continually  in  good  and  holy  works  the  graces  with 
which  he  has  vested  you.  Faithfully  love  and  serve  him.  Let 
your  minds  meditate  on  nothing  beside  him,  your  hearts  de- 
sire none  but  him,  your  tongues  speak  only  of  him.  Let  the 
contemplation  of  the  wonders  of  his  love,  and  the  hopes  of  his 
glory,  be  the  whole  food  of  your  souls.  Eespect  those  men 
in  whom  you  see  his  image  shine  ;  love  and  serve  them  for 
his  sake,  looking  upon  their  lives,  their  estates,  their  honour, 
their  bodies,  and  souls,  as  sacred  and  inviolable  things.  En- 
deavour to  enrich  them  by  communicating  your  prosperity  to 
them  :  offend  no  man  ;  do  good  to  all  :  let  your  charity  and 
your  innocence  be  conspicuous  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man. 

Faithful  brethren,  this  is  that  life,  truly  worthy  to  be  called 
life,  which  God  rewards  for  the  present  with  a  joy  and  con- 
tentment of  conscience,  a  thousand  times  more  sweet  and  sa- 
voury than  any  of  the  vain  delights  of  the  world,  and  which 
he  will  crown  one  day  with  that  glorious  immortality  which 
he  has  promised.  It  is  for  this  that  he  has  vouchsafed  to  for- 
give us  freely  all  our  trespasses,  all  those  heinous  crimes  which 
had  merited  hell-fire,  and  is  still  ready  to  pardon  all  the  sins 
which  we  have  since  committed.  This  his  great  and  admir- 
able loving-kindness  tends  only  to  withdraw  us  from  sin,  and 
to  constrain  us  to  love  and  revere  so  good  a  God.  It  is  for 
the  same  design  that  he  has  raised  up  his  Son  from  the  dead, 
and  quickened  us  with  him,  giving  us  faith,  hope,  and  charity, 
the  principles  of  a  new  life,  even  that  henceforth  renouncing 
sin  and  the  flesh,  and  turning  our  hearts  towards  heaven, 
where  our  treasure  and  our  glory  are,  we  might  live  soberly, 
righteously,  and  godly  in  the  present  world,  looking  for  that 
blessed  hope  and  the  glorious  appearing  of  the  great  God,  and 
our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.     Amen. 


CHAP,  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  347 

SEKMON    XXV. 

VERSE    14. 

Blotting  out  the  handwriting  of  ordinances  that  was  against  us, 
which  was  contrary  to  us,  and  took  it  out  of  the  ivay,  nailing 
it  to  his  cross. 

Dear  brethren,  that  remission  of  sins  which  God  gives  to 
all  those  who  believe  in  his  gospel  is,  in  truth,  of  itself  a 
great  and  inestimable  grace  ;  for  who  does  not  see  that  it  was 
an  effect  of  the  transcendent  goodness  in  God  to  be  willing  to 
pardon  such  persons  as  had  grievously  offended  him  ;  and  to 
consent  to  their  happiness  who  had  provoked  him,  by  their 
wickedness  and  ingratitude,  to  make  them  eternally  miserable  ? 
But  the  manner  in  which  he  has  pardoned  us,  and  the  price 
which  our  grace  cost  him,  infinitely  heightens  the  wonder  of 
this  benefit  ;  for  he  has  not  forgiven  our  sins  by  a  single  act 
of  his  will,  as  a  creditor  remits  a  debt  to  his  debtor,  because 
to  such  a  man,  having  absolute  power  to  dispose  of  his  estate 
in  favour  of  whom  he  pleases,  it  is  sufficient,  for  the  perform- 
ance of  such  a  kindness,  that  he  will  do  it.  With  God  it  was 
not  so,  in  the  remission  of  our  sins.  Ilis  justice,  and  the  ma- 
jesty of  his  laws,  were  concerned  in  the  favour  which  he 
would  show  us,  and  formed  an  opposition  against  it,  withhold- 
ing and  staying  the  motion  of  his  clemency  towards  us  ;  so 
that  while  his  own  holiness  permitted  him  not  to  despise  the 
voice  of  reason,  and  the  rights  of  justice,  for  the  sake  of  any 
one  whatever,  the  will  he  had  to  pardon  us  was  no.t  sufficient 
alone  to  bring  it  into  effect.  And  here  it  was  that  his  love  to 
us  showed  itself  to  be  wonderful  and  truly  divine  ;  for  seeing 
that  sin  could  not  be  forgiven  us,  without  satisfying  that  jus- 
tice which  we  had  violated  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  this 
inexorable  justice  could  not  be  satisfied  but  by  the  cross  of 
his  only  Son  ;  this  good  and  merciful  Lord  so  desired  our 
bliss,  that,  to  take  away  the  legal  impediments  which  justice 
laid  against  it,  he  resolved  'to  deliver  up  his  Son  to  that 
cruel  and  shameful  death;  as  our  Saviour  himself  has  dechired 
in  the  gospel,  saying  that  "God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he 
gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life,"  John  iii.  16. 
Here,  then,  is  properly  the  highest  pitch  of  this  wonder,  which 
justly  ravishes  men  and  angels,  that  the  pardon  which  God 
has  given  us  was  bought  at  the  price  of  the  death  of  his  well 
beloved  Son.  And,  in  truth,  our  consciences  could  not  have 
been  assured  of  his  grace  without  this  ;  nature  having  planted 


848  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXV. 

in  our  hearts  so  quick  a  sense  of  the  right  that  God  has 
against  sins,  that  we  could  not  put  an  entire  confidence  in  his 
mercy  until  we  knew  that  his  justice  was  recompensed  and 
satisfied.  Therefore  the  holy  apostle,  having  represented  to 
the  faithful  at  Colosse,  in  the  preceding  verse,  the  great  favour 
which  God  had  showed  them  in  forgiving  their  trespasses,  now 
adds  the  foundation  of  this  remission,  and  the  means  by  which 
it  had  been  obtained.  He  has  forgiven  you,  having  blotted 
out  "  the  handwriting  of  ordinances  that  was  against  us,  which 
was  contrary  to  us,  and  took  it  out  of  the  way,  nailing  it  to 
his  cross."  By  this  consideration  he  gives  them  to  see  the 
greatness  of  this  blessing,  and  assures  their  consciences  against 
all  the  doubts  which  the  rigour  of  the  law  might  raise  in  them, 
and  particularly  against  the  contendings  of  those  false  teach- 
ers who  would  make  them  believe  that  the  grace  of  Jesus 
Christ  was  not  sufficient  for  their  salvation  except  they  sub- 
mitted to  the  ceremonies  of  Moses.  This  shall  be,  by  the 
will  of  God,  the  subject  of  this  exercise;  and  to  give  you  a  full 
understanding  of  this  text,  we  will  consider  two  things. 

First,  what  this  "handwriting"  or  obligation  is  of  which 
he  speaks,  that  lay  in  ordinances,  and  "  was  contrary  to  us." 
And, 

Secondly,  how  God  blotted  it  out,  took  it  out  of  the  way, 
and  nailed  it  to  the  cross  of  his  Son. 

I.  Let  us  consider  this  "handwriting"  or  obligation.  It  is 
the  ordinary  practice  of  Scripture  to  liken  sin  to  a  debt  ; 
whence  comes  that  phrase  which  is  so  common  in  the  language 
of  God  and  of  the  church,  of  remitting  or  acquitting  sin  for 
pardoning  it.  Our  Saviour  used  it  in  the  prayer  which  he 
gave  us,  where  the  petition  for  the  pardon  of  our  sins  is 
couched  in  these  words  in  the  gospel  of  Matthew,  "  Forgive  us 
our  debts,  as  we  forgive  our  debtors,"  chap.  vi.  12  ;  that  is  to 
say,  (as  Luke  has  interpreted  it,  chap.  xi.  4,)  "  Forgive  us  our 
sins  :  for  we  also  forgive  every  one  that  is  indebted  to  us,"  or 
that  has  offended  us.  This  form  of  speech  was  so  ordinary 
among  the  Chaldees  and  Syrians,  that  they  put  the  word  debt- 
or for  sinner,  or  a  guilty  person,  as  appears  by  the  ancient 
Chaldee  paraphrase  upon  the  Psalms,  which  says,  "  Blessed  is 
the  man  that  standeth  not  in  the  way  of  debtors,"  instead  of 
saying  "  sinners,"  as  the  Hebrew  text  of  the  first  Psalm  im- 
ports. And  our  Lord  used  the  same  word  in  this  sense,  when, 
upon  mention  being  made  of  certain  Galileans,  whose  blood 
Pilate  had  cruelly  mingled  with  their  sacrifices,  he  says,  "  Sup- 
pose ye  that  these  Galileans  were  sinners  above  all  the  Galile- 
ans?" Luke  xiii.  2.  Thus  also  we  must  take  it  in  that  tradi- 
tion of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  reported  by  Matthew,  he 
that  hath  sworn  by  the  gift  which  is  upon  the  altar  is  a  debtor  ; 
that  is,  he  sins,  or  is  culpable.     The  reason  of  this  metaphor 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   C0L0SSIAN3.  849 

is  founded  upon  the  resemblance  of  the  things  themselves, 
debt  and  sin  having  some  conformitv.  For  as  the  one  obliges 
the  debtor  to  payment,  the  other  obliges  the  sinner  to  punish- 
ment. And  as  a  debt  gives  the  creditor  a  certain  power  over 
his  debtor  ;  in  like  manner  sin  consigns  over  the  offender  to 
God,  or  to  the  magistrate.  For  he  has  a  just  power  to  punish 
the  sinner,  as  a  creditor  has  to  make  his  debtor  pay  ;  though, 
as  we  said  not  long  since,  there  is  some  difference  between  the 
powers  of  the  one,  and  those  of  the  other;  public  justice  be- 
ing concerned  in  the  punishment  of  an  offender,  whereas,  in  a 
debtor's  making  payment  it  is  not  so  ;  consequently,  debts 
may  remain  unpaid,  if  the  private  person,  to  whom  they  are 
due,  is  pleased  to  remit  them  ;  whereas  justice  does  not  leave 
a  sin  unpunished,  though  the  offended  party  forgive  the  of- 
fender. And  this  difference  is  seen  in  human  affairs,  where 
you  know  that,  for  the  exemption  of  a  criminal  from  punish- 
ment, it  is  not  enough  that  he  satisfy  his  adversary;  the  prince 
also,  who  is  guardian  of  the  law,  and  the  conservator  of  pub- 
lic justice,  must  give  him  an  abolition  of  his  crime.  But  set- 
ting aside  this  difference,  there  is,  in  other  respects,  such  an 
analogy  between  a  debt  and  sin,  that  the  name  of  the  one  is 
justly  applied  to  signify  the  other.  This  similitude  is  the 
cause  of  Paul's  here  giving  the  name  of  a  "handwriting"  to 
the  law  or  testament  of  Moses. 

The  word  which  he  makes  use  of  in  the  original  signifies  gen- 
erally any  acknowledgment  written,  or  at  least  signed  with 
our  hand,  by  which  we  confess  ourselves  to  owe  a  man  a  cer- 
tain sum,  and  bind  ourselves  to  pay  him  it  at  such  time,  and 
in  such  manner,  as  we  have  agreed  upon.  Such  are  those 
which  are  commonly  called  bills  and  schedules.  But  because 
of  all  contracts  of  this  kind,  an  obligation  that  passes  before 
notaries  with  certain  solemn  forms  is  the  most  juridical,  the 
French  Bible  has  made  use  of  that  name  in  particular.  An 
obligation  then  in  civil  matters  is  a  creditor's  title,  and  an  ev- 
idence of  the  power  which  he  has  over  his  debtor,  to  convince 
him  of  his  debt,  and  compel  him  to  make  payment,  if  he  re- 
fuse. It  is  an  authentic  testimony  of  his  owing  such  a  sum; 
it  condemns  him  to  pay,  and  makes  his  body  and  goods  liable 
in  this  behalf  to  his  creditor.  From  which  it  appears  that  this 
handwriting  of  which  the  apostle  speaks  in  the  text  is  the  in- 
strument of  our  condemnation,  and  an  authentic  declaration 
and  demonstration  of  our  sin,  which  gives  valid  testimony 
that  we  are  guilty,  and  subjects  us  by  this  means  to  the  aveng- 
ing justice  of  God,  giving  him  a  clear  and  undisputable  right 
to  prosecute  and  punish  us.  All  agree  that  the  word  handwri- 
ting must  be  so  taken  in  this  passage.  But  respecting  the  pro- 
per and  precise  meaning  of  the  apostle  by  this  expression, 
there  is  found  some  difference  among  expositors  ;  some  con- 


8i0  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXV. 

ceiving  it  to  be  one  particular,  and  others  another.  I  will  not 
stay  to  report  their  several  opinions,  it  being  no  way  necessary 
for  your  edification.  I  will  content  myself  with  representing  to 
you  that  sense  which  I  consider  the  most  true,  and  which  has 
likewise  been  followed  by  various  eminent  servants  of  God.  I 
say,  then,  that  this  handwriting  of  which  the  apostle  speaks 
means  nothing  else  than  the  old  law,  given  in  time  past  to  the 
Israelites  by  the  ministry  of  Moses,  and  of  them  accepted  at 
Mount  Sinai.  This  appears,  first,  from  Paul's  saying  that  this 
handwriting  was  one  of  ordinances.  For  every  one  knows 
that  this  properly  belongs  to  the  law  of  Moses,  which  consist- 
ed in  a  great  many  moral,  ceremonial,  and  political  ordinances. 
The  Jews,  who  are  very  exact  and  scrupulous  in  such  matters, 
reckon  them  up  to  six  hundred  ;  and  their  most  learned  au- 
thors divide  them  into  fourteen  classes  or  ranks.*  The  whole 
body  of  these  ordinances  is  precisely  the  law  of  Moses  ;  so  it 
is  evident  that  it  is  to  this  law  the  apostle  alludes,  since  he 
says  that  it  is  "  the  handwriting  of  ordinances."  He  thus  ex- 
plains it  himself,  in  a  passage  which  has  great  alliance  with 
the  text  before  us  ;  where,  speaking  of  the  reuniting  of  the 
Gentiles  with  the  Jews  into  one  only  people  by  our  Lord  Je- 
sus Christ,  he  says  that  he  "  abolished  in  his  flesh  the  enmity, 
even  the  law  of  commandments  contained  in  ordinances,"  Eph. 
ii.  15  ;  where  it  is  evident  that  he  signifies  the  law  of  Moses, 
both  by  those  express  words,  "  the  law  of  commandments," 
and  also  by  the  nature  of  the  thing  itself;  it  being  certain 
that  this  enmity  of  the  Jews  and  Gentiles  (that  is,  the  thing 
which  separated  them  before  our  Saviour's  dispensation)  was 
nothing  else  but  the  Mosaic  law,  which- the  one  of  them  had, 
and  the  other  had  not.  The  same  appears  again  clearly,  from 
that  conclusion  which  the  apostle  draws  from  this  doctrine, 
in  the  16th  and  the  following  verses  of  this  chapter.  For 
from  his  position  here,  namely,  that  the  handwriting  of  ordi- 
nances has  been  effaced  or  blotted  out  ;  he  concludes  that 
none  ought  to  condemn  us  in  eating,  or  in  drinking,  or  in 
distinguishing  a  festival,  or  a  new  moon,  or  Sabbaths  ;  and 
again,  that  it  is  impertinent  for  any  to  burden  us  with  or- 
dinances such  as  these,  "Touch  not,  taste  not,  handle  not," 
ver.  21.  Now  every  one  perceives  that  these  ordinances  make 
up  a  part  of  the  law  of  Moses.  Certainly,  then,  it  is  that  law 
which  he  here  means  ;  for  otherwise  it  would  not  follow,  from 
the  blotting  out  of  our  handwriting,  that  we  are  no  longer 
subject  to  such  things. 

But  the  truth  of  this  interpretation  will  be  fully  perceived 
by  an  exposition  of  the  apostle's  own  words  themselves  ;  there 
being  no  other  subject  but  the  Mosaic  law  with  which  all  the 

*  R.  Moses  ben  Majra. 


CHAP.  II.]         THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  351 

circumstances  and  qualities  he  here  attributes  to  it  properly 
agree.  First,  he  terms  it  "  handwriting  against  us."  Secondly,  he 
says  that  it  was  one  "  of  ordinances,"  In  the  third  place,  he 
adds,  that  it  "  was  contrary  to  us."  And  in  the  fourth  place, 
he  says  that  it  has  been  blotted  out,  taken  away,  and  nailed  to 
the  cross.  These  are  things  which  cannot,  all  of  them  to- 
gether, be  verified  of  any  other  subject.  First,  the  law  of  Mo- 
ses was  a  handwriting  or  an  obligation  against  such  as  lived 
under  its  dispensation  ;  that  is,  as  we  have  explained  it,  an 
evidence  and  infallible  argument  of  their  sin,  and  of  the  just 
power  that  God  had  to  condemn  them  to  punishment.  For 
the  law  of  Moses  proclaiming  aloud  that  all  such  as  failed  to 
observe  any  one  of  its  ordinances  are  accursed,  it  is  manifest 
that  all  those  who  accepted  it  for  the  terms  of  their  covenant 
with  God,  by  that  act  passed  condemnatory  sentence  on  them- 
selves, and  submitted  to  the  curse  ;  both  the  conscience  of 
each  one  in  particular,  and  the  common  experience  of  all  in 
general,  showing  that  there  was  not  a  man  who  punctually  ob- 
served all  things  written  in  the  law.  And  as  he  who  signs  an 
obligation  in  favour  of  his  creditor  condemns  himself  to  make 
payment  ;  and  if  he  fail  therein,  makes  his  goods,  and  some- 
times his  very  person,  liable  to  him  ;  in  the  same  manner,  they 
who  received  the  law,  and  signed  it  (if  I  may  so  say)  after  they 
had  heard  and  understood  it  ;  these,  I  say,  condemned  them- 
selves to  the  curse  of  God,  and  put  their  persons,  and  all  their 
goods  into  the  hands  of  divine  justice,  since  it  is  clear  that 
none  of  them  ever  fully  satisfied  all  the  clauses  which  that  con- 
tract contained.  Therefore,  as  a  bond  given  by  a  debtor  to  his 
creditor  in  acknowledgment  of  what  he  owes  him  is  an  obli- 
gation, which  makes  it  clearly  appear  that  he  is  responsible  to 
him,  and  deprives  him  of  all  excuse,  and  leaves  him  no  de- 
fence to  the  contrary  ;  so  the  law  of  Moses  is  an  authentic  ob- 
ligation, which  demonstrates,  and  invincibly  proves,  that  the 
sinner  is  guilty,  and  liable  to  the  avenging  justice  of  God, 
without  having  any  means  left  him  to  defend  himself  from 
that  punishment  which  it  ordains  for  all  such  as  violate  its 
commands.  As  for  the  ceremonies,  I  grant,  they  promised,  in 
appearance,  some  satisfaction  of  the  justice  of  God,  and  some 
expiation  of  sin,  inasmuch  as  they  prefigured  the  mysteries  of 
Christ  who  was  to  come.  But,  in  themselves,  they,  in  effect, 
contained  no  such  thing.  On  the  contrary,  they  were  so  many 
obligations  upon  a  sinner,  openly  testifying  that  he  stood  ob- 
noxious to  the  justice  of  God.  For  the  aspersions  and  purifi- 
cations which  were  made  by  washing,  or  pouring  water  upon 
men,  evidently  showed  that  those  who  received  them  were  de- 
filed and  unclean.  And  circumcision  was  a  public  confession 
of  the  impurity  of  our  nature,  which  declared  that  it  needed 
to  be  cut  or  retrenched.     And  they  who  offered  beasts  to  be 


352  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXV. 

slain  for  sacrifices,  by  that  very  act  acknowledged  that  they 
had  deserved  death.  Those  who  observed  the  fasts,  and  other 
mortifications  of  the  law,  protested  that  they  were  unworthy 
to  use  the  creatures  of  God.  And  thus  it  was  in  the  rest  of 
their  ceremonies.  All  their  devotions  of  this  nature  were 
either  emblems  of  the  punishment  they  deserved,  or  a  declara- 
tion of  their  guilt,  and  so  many  proofs  and  convictions  of  their 
sin.  For  to  imagine  that  these  carnal  ceremonies  truly  expi- 
ated their  offences  was  not  possible,  both  on  account  of  the  ab- 
surdity and  extravagance  of  the  thing  itself;  and  also  of  the 
frequent  and  express  declarations  of  God  to  the  contrary  made 
by  the  mouth  of  his  prophets. 

So  you  see  clearly  that  the  whole  of  the  law  of  Moses  was 
no  other  than  an  obligation  against  us,  an  instrument  of  our 
condemnation,  an  evidence  of  our  sin,  and  a  justification  of  our 
punishment.  Wherefore,  the  apostle  elsewhere  in  the  same 
sense,  and  for  the  same  reason,  calls  it  "  the  ministration  of 
death,"  and  "  of  condemnation,"  2  Cor.  iii.  7,  9  ;  because,  in  ef- 
fect, it  properly  served  only  to  form,  and  prosecute,  and  finish 
the  sinner's  arraignment  ;  as  affording  full  demonstration  both 
of  his  guilt,  and  of  the  penalty  due  to  him  ;  giving  in  evidence 
concerning  his  crimes,  and  making  known  the  justice  of  God 
in  judging  and  punishing  him.  And  to  this  must  be  referred 
that  which  he  says  in  other  places,  namely,  that  "  by  the  law" 
was  given  "  the  knowledge  of  sin,"  Rom.  iii.  20  ;  and  that  "  it 
was  added  because  of  transgressions,"  Gal.  iii.  19  ;  and  again, 
that  without  the  law  he  "  had  not  known  sin,"  Rom.  vii.  7. 

As  for  what  the  apostle  adds  here,  in  the  second  place,  that 
this  handwriting  of  which  he  speaks  consists  in  ordinances,  we 
have  touched  upon  it  already,  and  referred  it  to  that  large  mul- 
titude of  commandments  in  which  it  consists.  For  I  do  not 
see  that  anything  obliges  us  to  restrain  this  clause  to  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  ceremonial  law,  as  some  do.  It  comprehends  ge- 
nerally everything  that  the  law  ordains.  And  it  appears  to 
me  that  the  apostle's  scope  and  aim  requires  that  it  should  be 
so  understood  ;  for  he  urges  God's  having  abolished  that  hand- 
writing of  ordinances,  to  prove  what  he  had  been  saying  re- 
specting his  having  forgiven  our  trespasses.  Why  ?  and  how 
so  ?  Because,  says  he,  he  has  cancelled,  by  the  cross  of  his  Son, 
"  the  handwriting  that  was  against  us."  It  certainly  appears 
that  this  reason  will  be  beside  the  purpose,  if  the  obligation 
that  was  made  void  were  not  that  of  the  whole  law  ;  as  the 
offences  which  have  been  forgiven  us,  in  consequence  of  the 
abolition  of  this  obligation,  are  generally  all  sins  committed 
against  any  part  of  the  law  whatever,  and  not  transgressions  of 
the  ceremonial  ordinances  only.  And  as  to  the  apostle,  in  the 
following  verses,  arguing  from  this  doctrine  against  the  cere- 
monies only,  who  does  not  know  that  it  is  ordinary  to  reason 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS.  353 

from  the  whole  unto  one  of  the  parts  ?  As  when  in  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Galatians,  having  laid  it  down  in  general,  that  the 
law  of  Moses  cannot  at  all  justify  us;  he  thence  infers  against 
the  seducers,  that,  by  consequence,  neither  circumcision  nor 
the  other  ceremonies  can  have  this  virtue  ;  just  as  in  this  place, 
having  settled  this  principle,  that  the  Mosaic  law  was  abolished 
by  the  cross  of  our  Saviour,  he  afterwards  justly  concludes  that 
we  are  no  longer  obliged  to  its  ancient  ceremonies. 

But  the  apostle  says,  in  the  third  place,  that  this  handwriting 
or  obligation  of  which  he  speaks  "  was  contrary  to  us."  This, 
as  you  see,  also  well  agrees  with  the  law.  Of  itself,  I  confess, 
it  is  good,  and  holy,  and  profitable,  and  salutary  unto  man,  as 
it  is  that  which  would  lead  him  unto  life  ;  but  it  is  become 
contrary  to  us  through  sin,  of  which  we  all  are  guilty.  For  it 
serves  to  convict  us  of  it;  as  an  obligation,  which  being  pro- 
duced in  judgment,  stops  the  mouth  of  an  unfaithful  debtor. 
It  is  as  it  were  our  adversary,  that  impleads  us,  and  lays  open 
our  crimes,  and  brings  upon  us  that  condemnation  to  which 
we  have  submitted  in  accepting  and  signing  it.  And  as  for  its 
ceremonies,  they  not  only  bore  witness  against  the  sin  of  those 
who  observed  them,  as  we  have  said  ;  but  they  were  also  con- 
trary  to  us  in  another  sense,  even  as  they  put  a  new  yoke  upon 
us,  which,  through  their  vast  multitude  and  diversity,  was 
heavy  and  insupportable.  Yet  it  must  be  observed  that  this 
does  not  appear  to  be  properly  the  meaning  of  the  apostle  here; 
the  word  he  makes  use  of  in  the  original*  signifying  that  this 
obligation  was  not  simply  contrary  to  us,  but  contrary  in  some 
measure.  I  think,  then,  that  by  this  word  he  prevents  an  ob- 
jection which  might  be  urged.  For  though  the  law  is  an  obli- 
gation against  us,  perhaps  some  one  may  say  it  is  nevertheless 
useful,  since  it  shows  us  our  sin  and  misery  ;  and  by  that 
means  forces  us  to  have  recourse  to  the  mercy  of  God,  that  we 
may  seek  our  salvation  in  his  grace  alone  ;  which  was  in  effect 
the  true  end  for  which  God  gave  it  to  the  Israelites.  The  apos- 
tie  granting  this  as  a  truth,  affirms  that  this  obligation  was, 
notwithstanding,  in  some  measure  contrary  to  us.  For,  first, 
by  telling  us  only  of  obeying,  or  being  punished,  and  thun- 
dering out  on  all  sides  that  dreadful  voice,  "Cursed  is  every 
one  that  continueth  not  in  all  things  written  in  the  law  to  do 
them  ;"  it  darkened  the  clearness  of  the  grace  of  God,  and  per- 
plexed poor  sinners,  filling  them  with  terror,  and  hindering 
them  from  fully  discerning  the  clemency  and  mercy  of  the  Lord. 
Then  again  it  aggravated  their  pains  by  its  ceremonies  ;  the 
true  scope  of  which  was  at  that  time  very  difficult  rightly  to 
comprehend.  And  lastly,  it  shut  the  gate  of  the  house  of  God 
against  the  Gentiles,  of  whose  number  the  Colossians  were. 


^  vtrcvavTioi'. 

45 


S64  AN  EXPOSITION    OF  [SERM.  XXV. 

separating  them  from  his  people,  and  consequently  from  his 
grace  and  pardon,  which  he  gives  to  none  but  those  who  are 
in  his  covenant.  If  therefore  it  is  not  absolutely  contrary  to 
us,  yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  it  was  so  in  some  degree. 

Finally,  the  apostle  says  that  this  obligation  which  was 
against  us  has  been  blotted  out,  and  entirely  abolished,  and 
fastened  to  the  cross  ;  which  also  agrees  very  properly  with 
the  law  of  Moses,  which  Paul  everywhere  tells  us  was  disan- 
nulled and  abrogated  by  the  death  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  make 
room  for  the  gospel,  according  to  the  oracles  of  the  prophets, 
that  God  would  make  a  new  covenant  with  his  people. 
•  II.  Here  then  is  the  second  head  of  our  discourse,  how  God 
has  abolished  this  obligation  which  was  against  us  by  the  cross 
of  his  Son.  He  tells  us  two  things  concerning  it:  the  one,  that 
this  obligation  is  made  void  ;  the  other,  that  it  was  made  so  by 
the  cross  of  Christ.  He  expresses  the  former  in  his  usual  man- 
ner, with  great  elegance  ;  using  three  most  significant  terms, 
all  of  them  taken  from  the  nature  of  civil  promises  and  obliga- 
tions, in  pursuance  of  the  similitude  with  which  he  began. 
First,  he  says  that  this  handwriting  has  been  blotted  out,  or 
effaced.  For  so  it  is  usual  with  men,  when  they  have  a  debt 
discharged,  to  efface  the  name  of  their  debtor,  which  was  upon 
their  books,  and  the  sum  which  he  owed  them.  The  apostle 
says  that  God  has  done  the  same  with  reference  to  us  ;  that  he 
has  effaced  this  handwriting,  or  obligation  of  our  mystical  debt, 
which  was  written  in  his  law,  and  signed  in  our  particular  con- 
sciences. And  this  term  has  the  greater  elegance  in  this  place, 
because  there  intervened,  for  our  acquittal,  something  similar 
to  that  which  men  are  accustomed  to  do.  For  they  strike  out 
their  debtor's  promises  with  some  liquid,  as  ink,  or  the  like, 
which  they  draw  over  the  lines  of  their  writings.  So  was  our 
obligation  made  void  by  the  effusion  of  a  liquid,  namely,  the 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  was  poured  forth,  as  it  were,  from 
the  cross  upon  that  dismal  book  of  the  law,  to  efface  all  the 
clauses  of  our  condemnation  in  it.  For  as  to  the  writing  of 
men,  ink  is  enough  to  blot  it  out  ;  but  there  was  nothing,  save 
the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God,  that  was  able  to  efface  this  doleful 
writing  of  the  law,  in  which  the  sentence  of  our  death  was  con- 
tained. Now  it  appears  that  it  would  be  sufiicient  to  satisfy  a 
debtor  to  tell  him  that  his  obligation  is  effaced.  Yet  the  apos- 
tle does  not  content  himself  with  this  ;  he  adds,  that  ours  has 
been  taken  out  of  the  way,  or  abolished.  You  know  that  men, 
who  are  exact  and  punctual,  not  only  efface  their  debtors' 
writings,  but  tear  them  and  reduce  them  to  pieces,  that  no 
sign  of  their  debt  may  remain.  God  has  done  so  towards  us. 
He  has  not  only  effaced  the  obligation  he  had  against  us  ;  he 
would  not  have  so  much  as  the  erasures  of  it  to  appear.  He 
has  disannulled  it,  and  abolished  it,  and  rent  it  with  the  nails  of 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  355 

the  cross  of  his  Son.  He  has,  says  the  apostle,  "  nailed  it  to 
his  cross."  It  is  impossible  to  say  anything  better  or  more 
elegant.  The  same  nails  and  the  same  thorns  which  pierced 
""the  body  of  our  Lord  upon  that  fatal  tree,  on  which  he  died  for 
us,  by  the  same  means  tore  and  cut  in  pieces  the  obligation 
which  was  against  us,  that  evidence  of  our  debt  and  instrument 
of  our  death;  that  is  to  say,  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ  has  dis- 
armed the  law,  and  divested  it  of  that  killing  force  which  it 
had  naturally  against  us,  and  reduced  it  to  such  a  state,  that  we 
being  under  the  covert  of  his  cross,  it  can  no  more  harm  us 
than  if  all  the  letters  of  it  were  effaced,  and  its  papers  rent  in 
sunder.  This  divine  crucified  person  has,  by  dying  himself, 
slain  the  law  ;  and  that  which  sometimes  happens  in  the  com- 
bats of  men  has  taken  place  here  ;  both  the  combatants,  even 
Christ  and  the  law,  remained  dead  upon  the  place.  The  law 
slew  our  Lord,  who  sustained  this  combat  for  us,  to  the  end 
that  he  might  take  and  bear  the  terrible  blows,  the  thunderings 
and  lightnings  of  our  principal  enemy,  But  he  has  also  be- 
reaved the  law  of  life,  and  left  it  in  the  same  state  as  that  to 
which  it  had  reduced  him  ;  though,  indeed,  with  vast  difference 
in  the  issue.  For  our  Lord  raised  himself  up  from  that  death 
which  he  received  and  suffered  for  us,  rising  again  gloriously 
alive  the  third  day  ;  whereas  the  law  shall  never  resume  the 
life  or  the  strength  of  which  he  has  deprived  it.  It  shall  re- 
main for  ever  in  that  death  he  has  given  it.  This  is  what  the 
apostle  teaches  us  very  clearly,  when  he  says  that  "  Christ  hath 
redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  being  made  a  curse  for 
us,"  Gal.  iii.  13.  His  wounds  have  been  our  cure,  his  death 
our  life,  and  his  curse  our  bliss.  The  blood  which  issued  from 
his  sacred  body  blotted  out  the  sentence  of  our  condemnation  ; 
and  the  blows  which  pierced  him  broke  in  pieces  the  instru- 
ment of  our  ruin. 

Now  this  great  and  admirable  effect  which  Paul  attributes 
to  the  cross  of  Christ  furnishes  us  with  a  clear  proof  of  his 
satisfaction.  For  if  his  death  were  nothing  but  an  example  of. 
patience  and  humility,  to  what  purpose,  says  this  holy  apostle, 
was  the  obligation  which  was  against  us  abolished  and  fastened 
to  his  cross  ?  Who  sees  not  that,  according  to  this  opinion, 
the  cross  of  our  Lord  would  have  done  the  law  no  harm  at  all — 
that  his  blood  would  have  been  so  far  from  making  void  our 
obligation,  that  it  would  not  so  much  as  have  made  the  least 
erasure  in  it  ?  What  does  his  death  contribute  to  my  deliver- 
ance from  that  curse  under  which  this  fatal  writing  puts  me,  if 
he  died  only  to  give  me  a  noble  pattern  of  constancy,  and  not 
to  discharge  ray  debts  ?  The  saints  have  verily  suffered  for  our 
example,  and  their  deaths  are  patterns  of  our  patience.  Yet  it 
cannot  be  found  that  the  prophets  or  apostles  ever  said  that  by 
virtue  of  their  deaths  the  obligation  which  was  against  us  has 


3i5S  AN  EXPOSITION"   OF  [SERM.  XXV. 

been  made  void,  or  that  the  evils  which  they  suffered  have  re- 
deemed us  from  the  curse  of  the  law.  And  besides  the  blas- 
phemy of  it,  it  would  render  a  man  evidently  ridiculous  to  use 
such  language  respecting  them,  or  to  say  of  them,  as  the  Scrip- 
tures speak  of  our  Lord  alone,  that  they  have  borne  our  griefs, 
and  carried  our  sorrows,  and  been  wounded  for  our  transgres- 
sions, and  bruised  for  our  iniquities  ;  and  that  the  chastise- 
ment of  our  peace  was  upon  them,  and  by  their  stripes  we  are 
healed.  We  conclude,  therefore,  that  he  verily  died  in  our 
stead,  and  satisfied  on  his  cross  the  justice  of  the  Father  for 
us.  For  this  being  presupposed,  as  the  Scripture  teaches, 
there  is  no  longer  any  difficulty;  and  it  is  clear  that  his 
cross  struck  out  and  abolished  the  obligation  which  was 
kept  in  the  cabinet  of  God  against  us,  and  which  alone 
had  the  right  and  power  to  destroy  us.  As  when  a  surety 
pays  the  sum  which  the  man  for  whom  he  is  security  owes,  he 
makes  void  the  obligation  which  had  been  given  to  the  credi- 
tor respecting  it,  and  by  virtue  of  which  he  was  to  have  been 
imprisoned,  of  all  the  force  it  had  to  injure  him.  He  effaces 
it,  cancels  it,  and  makes  it  void.  He  renders  useless  all  the 
preparatives  of  justice  against  his  friend.  He  puts  the  adver- 
sary'-, and  all  his  advocates,  to  silence.  He  stops  the  mouth 
of  the  judge,  which  was  even  open  to  decree  against  him. 
He  stays  the  officers  of  justice,  and  secures  his  liberty  from 
their  outrages.  This  is  just  the  thing  which  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  has  done  for  us.  But  what,  do  I  say  he  has  done 
thus  for  us  ?  He  has  done  for  us  infinitely  more  than  all  this. 
Death  and  the  curse  were  due  to  us  as  the  wages  of  our  sins. 
The  sentence  of  it  was  written  in  the  obligation  of  the  law, 
which  we  ourselves  had  signed,  and  by  which  we  had  submit- 
ted to  this  penalty.  The  Judge  was  ready,  and  execution 
could  not  be  avoided.  The  Lord  Jesus,  moved  with  compas- 
sion and  sent  by  the  goodness  of  the  Father,  puts  himself  in 
our  room  as  Surety  and  Mediator  for  us.  He  pays  what  we 
owed.  He  suffers  on  the  cross  the  punishment  we  deserved. 
His  cross,  therefore,  has  struck  out  that  formidable  obligation 
which  was  against  us.  He  has  abolished  and  made  it  of  no 
effect.  He  has  broken  all  the  forces  it  was  preparing  against 
us.  He  has  pacified  our  Judge,  confounded  our  accusers, 
stayed  the  officers  and  ministers  of  justice,  and  saved  our 
persons  from  the  fetters  and  torments  which  were  prepared 
for  us. 

But  here  again  it  appears  how  vain  is  the  error  of  those 
who  pretend  that  God  only  half  pardons  our  sins;  that,  having 
remitted  the  fault,  he  exacts  of  us  part  of  the  punishment,  and 
makes  us  suffer  it,  either  in  this  life  or  after  death,  in  a  certain 
partition  of  hell  which  they  call  purgatory.  How  could  they 
more  rudely  clash  with  the  apostle's  doctrine?     He  says  that 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  357 

God  has  blotted  out,  cancelled,  and  abolished  the  obligation 
which  was  against  us.  These  men  affirm,  that  he  still  makes 
us  pay  some  part  of  our  debt.  Surely  then  our  obligation  is 
not  yet  torn.  It  is  a  thing  unheard  of  in  the  course  of  justice, 
to  bring  an  action  against  that  debtor  whose  obligation  you 
have  effaced.  If  it  be  torn,  if  it  be  made  void  and  of  no  effect, 
you  have  no  longer  any  right  to  bring  him  before  the  judge, 
much  less  to  get  him  condemned  to  pay  it.  If  God,  who  does 
nothing  unjust,  should  make  us  pay  any  part  of  the  penalties 
of  our  sins  which  he  has  forgiven  us,  the  obligation,  by  virtue 
of  which  he  condemns  us,  is  still  in  its  full  force.  But  the 
apostle  protests  that  it  has  been  effaced,  and  remains  blotted, 
and  nailed  to  the  cross  of  Christ  for  ever.  The  obligation 
which  was  against  us  imported  all  the  punishments,  both 
temporal  and  eternal,  to  which  we  are  obnoxious.  It  is  made 
void  and  aonihilated.  We  therefore  no  longer  owe  any  of 
them.  Fear  not,  christian,  you  have  to  do  with  a  faithful 
Creditor.  Having  remitted  your  debt,  yea,  cancelled  the  evi- 
dence of  it,  and  torn  the  obligation,  he  has  no  intention  at  all, 
after  this,  to  demand  of  you  any  part  of  it.  I  confess  that  the 
payment  which  Jesus  Christ  has  made  is  of  no  use  to  those 
who  remain  in  unbelief;  and  though  he  has,  in  point  of  right, 
nullified  the  obligation  which  was  against  us  ;  yet  their  in- 
gratitude and  infidelity  operate  against  their  reception  of  this 
benefit  from  his  kindness  ;  even  as  the  unthankfulness  and 
obduracy  of  that  servant,  of  whom  we  are  told  in  that  parable 
in  the  gospel,  deprived  him  of  the  favour  which  his  master 
had  showed  him,  in  forgiving  tlie  ten  talents  which  he  owed. 
For  God  has  affixed  this  reasonable  condition  to  the  covenant 
of  grace  which  he  has  made  with  mankind,  that  the  payment 
of  our  debts,  made  by  our  Surety,  should  not  be  allowed  to 
any  but  to  those  who  believe  ;  so  that  they  who  obstinately 
abide  in  unbelief  have  no  share  in  that  immunity,  or  in 
those  other  benefits  which  this  great  Mediator  has  obtained 
for  us.  But  as  to  the  man  who  believes,  and  by  a  true  faith 
applies  to  himself  the  death,  and  blood,  and  merit  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  there  is  no  more  any  condemnation  to  him,  as  the  apos- 
tle says  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  chap.  viii.  1  ;  nor,  by 
consequence,  any  punishment  ;  the  obligation,  by  virtue  of 
which  alone  he  could  be  condemned  at  the  tribunal  of  God, 
having  been  blotted  out,  abolished,  and  nailed  to  the  cross 
of  his  Saviour. 

Thus  you  see,  beloved  brethren,  what  that  grace  of  God  is 
which  the  apostle  has  here  made  known,  and  by  what  means 
we  may  become  partakers  in  it.  Sinners,  you  that  groan 
under  the  heavy  load  of  your  crimes,  who  feel  your  misery, 
and  perceive  the  cords  of  that  damnation  in  which  the  law 
entangles  you,  come  to  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  you  shall  find 


âôS"  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXV. 

rest  to  your  souls.  Your  consciences  accuse  you,  and  compel 
you  to  subscribe  your  own  condemnation,  acknowledging 
the  justice  thereof.  But  however  just  it  may  be,  the  cross  of 
Jesus  frees  you  from  it,  inasmuch  as  it  has  fully  satisfied  for 
you.  Beware  of  the  error  both  of  the  ancient  and  the  modern 
Pharisees,  who  pretend  ability  to  pay  what  they  owe,  and 
even  more  than  they  owe  ;  and  to  justify  themselves  by  their 
works,  that  is,  by  the  law.  The  law  is  the  instrument  of  our 
condemnation,  and  the  ministration  of  our  death  ;  and  a  man 
who  would  be  justified  by  the  law,  commits  no  less  an  extrava- 
gance than  he  who,  to  prove  that  he  owes  nothing,  should 
produce  in  judgment  the  bills  and  bonds  he  has  given  to  his 
creditors.  Confess  your  debts.  Divest  yourselves  of  all  confi- 
dence in  your  own  righteousness.  Declare  that  of  yourselves 
you  are  bound  over  to  eternal  malediction  ;  that  you  have 
deserved  it  ;  and  present  yourselves  naked  before  God,  who 
justifies  the  ungodly,  and  he  will  clothe  you  with  the  right- 
eousness of  his  Son. 

And  you,  faithful  brethren,  who  are  already  entered  into 
this  blessed  covenant,  live  in  peace,  and  quietly  wait  for  the 
fruit  of  your  faith,  according  to  the  promises  of  God.  Let 
not  the  thunderings  and  lightnings  of  the  law  make  you 
afraid.  Let  not  that  death  with  which  it  so  severely  menaces 
the  sons  of  men  in  the  least  terrify  you.  Let  not  the  world 
or  the  devil,  the  executioners  of  its  justice,  astonish  you. 
Jesus  Christ  has  brought  to  nought  all  their  strength  by 
efi'acing  the  obligation  that  was  against  us.  Satan,  thou  cruel 
enemy  of  our  repose,  object  not  to  us  our  sins.  We  confess 
they  are  greater,  and  yet  more  grievous,  than  thou  canst 
express.  Lay  not  before  us  that  clause  of  our  old  covenant 
which  places  all  who  have  sinned  under  the  curse.  We  con- 
fess we  have  merited  this  curse.  But  know,  Satan,  if  we 
have  deserved  death,  Jesus  Christ  has  suffered  it  for  us  ;  and 
if  we  have  committed  sins  worthy  of  thine  hell,  the  blood 
of  the  Son  of  God  has  blotted  them  out.  His  cross  has  made 
void  that  old  piece  about  which  thou  makest  such  a  clamour  ; 
that  rough  obligation  with  which  thou  incessantly  threatenest 
us.  How  hast  thou  the  insolence  to  accuse  those  whom  God 
justifies,  and  to  condemn  those  for  whom  the  Son  of  God 
died  and  rose  again  ?  It  is  thus,  dear  brethren,  that  we  must 
repel  the  temptations  of  the  enemy,  and,  notwithstanding  his 
assaults,  possess  in  peace  the  loving-kindness  of  God,  adoring 
his  bounty,  and  ardently  employing  ourselves  to  his  glory. 
For  this  is  the  scope  and  the  end  of  his  grace.  He  has  acquit- 
ted us  of  all  our  debts,  and  made  void  the  obligation  which 
was  upon  them  ;  that  we,  being  ravished  with  a  goodness  so 
divine,  might  love  him  with  all  our  strength,  and  all  our  soul, 
according  to  that  true  maxim,  acknowledged  by  Simon  in  the 


CHAP.  II.]  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  359 

gospel,  He  to  whom  much  is  forgiven  ought  to  love  much, 
Luke  vii.  43.  He  has  delivered  us,  by  his  Son,  "  out  of  the 
hand  of  our  enemies,  that  we  might  serve  him  without  fear, 
in  holiness  and  righteousness  before  him,  all  the  da\^s  of  our 
life,"  Luke  i.  7-i,  75.  And,  indeed,  how  can  we  have  the  heart 
either  not  to  love  at  all,  or  to  love  but  coldly,  a  God  who  is 
so  good  to  us — who,  seeing  us  overwhelmed  in  debt,  has  freely 
forgiven  us  all — has  made  void  the  obligation  ;  and,  for  the 
blotting  it  out,  and  making  it  void,  has  spent  the  blood  of 
his  only  begotten  Son  ;  and,  for  the  rending  it  in  pieces, 
suffered  his  divine  body  to  be  all  rent  with  strokes?  After 
a  goodness  so  ravishing,  must  not  that  man  be  worse  than 
a  devil  who  loves  not  this  Father,  who  has  given  us  his  Son  ; 
and  this  Son,  who  has  b}'-  his  death  obtained  our  salvation  ? 
Oh,  how  much  reason  had  the  apostle  to  count  him  execrable 
who  loves  not  this  great  Saviour!  "If  any  man,"  says  he, 
"love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  let  him  be  Anathema  Maran- 
atha,"  1  Cor.  xvi.  22.  God  forbid  that  there  should  be  so 
wretched  and  odious  a  person  in  the  midst  of  us.  Yet,  if 
there  be  such,  surely  he  believes  not  of  our  Saviour  that  which 
he  makes  profession  to  believe  ;  for  it  is  not  possible  to  be- 
lieve him  without  loving  him. 

Let  us  love  him  then,  and  faithfully  serve  him,  setting  his 
name  and  honour  above  all  the  interests  of  the  world  and  our 
flesh.  Let  us  obey  his  holy  instruction,  and  conform  all  that 
life  to  his  will  which  we  hold  only  by  his  grace.  Let  us 
imitate  that  divine  pattern  he  has  left  us,  diligently  walking 
in  humility,  and  patience,  and  charity,  of  which  he  has  given 
us  such  great  and  admirable  examples.  Let  us  have  compas- 
sion and  tenderness  for  our  brethren,  resembling  those  which 
he  has  had  for  us.  He  has  pardoned  all  our  sins,  and  acquit- 
ted us  of  all  our  debts.  He  has  shed  his  blood  to  blot  out 
the  obligation  which  v/as  against  us.  He  died  on  a  cross, 
that  he  might  thereunto  nail  up  and  for  ever  abolish  all  the 
instruments  of  our  condemnation.  Having  experienced  so 
great  a  goodness  towards  ourselves,  how  can  we  dare  to  have 
so  little  towards  others — to  be  obdurate  to  them,  and  implaca- 
ble, when  they  have  offended  us — cruel  and  inexorable,  when 
they  owe  us  anything  ?  He  has  forgiven  us  talents,  and  we 
exact  of  them  even  farthings.  He  has  pardoned  us  thousands 
of  crimes  ;  we  retain  against  them  the  slightest  offences.  What 
shall  we  answer  when  he  shall  one  day  say  to  us,  Behold,  "  I 
have  forgiven  thee  all  this  great  debt  because  thou  desiredst 
me  ;  shouldest  not  thou  also  have  had  compassion  on  thy 
fellow  servant,  even  as  I  had  pity  on  thee?"  Without  doubt, 
my  brethren,  we  should.  It  is  a  duty  too  just  and  too  reason- 
able for  us  to  fail  in.  If  yet  our  flesh  oppose,  let  us  pray 
the  Lord  to  subdue  it  to  his  will  by  the  power  of  his  Spirit; 


ZW  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVI. 

granting  us  to  do  what  he  commands,  that  after  we  have  had 
part  here  below  in  his  grace,  and  in  his  sanctification,  we 
may  hereafter  participate  on  high  in  his  eternal  glory.  So 
be  it. 


SERMON    XXVI 

VERSE   15. 


And  having  spoiled  principalities  and  powers^  he  'made  a  show 
of  them  openly^  triumphing  over  them  in  it. 

Dear  brethren,  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Christ,  which,  at  the 
first  preaching  of  the  gospel,  was  a  scandal  to  the  Jews  and 
the  scorn  of  Gentiles,  is  in  truth  the  greatest  mystery  of  the 
wisdom  of  God,  and  matter  of  highest  admiration  to  angels 
and  men.  In  it  the  Supreme  Majesty  has  mixed  together,  with 
incomprehensible  art,  and  reconciled  most  contrary  and  most 
incompatible  things,  death  and  life,  ignominy  and  glory,  con- 
demnation and  absolution,  defeat  and  victory.  The  devil 
having  put  it  into  the  heart  of  Judas  to  betray  Jesus,  and 
pushed  on  the  princes  of  the  Jews  to  take  him  and  deliver 
him  to  Pilate,  who  condemned  him,  and  caused  him  to  die  a 
cruel  death  upon  a  cross  ;  this  determined  enemy  of  our  sal- 
vation seemed  to  have  gained  the  victory,  inasmuch  as  by  his 
artifices  he  had  brought  the  Prince  of  life  to  so  shameful  an 
execution.  But  it  happened  quite  otherwise.  The  blow  which 
he  gave  our  Lord  struck  himself,  and  our  Saviour,  by  suffer- 
ing death,  overthrew  for  ever  all  the  power  of  the  devil  ;  as 
Samson,  the  hero  of  Israel,  who,  when  he  died,  pulled  down 
and  involved  in  the  same  ruins  some  thousands  of  his  ene- 
mies. This  cross,  on  which  Jesus  hung,  was,  to  say  the  truth, 
the  instrument  of  his  glory  rather  than  of  his  ignominy  ;  and 
the  trophy  of  his  victory,  rather  than  the  gibbet  of  his  execu- 
tion. He  suffered  death  on  it,  I  grant,  but  a  death  that 
lasted  no  longer  than  three  days,  and  gained  him  immortality; 
whereas  he  there  defeated  and  ruined  the  devil  and  all  our  ene- 
mies without  recovery.  It  is  this  the  apostle  represents  to  us 
in  the  text,  where,  in  connection  with  that  which  he  had  said 
before,  namely,  that  the  Lord  "  blotted  out  the  handwriting 
which  was  contrary  to  us,  and  took  it  out  of  the  way,  nailing 
it  to  his  cross  ;"  he  now  adds,  "  having  spoiled  principalities 
and  powers,  he  made  a  show  of  them  openly,  triumphing  over 
them  in  it."  Good  God  !  what  a  change  is  this  !  He  tells  us 
of  the  death  of  Christ,  the  most  painful,  the  most  shameful, 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  861 

and  most  execrable  punishment  in  the  world,  as  of  a  triumph, 
and  does  not  hesitate  to  compare  that  fatal  tree  on  which  he 
suffered  to  a  triumphal  chariot.  He  puts  in  chains  those  who 
put  him  to  death,  and  causes  them  to  go  not  for  authors  or 
spectators  of  his  sufferings,  but  for  part  of  the  pomp  of  his 
victory. 

This  is  the  sight,  my  brethren,  to  which  the  apostle  invites 
us,  the  triumph,  not  of  a  Caesar,  or  some  other  of  the  world's 
great  captains,  but  of  the  Son  of  God,  the  Father  of  eternity. 
In  it  you  shall  see  this  King  of  glory  riding  in  a  chariot 
bathed  in  his  divine  and  victorious  blood  ;  and,  as  the  prophet 
Isaiah  formerly  represented  him,  chap,  Ixiii.  1,  3,  with 
princes  and  people  under  foot,  while  he  marched  over  them 
with  his  garments  dyed  red.  In  it  you  shall  see,  not  soldiers 
and  commanders  in  chains,  but  demons,  the  princes  of  this 
world,  bound  and  fettered  fast  for  ever.  You  shall  see,  not 
arrows  broken,  and  cuirasses  battered,  and  arms  cut  in  pieces, 
but  sin  abolished  and  death  destroyed.  You  shall  see  the 
spoils,  not  of  an  army  or  a  country,  but  of  the  lords  of  the 
world,  and  of  the  governors  of  the  darkness  of  this  age. 
Lastly  you  shall  behold  in  it,  not  the  image  of  some  petty 
fortress  taken  by  assault  or  by  surrender,  or  of  some  river 
forced,  or  some  province  subdued  ;  but  hell  finally  beaten, 
heaven  gained,  and  an  eternal  world  brought  under  the  power 
of  our  victorious  Lord.  Let  us  apply  ourselves  to  the  frui- 
tion of  this  magnificent  spectacle,  and  afford  it  all  the  sense 
and  attention  that  we  have.  To  this  end  we  will  consider, 
first,  what  these  principalities  and  powers  are  which  Jesus 
Christ  has  spoiled  ;  and  then  see,  in  the  second  place,  how  he 
made  a  show  of  them,  and  triumphed  over  them  on  the  cross. 
These  are  the  two  heads  of  which  we  will  treat,  if  the  Lord 
please,  in  this  discourse. 

I.  The  apostle  ordinarily  makes  use  of  the  words  principali- 
ties, powers,  dominions,  thrones,  and  virtues,  to  signify  the 
angels  ;  as,  for  instance,  in  the  1st  chapter  of  this  Epistle 
ver.  16,  in  the  8th  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans,  ver.  38,  and 
in  the  1st  of  that  which  he  wrote  to  the  Ephesians,  ver.  21. 
He  gives  those  spiritual  beings  these  names,  both  because  of 
the  strength  and  power  with  which  they  are  endowed,  which 
far  surpasses  the  virtue  of  material  and  elementary  things,  and 
also  on  account  of  the  various  orders  into  which  God  has  dis- 
tinguished them,  according  to  the  difference  of  their  ministra- 
tions ;  placing  some  of  the  angels,  as  it  were,  chiefs,  in  a 
superiority  to  others.  And  though  the  sin  of  devils  has  cor- 
rupted the  perfections  of  their  nature,  yet  it  appears,  by 
different  passages  of  Scripture,  that  it  has  not  quite  destroyed 
this  order  among  them  ;  Satan  being  represented  to  us  as  the 
head  of  this  black  band,  and  as  having  other  evil  angels  under 
46 


362  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVI. 

Mm  ;  so  that  they  may,  in  this  respect,  be  still  termed  princi- 
palities and  powers.  Nevertheless  there  is  another  reason 
which  the  apostle  had  his  eye  principally  upon  in  giving  them 
these  names,  as  he  himself  intimates  in  the  6th  chapter  to  the 
Ephesians,  ver.  12,  "  We  wrestle  not  against  flesh  and  blood, 
but  against  principalities,  against  powers,  against  the  rulers 
of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  against  spiritual  wickedness  in 
high  places."  Here  you  plainly  see  he  calls  them  principali- 
ties and  powers  on  account  of  that  dominion  which  they  exer- 
cise in  this  world,  under  its  present  state  of  subjection  to  sin 
and  vanity.  Not  that  such  a  superiority  of  right  belongs  to 
them  ;  for,  having  rebelled  against  their  Creator,  they  have 
lost  all  true  and  lawful  dignity.  But  the  sin  of  m.an  having 
enslaved  him  to  those  evil  spirits,  has  also  made  these  elements 
subject  to  them,  of  which  he  was  the  true  and  natural  Lord. 
And  God  has  permitted  it  so  to  be  for  the  execution  of  his  jus- 
tice against  sin.  For  since  man  shook  off  the  yoke  of  God, 
having  wretchedly  preferred  the  pernicious  counsel  of  his 
enemy  to  the  just  commandment  of  his  Master,  it  is  but  just 
that  he  should  be  subject  to  him  to  whom  he  betrayed  his  own 
liberty.  Such,  then,  is  the  order,  or  rather  the  confusion,  of 
the  world,  since  the  fall,  namely,  that  the  devil  exercises  an 
insupportable  tyranny  in  it,  governing  it  at  his  pleasure,  as  if 
he  were  its  lord.  For,  first,  he  works  upon  all  the  ungodly 
with  wonderful  force,  swaying  their  souls  unto  brutal  passions, 
setting  on  fire  their  lusts,  and  by  that  thick  smoke  which  he 
raises  from  their  hearts  blinding  their  minds,  and  depriving 
them  of  all  the  light  that  is  necessary  for  distinguishing  truth 
and  falsehood,  good  and  evil,  as  the  apostle  elsewhere  informs 
us,  saying  that  this  unclean  spirit  works  effectually  "in  the 
children  of  disobedience,"  Eph.  ii.  2  ;  and  in  another  place  he 
tells  us  that  he  has  the  wicked  in  his  snares,  and  makes  them 
do  his  will,  2  Tim.  ii.  26.  Not  that  he  compels  them  to  evil 
by  coercive  force,  and  however  much  they  dislike  it  ;  but  their 
nature  being  corrupted  as  it  is,  he  never  tempts  them  without 
effect,  their  souls  voluntarily  surrendering  themselves  to  his 
pernicious  persuasions.  Moreover,  he  disposes  of  material 
things,  turning  and  changing  them  at  his  pleasure,  raising 
tempests  in  the  air,  seditions  and  wars  among  men,  putting  in 
commotion  all  that  murderous  violence  which  makes  havoc  of 
mankind,  and  presiding  over  all  the  instruments  of  the  crea- 
tures' damage  and  death  ;  on  account  of  which  the  apostle,  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  chap.  ii.  14,  calls  Satan  "  him  that 
had  the  power  of  death."  And  although  he  executes  none  of 
his  bad  purposes  without  the  permission  of  God,  as  the  Scrip- 
ture clearly  shows  us  in  the  history  of  Job,  where  you  see  he 
touches  neither  the  goods,  nor  the  children,  nor  the  person  of 
that  holy  man,  until  leave  has  been  obtained  of  this  Supreme 


CHAP.   II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  363 

Majesty  ;  yet  because  he  works  commonly  in  tlie  world,  the 
greater  part  of  which  is  depraved  and  rebellious  against  God, 
he  seems  master  of  it,  and  he  himself  glories  in  it  ;  as  when  he 
said  to  our  Saviour,  in  his  temptation,  after  he  had  showed 
him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  "All  this  power  will  I  give 
thee,  and  the  glory  of  them  :  for  that  is  delivered  unto  me,  and 
to  whomsoever  I  will  I  give  it,"  Luke  iv.  6.  And  indeed  for 
these  reasons  our  Saviour  styles  the  devil  "the  prince  of  this 
world  ;"  as  when  he  says,  "  Now  shall  the  prince  of  this  world 
be  cast  out,"  John  xii.  31;  and,  "The  prince  of  this  world 
Cometh,  and  hath  nothing  in  me,"  John  xiv.  30  ;  and  Paul 
calls  him,  in  the  same  sense,  "  the  god  of  this  world,"  2  Cor.  iv.  4. 

Represent  unto  yourselves  the  world  as  it  was  under  the 
darkness  of  its  old  heathenism,  when  God  left  all  nations  to 
walk  in  their  own  ways.  In  it  the  devil  absolutely  dom- 
ineered ;  and  all  those  poor  multitudes  he  held  under  his 
tyranny.  He  had  put  out  the  eyes  of  their  minds,  and  in 
this  blindness  made  them  commit  all  kinds  of  vileness  and 
abominations.  He  inspired  into  them  hatred  of  the  true  God 
and  of  his  service;  and  so  effectually  beguiled  them  by  his 
fallacious  illusions,  that  he  caused  them  to  adore  himself  under 
the  forms  of  various  idols.  These  same  spirits  are  they  whom 
the  apostle  intends  here  by  those  principalities  and  powers. 
For  though  the  Scripture  particularly  marks  out  one  of  them, 
whom  it  calls  Satan,  as  the  head  of  this  abominable  monarchy; 
yet  it  ranges  under  him  a  vast  multitude  of  spirits,  who  all 
travelling  upon  the  same  design,  and  employing  in  it  all  the 
might  and  industry  they  have,  bear  a  part  in  his  accursed  em- 
pire. And  there  is  great  probability,  too,  that  they  are  di- 
vided into  certain  bands,  each  of  which  is  drawn  up  under 
their  particular  chiefs,  and  all  of  them  depending  upon  Satan 
as  their  general.  For  which  reason  the  apostle  calls  them,  in 
the  plural  nu"mber,  "  principalities  and  powers."  These  are 
the  enemies  whom  the  Lord  Jesus  has  overcome  and  utterly 
defeated  on  the  cross,  as  he  himself  declared  the  evening  be- 
fore his  passion,  saying  that  the  prince  of  this  world  was  then 
judged  ;  that  is,  was  about  to  be  condemned.  And  Paul  else- 
where says  that  Jesus  has  by  his  death  destroyed  "  him  that 
had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil,"  Heb.  ii.  14. 

II.  Let  us  now  see  how  our  Saviour  has  spoiled  these  prin- 
cipalities and  powers,  and  openly  made  a  show  of  them,  tri- 
umphing over  them  on  the  cross.  First,  it  is  evident  that  all 
this  language  of  the  apostle  is  figurative,  and  taken  from  that 
which  great  captains  who  had  been  victorious  over  their  ene- 
mies were  formerly  accustomed  to  do.  For  after  they  had 
spoiled  them,  not  only  of  their  arms,  habits,  jewels,  and  bag- 
gage, but  also  of  their  estates  and  all  their  glory  ;  they  led 
them  away  prisoners,  and  made  a  show  of  them  to  their  coun- 


è64c  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXVI. 

trjmen  on  the  day  of  their  triumph.  This  name  the  Eomans 
gave  to  the  pomp  of  that  entry  which  the  captains  and  gen» 
erals  of  a  victorious  army  made  into  their  city.  For  when  any 
of  them  had  won  a  battle,  taken  towns,  conquered  countries, 
or  performed  any  great  and  notable  exploit  of  war,  one  of  the 
principal  and  most  prized  honours  decreed  him  for  a  reward 
of  his  valour  was  a  triumph,  which  was  performed  with  in- 
credible pomp  and  ceremony.  The  conqueror  was  mounted 
on  a  stately  chariot,  magnificently  clothed  and  crowned.  His 
whole  army  marched  before  and  after  him  in  military  order, 
every  troop  under  its  ensigns  and  colours.  The  heads  and 
principal  of  the  enemies  followed  his  chariot,  bound,  and  in 
chains.  There  were  carried  along  all  the  gold  and  silver,  and 
other  treasures,  he  had  won  from  the  enemy.  The  towns  he 
had  taken,  the  rivers  he  had  passed,  the  provinces  he  had 
subdued,  the  battles  he  had  fought,  were  represented  in  pic- 
ture, and  exposed  to  the  view  of  the  people,  who  with  great 
festivity  and  rejoicing  accompanied  in  throng,  or  beheld  him 
from  the  windows  of  their  houses,  and  filled  the  air  with  their 
acclamations  and  applauses.  He  entered  Rome  in  this  equip- 
age, and  passing  through  the  fairest  streets  of  the  city,  as- 
cended the  Capitol,  the  chief  of  their  temples,  where  he  offered 
sacrifices,  after  he  had  thus  displayed  the  fruits  of  his  victories 
before  the  eyes  of  all  the  world,  and  received  all  kinds  of  bene- 
dictions and  praises  from  his  fellow  citizens.  This  is  pro- 
perly that  which  was  called  a  triumph.  The  apostle  therefore 
borrowing  his  terms  from  this  custom,  which  was  well  known 
at  that  time,  and  familiar  to  every  one,  applies  them  to  our 
Lord  and  Saviour,  because  of  that  resemblance  which  we  find 
between  the  pomp  of  his  mystical  victory,  and  this  triumph 
of  secular  rulers  and  captains.  He  tells  us  that  he  has  spoiled 
these  hostile  principalities  and  powers  ;  that  he  has  openly 
made  a  show  of  them  ;  and  that  he  has  triumphed  on  the 
cross  ;  expressions  all  of  them  manifestly  taken,  as  you  see, 
from  that  glorious  pomp  of  the  Roman  triumphs  which  we 
have  now  described  ;  and  which  in  substance  signify  nothing 
else  than  that  Jesus,  dying  on  the  cross,  has  fully  vanquished 
and  defeated  the  devil  with  all  his  power  in  the  view  of  heaven 
and  earth. 

In  prosecution  hereof,  we  are  to  refute  the  false  exposi- 
tions which  some  give  of  this  passage,  and  after  that  render 
you  an  account  of  the  true.  Some  of  the  most  famous  in- 
terpreters of  the  church  of  Rome*  understand  it  of  the  deliv- 
erance of  the  fathers,  whom  our  Saviour,  as  those  men  say, 
took  out  of  that  limbus  in  which  their  spirits  were,  and  led 
them  to  heaven  with   him.     He  "spoiled  principalities  and 

*  Thomas,  Loranus,  Cajetan. 


CHAP.  II,]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COL0SSIAN3.  365 

powers,"  that  is,  the  devils,  from  whom  he  took  away  what 
they  kept  in  hell  ;  inasmuch,  say  they,  as  he  caused  Adam, 
Noah,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  with  the  rest  of  the  faithful 
who  died  under  the  Old  Testament,  to  come  forth  from  their 
limbus,  which  is  one  of  the  partitions  of  the  infernal  regions. 
Then,  they  say,  he  led  them,  carrying  them  up  to  heaven,  and 
giving  them  entrance  into  Jerusalem  on  high,  from  which  they 
had  been  until  then  excluded.  And  he  made  them  triumph  in 
himself  (for  so  the  same  authors  read  the  apostle's  words)  ;  that 
is,  he  made  them  to  participate  in  his  triumph,  in  that  they 
had  the  honour  to  accompany  him  and  to  enter  into  heaven 
with  him.  But  scarcely  anything  can  be  uttered  more  false, 
more  forced,  and  more  impertinent,  than  this  whole  interpre- 
tation. First,  that  which  it  supposes  of  the  abode  of  the  spir- 
its of  the  old  believers  in  a  subterraneous  and  infernal  limbus 
is  uncertain  and  fabulous,  being  founded  only  upon  the  tradi- 
tion of  men,  and  not  on  any  authority  of  the  word  of  God. 
As  for  that  which  they  commonly  quote  to  prove  it,  namely, 
the  saying  of  Jacob,  that  he  would  go  down  into  hell  unto  his 
son  Joseph,  Gen.  xxxvii.  35,  they  who  are  versed  in  Scripture 
well  know  that  the  word  infer i^  or  hell,  in  that  place  in  partic- 
ular, and  almost  everywhere  else  in  the  book  of  God,  signifies 
the  grave.  Consequently  the  same  patriarch  says  elsewhere  to 
his  sons,  that  if  any  evil  befel  Benjamin,  they  would  bring 
down  his  grey  hairs  with  sorrow  ad  inferos^  to  hell,  as  many 
read  it  ;  where  it  is  clear  that  by  the  same  word  he  means  the 
grave,  into  which  the  dead  go  down  with  their  hair  ;  and  not 
limbus,  into  which  only  souls  descended,  who  surely  have  no 
hair.  And  as  to  what  they  produce  respecting  the  pretended 
soul  of  Samuel,  called  up  from  hell  by  the  charms  of  the  sor- 
ceress, where  is  the  christian  who  does  not  feel  indignant  at 
such  power  being  imputed  to  the  ministers  of  devils  over  the 
spirits  of  prophets?  God  forbid  that  we  should  credit  so 
gross  an  absurdity.  That  which  the  enchantress  saw  came 
from  hell  I  confess  ;  but  it  was  not  in  truth  the  soul  of  Samuel, 
which  was  at  rest  with  God  in  Abraham's  bosom.  It  was 
nothing  but  a  vain  shadow  and  a  phantom  of  that  prophet, 
called  by  his  name  because  it  resembled  him,  as  the  greater 
part  of  the  ancient  fathers  affirmed,  and  as  some  of  the  most 
famous  authors,  even  of  the  Roman  communion,*  at  this  day 
maintain.  They  again  abuse  what  the  psalmist  sings  respect- 
ing the  Messiah,  "  Thou  hast  ascended  on  high  :  thou  hast 
taken"  or  led  "  a  multitude  of  captives,"  as  it  is  rendered, 
Psal.  Ixviii.  18.  These  captives  they  will  have  to  be  the 
spirits  of  the  fathers.  But  it  is  manifest  to  all  who  have  the 
least  knowledge  of  the  holy  tongue,  that  the  phrase  there  used 

*  Leo  Allatius  in  Eustath.  Antioch. 


866  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVI. 

by  the  prophet  signifies  to  take  or  to  make  prisoners,  not  to 
free  them  ;  and  to  lead,  not  into  liberty,  but  into  captivity  ;  so 
that  if  this  passage  be  meant  of  the  fathers,  we  must  say, 
not  that  the  Lord  brought  them  out  of  prison,  (as  is  supposed,) 
but  that  he  put  them  in  ;  a  thing  that  would  be  infinitely 
absurd  and  ridiculous.  "  The  spirits  in  prison,"  of  whom 
Peter  speaks,  1  Pet.  iii,  20,  cannot  upon  any  better  ground 
be  taken  for  the  souls  of  the  faithful  detained  in  limbus, 
since  those  spirits  it  is  said  were  sometime  rebellious,  or 
disobedient,  in  the  time  of  Noah,  and  perished  in  their 
sin  ;  which  cannot  be  said  of  the  patriarchs  and  the  faith- 
ful. In  fine,  the  apostle's  saying  that  the  way  into  the  holy 
places  was  not  manifested  while  the  first  tabernacle  was  stand- 
ing, signifies  indeed  that  the  High  Priest  of  the  church, 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  did  not  carry  nor  introduce  our  nature 
into  heaven  in  soul  and  body,  nor  discover  and  make  mani- 
fest the  way  to  our  mansion  of  immortality,  until  the  veil 
of  the  first  tabernacle  was  rent,  which  is  very  true.  But  it 
does  not  follow  from  this  that  the  spirits  of  the  faithful,  conse- 
crated before  our  Saviour's  coming,  did  not  experience  the  fruit 
of  his  death,  and  much  less  that  they  were  detained  in  hell. 
But  this  tradition  not  only  has  no  foundation  in  Scripture, 
it  also  plainly  contradicts  it.  For  our  Lord  promised  the 
good  thief  that  the  very  day  he  was  crucified  he  should  be 
with  him  in  paradise,  Luke  xxiii.  43  ;  whereas,  according  to 
our  adversaries'  supposition,  he  could  not  have  entered  it 
till  the  forty-third  day  after.  And  the  parable  of  that  bad 
rich  man  plainly  shows  us  that  at  that  time,  as  the  souls  of  im- 
penitent  sinners  were  cast  into  the  torments  of  hell-fire,  so  the 
spirits  of  the  faithful  were  carried  up  into  the  repose  and 
felicity  of  paradise.  For  that  bosom  of  Abraham  in  which 
Lazarus  rested,  Luke  xvi.  22,  25,  26,  was  not  a  pit  without 
water,  as  the  pretended  limbus  is  counted  to  have  been,  but  a 
place  of  refreshment  and  consolation  ;  not  situate  in  the  vicinity 
of  hell,  but  severed  from  it  by  a  great  gulf  set  between  them. 
And  in  truth,  since  the  faithful  even  then  drank  of  the  mystical 
Rock  as  well  as  we,  were  sprinkled  with  his  blood  and  partook 
of  his  sufferings;  why  should  any  one  imagine  that  our 
Saviour's  sacrifice  had  less  virtue  to  introduce  them  into 
heaven  after  their  death,  than  it  had  to  justify,  and  sanctify, 
and  comfort  them  in  the  days  of  their  life  ?  As  they  bore  a 
part  with  us  in  the  same  faith  and  conflicts  on  the  earth,  so 
they  had  a  share  of  our  repose  and  joy  in  heaven  ;  neither  is 
there  any  reason  for  our  being  admitted,  if  you  will  needs  have 
them  excluded.  Accordingly,  it  is  certain  that  those  ancient 
christian  writers,  who  excluded  from  heaven  the  souls  of  the 
faithful  who  died  under  the  Old  Testament  dispensation,  de- 
nied also  reception  there  to  the  souls  of  christians;  as  they  did 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  867 

not  assent  that  either  the  one  or  the  other  were  admitted  till 
after  the  resurrection:  so  that  our  adversaries,  rejecting  (as  they 
have  reason  to  do)  the  one  half  of  this  error,  and  confessing 
that  christian  souls  sufficiently  purged  are  received  into 
heaven,  it  is  nothing  but  pure  obstinacy  in  them  to  retain  the 
other  half,  and  to  pretend  that  the  condition  of  the  faithful  de- 
parted under  the  Old  Testament  was  different  to  that  of  those 
who  died  under  the  New.  Let  it  be  then  concluded,  that  all 
this  pretended  deliverance  of  souls  brought  out  of  limbus  is 
but  the  fiction  of  a  human  spirit,  not  only  having  no  foundation 
in  Scripture  or  reason,  but  even  contrary  to  both. 

But  I  add,  in  the  second  place,  that  if  it  were  as  certain  as  it 
is  dubious,  and  as  true  as  it  is  false,  yet  it  would  not  be  possible 
to  refer  the  passage  before  us  to  such  a  doctrine.  First,  the 
spirits  of  departed  saints  are  not  at  all  in  the  power  of  Satan, 
but  in  the  hands  of  God,  to  whom  they  committed  them  at 
their  death;  so  that  though  Jesus  Christ  had  brought  them  out 
of  limbus,  yet  it  could  not  be  said  that  he  had  therein  spoiled 
the  devils,  since  to  spoil  them  is  to  take  from  them  that  of 
which  they  were  possessed  ;  and  it  is  clear,  that  if  the  souls 
of  the  faithful  had  been  in  this  imaginary  limbus,  yet  they 
would  not  have  been  in  the  devil's  possession.  Secondly,  the 
original  word  here  used,  which  signifies  to  lead  about  for  a 
show,  is  always  taken  in  an  ill  sense,  for  a  shameful  and  igno- 
minious show,  such  as  that  of  malefactors,  when  they  are  led 
through  the  city  and  publicly  executed,  that  the  sight  of  their 
shame  and  punishment  may  keep  men  to  their  duty.  Now  if 
our  Lord  had  delivered  the  souls  of  the  faithful  out  of  such  a 
limbus,  it  could  not  be  said  that  he  had  made  a  show  of  them 
in  this  sense;  it  being  evident  that  in  this  case  they  would 
have  accompanied  his  triumph  by  way  of  honour,  and  that  it 
would  not  have  been  any  ignominy,  but  a  glory  for  them  to 
have  followed  his  victorious  chariot.  Moreover,  the  apostle's 
words  are  so  placed  in  the  original,  that  the  spoiling,  and 
making  a  show  of,  and  triumphing  over,  of  which  he  speaks, 
necessarily  respect  the  same  persons  ;  that  is,  those  whom  he 
spoiled  are  those  of  whom  he  made  show,  and  over  whom  he 
triumphed.  Now  he  spoiled  not  the  spirits  of  the  fathers  ;  he, 
on  the  contrary,  enriched  them  :  surely  then  it  is  not  they  of 
whom  he  made  a  show  ;  neither  can  the  action  which  the  verb 
imports  be  referred  to  them,  without  depraving  the  whole  of 
the  apostle's  context.  This  is  all  spoken  of  one  and  the  same 
subject,  namely,  those  powers  and  principalities;  that  is,  the 
devils,  as  we  have  demonstrated,  and  as  all  agree.  They  are 
the  devils  whom  Jesus  spoiled.  It  is  the  same  of  whom  he 
publicly  made  a  show,  and  over  whom  he  triumphed. 

As  for  the  Latin  interpreter's*  saying  the  Lord  triumphed 

*  Zanchy. 


•S6S  AN   EXPOSITION"  OP  [SERM.   XXVI. 

over  them  in  himself,  I  acknowledge  that  various  Greek  copies 
read  the  text  in  that  manner,  and  some  of  our  writers  have  so 
expounded  it  ;  conceiving  that  our  Saviour,  upon  his  cruci- 
fixion, brought  the  devils  whom  he  had  overcome  out  of  their 
hell,  and  showed  them  to  the  angels  and  the  spirits  made  perfect, 
bound  and  chained,  as  a  glorious  token  of  the  victory  he  had 
achieved  over  them  ;  and  they  add,  that  his  triumph  also  con- 
tinued until  his  ascension  into  heaven.  But  as  the  Scripture 
tells  us  nothing  of  this,  I  think  it  is  dangerous  to  assert  it  ;  it 
being  better  and  more  safe  to  keep  to  that  which  God  has  re- 
vealed in  his  word,  than  to  take  the  liberty  of  following  our 
own  imaginations,  however  plausible  they  may  appear.  And 
the  reason  which  seems  to  have  influenced  those  men  to  advance 
this  conjecture  is  exceedingly  slender  :  for  they  have  been  in- 
duced to  do  so  merely  because  they  considered  it  absurd  to  say 
that  Jesus  Christ  triumphed  over  his  enemies  on  the  cross  ; 
seeing  that,  to  speak  properly,  he  overcame  them  on  the  cross, 
but  triumphed  only  at  his  resurrection  and  ascension.  But, 
first,  if  there  were  some  inconvenience  in  this,  yet  nothing 
would  induce  us  to  assert  what  they  propose.  It  would  be 
sufficient,  in  order  to  avoid  this  inconvenience,  to  say  that  our 
Saviour  triumphed  over  his  enemies  in  himself,  or  by  himself; 
that  is,  according  to  the  ordinary  style  of  Scripture,  by  his 
own  strength  and  virtue,  he  being  raised  from  the  dead  and 
gloriously  lifted  up  to  heaven  by  the  potency  of  his  own  arm. 
But,  I  say,  in  the  second  place,  that  there  is  no  absurdity  at 
all  in  attributing  these  things  to  the  very  death  of  our  Lord, 
understanding  them,  as  we  ought,  spiritually  and  mystically. 
And,  without  doubt,  it  is  much  more  fluent  and  clear  to  refer 
the  last  words  of  this  verse  to  the  cross  of  our  Saviour,  of 
which  the  apostle  had  spoken  immediately  before,  (he  fastened 
the  obligation  to  the  cross,  having  spoiled  principalities  and 
powers,  over  whom  he  triumphed  on  it,  that  is,  on  the  cross,) 
than  to  take  it  of  our  Lord  himself,  and  say  that  he  triumphed 
over  his  enemies  in  himself,  which  is  frigid,  harsh,  and  ob- 
scure. 

We  say  then,  with  the  greater  part  of  the  modern,  and  with 
the  more  learned  and  illustrious  of  the  ancient  expositors,  that 
it  is  on  the  cross  our  Saviour  spoiled  principalities  and 
powers,  and  that  it  was  there  also  he  publicly  made  a  show 
of  them,  and  triumphed  over  thera.  I  confess,  if  we  look 
upon  him  as  suffering  on  that  execrable  tree,  amid  the  scoffs 
and  sarcasms  of  the  Jews,  in  the  lowest  state  of  his  humilia- 
tion, flesh  will  find  in  him  something  less  than  victories  and 
triumi)hs.  But  you  know,  likewise,  that  this  mystery  must 
not  be  judged  of  by  the  senses  of  the  flesh.  It  is  faith  alone 
that  is  able  to  discover  and  to  contemplate  the  wonders  which 
are  in  it.     Now  if  you  open  the  eyes  of  faith,  you  will  easily 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  369 

perceive  that  Jesus  has  spoiled  all  hostile  powers  on  the  cross, 
and  that  it  is  with  this  weapon  properly  that  he  surmounted 
those  strong  and  potent  tyrants,  and  took  from  them  all  the 
instruments  of  their  violence,  and  made  a  prey  of  all  their  riches. 
For,  to  say  the  truth,  that  harsh  and  cruel  dominion  which  the 
devil  exercises  in  the  world  is  not  founded  upon  anything  but 
sin.  If  this  pest  had  not  infected  us,  all  the  forces  of  hell, 
though  they  were  a  thousand  times  greater  than  what  they 
are,  could  not  have  hurt  us.  It  is  upon  our  sin  that  this  fierce 
tyrant  has  built  all  his  power,  and  it  is  upon  our  ruins  that 
he  has  raised  his  grandeur.  For,  first,  if  we  were  not  culpable 
by  reason  of  the  sins  we  have  committed,  the  justice  of  God 
would  never  have  suffered  this  executioner  of  his  judgments 
to  trouble  and  prosecute  us  as  he  has  done.  It  would  not 
permit  him  so  much  as  to  open  his  mouth  against  us  to  ac- 
cuse us.  But  sin  having  provoked  the  wrath  of  God,  and 
his  law  prohibiting  access  unto  his  throne,  and  pronouncing 
a  curse  upon  us,  it  is  evident  that  justice  delivered  up  our 
persons  to  the  evil  angels,  and  gave  them  power  to  execute 
its  judgment  upon  us.  Again,  besides  these  evils,  which  are 
termed  penal,  and  which  could  not  terminate  at  last  but  in 
an  eternal  death,  the  devil  annoyed  men  in  another  way,  even 
by  urging  them  on  to  vice  by  his  temptations,  and  causing 
them  to  commit  a  multitude  of  sins,  some  by  means  of  avarice, 
and  others  by  the  furies  of  ambition  ;  casting  some  into  the 
excesses  of  luxury,  others  into  the  disorders  of  drunkenness 
and  gluttony.  But  it  is  sin  also  that  gives  him  this  power  over 
men  ;  that  concupiscence  which  reigns  in  them,  and  which  the 
Scripture  calls  the  old  man,  because  it  is  the  inheritance,  and 
succession,  and  image  of  the  first  Adam.  It  is  by  this,  as  by 
a  handle,  that  the  devil  seizes  on  them,  and  drags  them  into 
such  sins  as  he  pleases.  Were  it  not  for  this,  he  would  have 
no  hold  upon  them  ;  and  each  of  them,  if  he  were  exempted 
from  it,  might  say  as  our  Lord  did,  "The  prince  of  this  world 
Cometh,  and  hath  nothing  in  me."  Now  Jesus  Christ  has  abol- 
ished by  his  cross  both  the  guilt  and  the  vices  of  men  :  the 
guilt,  in  that  he  bore  the  punishment  thereof,  and  satisfied 
divine  justice  for  them,  and  extinguished  all  the  flames  of  the 
law,  and  opened  the  throne  of  grace  to  every  impenitent  sin- 
ner; their  vices,  in  that  he  crucified  and  destroyed  our  old 
man  on  the  cross,  and  mortified  all  its  lusts,  and  discovered 
its  impostures.  Surely  then  it  is  by  his  cross  that  he  divested 
the  devils  of  the  dominion  which  they  exercised  over  mankind, 
having  sapped  and  demolished  all  the  foundations  thereof  by 
his  admirable  sufferings. 

That  which  the  apostle  adds,  in  the  second  place,  namely, 
that  he  openly  made  a  show  of  those  hostile  powers,  excel- 
lently well  agrees  with  his  cross.     For  this  show  signifies 
47 


870  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  XXVI. 

nothing  else  than  an  extreme  confusion  and  ignominy,  as  we 
have  already  intimated  ;  and  who  is  there  that  knows  not 
that  the  evil  angels  never  received  a  greater  than  that  with 
which  the  cross  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  covered  them  ? 
They  thought  to  have  overcome  him,  and  found  themselves 
overcome  ;  instead  of  ruining  his  dominion,  as  they  imagined, 
they  saw  their  own  utterly  overthrown.  And  this  was  pub- 
licly done,  in  the  view  of  heaven  and  earth  ;  our  Saviour 
having  been  crucified  in  the  greatest  city  of  the  East,  in  broad 
day,  and  at  the  solemnity  of  the  most  sacred  festival  of  the 
Jews.  The  angels  looked  on  it  from  on  high,  and  never  be- 
held anything  with  more  attention  and  astonishment.  Jews 
and  Gentiles  were  spectators  of  it  ;  and  nature  itself,  however 
mute  and  insensible,  sufficiently  showed  that  it  took  part  in 
it,  shutting  (if  we  may  so  say)  its  eye,  through  horror  at  seeing 
its  Creator  suffer.  But  fear  not,  poor  creatures,  the  shame 
and  confusion  will  wholly  remain  to  our  enemies.  Our  Sun 
will  soon  come  out  of  this  eclipse,  and  his  suffering  is  the 
salvation,  not  the  ruin  or  damage,  of  the  universe. 

Finally,  the  apostle's  further  assertion,  that  our  Lord  tri- 
umphed over  these  hostile  powers  on  the  cross,  is  also  easily 
verified.  For,  as  an  ancient  *  said.  There  were  two  crucified 
persons  on  that  cross,  the  one  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  nailed  to 
it  visibly,  voluntarily,  and  for  a  short  time  only  ;  the  other, 
the  devil,  invisibly  fastened  to  the  same  cross,  and  to  his  great 
regret,  and  for  ever  ;  inasmuch  as  this  cross  of  our  Saviour 
has  destroyed  his  life  and  power,  having  given  him  that 
deadly  blow  from  which  he  will  never  recover.  Faith  sees 
upon  the  cross,  above,  the  Son  of  God  combating  and  conquer- 
ing for  us  ;  and  it  sees,  beneath,  all  the  bad  angels  put  in  chains, 
vanquished,  and  in  vain  raging  under  his  feet. 

Yet  do  I  ingenuously  confess,  that,  to  speak  properly,  the 
resurrection  and  ascension  of  our  Lord  have  more  analogy 
with  a  triumph  than  his  death,  which  rather  resembles  a  con- 
flict. But  it  is  a  very  common  mode  of  expression  to  attrib- 
ute the  name  of  an  effect  to  the  cause  which  produced  it.  It 
is,  in  my  opinion,  principally  in  this  sense  that  our  Saviour 
triumphed  over  his  enemies  on  the  cross,  because  the  death 
he  there  suffered  was  the  true  and  only  cause  of  his  triumphs. 
It  was  the  tree  of  this  cross  that  bore  the  palms  and  laurels 
with  which  he  has  been  crowned.  It  is  there  that  all  the 
causes  and  foundations  of  all  his  glory  are  found.  It  is  this 
cross  that  opened  his  sepulchre,  and  brought  him  out  from 
thence,  and  raised  him  up' in  immortality.  It  is  this  also 
that  a  little  after  opened  heaven  to  him,  and  seated  him  on 
the  right  hand  of  the  Most  High,     It  is  this  that  loosed  the 

*  Ori«:en. 


CHAP.  II.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  371 

tongues  of  his  apostles,  and  changed  the  world  in  a  short  time  ; 
that  defeated  paganism,  that  is,  the  greatest  part  of  Satan's 
empire  ;  that  threw  down  idols,  and  drew  all  people  to  the 
service  of  that  divine  crucified  person  whom  it  bore.  It  is 
this  likewise  that  will  pluck  us  hereafter  out  of  the  hands  of 
death,  and  lift  us  up  into  the  sanctuary  of  eternity.  Lastly, 
it  is  this  that  has  founded  that  glorious  throne  on  which  Jesus 
shall  sit,  and  both  his  subjects  and  his  enemies  shall  see  him 
truly  triumphing  ;  the  one  with  eternal  joy,  the  other  with  a 
confusion  that  shall  never  end.  Since  the  cross  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  is  the  cause  of  so  many  triumphs,  who  does 
not  see  that  it  is  not  only  with  truth,  but  also  with  much 
elegance,  that  the  apostle  here  says  he  triumphed  on  it  over 
his  enemies  ? 

Let  us,  dear  brethren,  adore  the  mystery  of  it,  and  look 
upon  it,  notwithstanding  the  sad  appearances  of  its  infirmity, 
as  the  only  cause  of  the  glory  of  our  Head,  and  of  the  liberty 
of  his  people.  If  the  Jew  stumble  at  it,  and  the  Greek  deride 
it,  it  is  an  effect  of  their  ignorance  and  infidelity.  For  our 
part,  let  us  who  know  its  virtue  say  with  the  apostle,  ''  God 
forbid  that  we  should  glory,  save  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,"  Gal.  vi.  14.  It  has  taken  us  out  of  the  cruel 
bonds  of  the  devils,  and  placed  us  in  the  liberty  of  the  sons 
of  God.  It  has  spoiled  our  old  tyrants,  and  broken  their  iron 
yoke,  and  overthrown  those  infernal  principalities  and  powers. 
Let  us  not  fear  them.  After  the  blow  which  they  have  re- 
ceived from  the  cross  of  Christ,  they  are  but  back-broken 
serpents,  that  only  hiss  and  crawl  along  the  dust.  I  grant  that 
they  yet  stir,  and  wind  about  us,  and  do  not  cease  to  threaten  us  ; 
but  they  can  no  longer  hurt  us,  if  we  keep  fast  to  the  cross  of 
our  Saviour,  by  which  the  world  is  crucified  unto  us,  and  we 
unto  the  world.  They  are  our  enemies,  they  are  no  more  our 
masters.  We  are  to  wrestle  with  them  ;  we  are  under  their 
yoke  no  longer.  And  if  God  sometimes  permit  them  to  strike 
us  in  our  goods,  or  in  our  bodies,  and  in  what  we  have  on 
earth  ;  yet  he  preserves  our  persons,  and  does  not  suffer  them 
to  take  from  us  anything  that  his  Son  has  purchased  in  heaven 
for  us.  And  he  so  governs  these  combats  that  they  ever  turn 
unto  our  glory  and  their  confusion,  as  that  of  Job's  formerly 
did.  God  permits  them  to  attack  us  that  we  may  overcome 
them  ;  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  that  the  cross  of  Jesus 
may  stand  up  once  more  victorious  in  each  of  us,  and  bruise 
Satan  under  our  feet,  Eom.  xvi.  20,  as  it  has  already  bruised 
him  under  his.  Let  us,  with  good  courage,  follow  the  victory 
of  our  Head,  and  stoutly  march  on  in  his  steps.  Let  us  pur 
sue  the  vanquished  enemy,  and  not  quit  him  till  we,  in  this 
holy  war,  bear  away  the  laurel,  and  the  honour  of  a  triumph. 
Take  heed  that  he  rally  not  his  dissipated  forces,  and  do  us 


872  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVIL 

some  injury;  for  henceforth  there  is  nothing  but  our  negligence 
that  can  give  him  the  advantage.  Our  victory  is  as  sure  as 
it  can  be,  if  we  have  courage  sufficient  not  to  destroy  ourselves. 
For  what  can  he  do  to  us  if  we  watch,  if  we  pray,  if  we  keep 
upon  our  guard,  and  under  the  ensign  of  the  cross  of  our 
Lord?  Will  he  accuse  us?  God  justifies  us,  and  his  Son 
defends  and  intercedes  for  us.  Will  he  batter  us  with  the 
curse  of  the  law  ?  The  cross  of  Christ  has  annulled  it.  Will 
he  stir  up  against  us  the  hate  and  persecutions  of  the  world  ? 
In  these  things  we  are  more  than  conquerors  through  him  that 
loved  us  ;  who  can  so  turn  and  change  them  in  favour  of  us, 
as  that  they  shall  all  work  together  for  our  good.  Will  he 
take  hold  of  us,  on  the  other  side,  by  the  baits  of  sin,  and 
pleasures  and  benefits  of  the  present  world  ?  Our  Saviour's 
cross  has  extinguished  and  mortified  the  desire  of  them  in  our 
hearts;  showing  us  that  all  this  beauteous  figure  of  the  world 
is  but  a  vanity,  that  passes  away,  and  ends  in  eternal  misery. 
Will  he  menace  us  with  death  ?  He  may  ;  but  the  cross  of 
Jesus  has  disarmed  it  of  all  its  stings,  and  so  altered  its  whole 
nature,  that  whereas  it  was  of  itself  the  wages  of  sin,  and  an 
effect  of  our  Judge's  wrath,  and  the  beginning  of  hell,  it  is 
now  a  token  to  us  of  the  grace  of  God,  the  end  of  our  con- 
flicts, and  the  entry  of  our  paradise.  Let  us,  therefore,  my 
beloved  brethren,  live  in  repose,  and  take  possession,  with 
humble  thankfulness,  of  the  good  things  which  the  Lord  Jesus 
has  obtained  for  us  by  the  merit  of  his  cross  ;  serving  and 
religiously  adoring  him  ;  consecrating  all  our  life  to  his 
glory,  as  he  gave  his  for  our  salvation  :  and  assuring  ourselves 
amidst  all  the  storms  of  this  generation,  that  "  neither  death, 
nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things 
present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any 
other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of 
God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."     So  be  it. 


SERMON  XXVII 

VERSES   16,   17. 


Let  no  man  therefore  judge  you  in  meat,  or  in  drink,  or  in  respect 
of  an  holy-day,  or  of  the  new  moon,  or  of  the  sabbath  days:  which 
are  a  shadow  of  things  to  come;  but  the  body  is  of  Christ. 

Dear  brethren,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  beautifully  shows  us 
the  difference  of  that  evangelical  service  which  he  has  insti- 


CHAP.  II.]         THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  S73 

tuted  in  his  church  from  the  legal  service  which  existed  in 
Israel  under  the  Old  Testament  ;  when  speaking  of  it  to  the 
Samaritan,  he  says,  "  Woman,  believe  me,  the  hour  cometh, 
when  ye  shall  neither  in  this  mountain,  nor  yet  at  Jerusalem, 
worship  the  Father.  But  the  true  worshippers  shall  worship 
the  Father  in  spirit  and  in  truth,"  John  iv.  21,  23.  Under  the 
law  the  service  of  God  was  confined  to  certain  places,  as  the 
temple  at  Jerusalem,  and  the  land  of  Canaan  ;  to  certain  times, 
as  sabbaths,  new  moons,  and  those  great  feasts  of  the  passover, 
pentecost,  and  tabernacles  ;  to  certain  corporeal  things,  as  beasts, 
and  other  kinds,  which  were  offered  upon  a  material  altar,  with 
various  ceremonies;  and  to  certain  sorts  of  meat,  it  being  not 
permitted  at  that  time  to  eat  of  any  other  than  that  which  was 
pronounced  clean.  But  now  the  Lord  Jesus  has  abrogated  this 
adhering  to  places,  to  times,  and  to  the  elements  of  this  world, 
as  a  low  and  childish  exercise,  and  appointed  for  his  people  a 
service  altogether  spiritual  and  divine,  proportioned  to  that 
admirable  light  of  knowledge  which  he  has  shed  into  the  hearts 
of  the  faithful  ;  a  service  that  wholly  consists  in  love  to  God, 
charity  and  beneficence  towards  our  neighbour,  and  in  honesty 
and  purity  with  respect  to  ourselves.  This  is  the  true  service 
of  the  Deity,  worthy  of  man  who  presents  it,  and  of  God  who 
receives  it  ;  since  man  is  a  reasonable  creature,  and  God  a  Spirit 
infinitely  good  and  holy;  according  to  what  our  Saviour  adds, 
that  "  the  Father  seeketh  such  to  worship  him  ;"  and  that,  being 
a  Spirit,  "they  that  worship  him  must  worship  him  in  spirit 
and  in  truth."  But  though  this  kind  of  service  is  so  just  and 
rational  in  itself,  and  though  the  Lord  Jesus  has  so  clearly  in- 
stituted it  by  his  divine  authority  ;  yet  on  the  other  hand,  the 
inclination  of  our  nature  is  so  violent  towards  gross  and  earthly 
things,  that  even  among  those  who  make  profession  of  acknow- 
ledging Jesus  Christ  for  the  Son  of  God,  a  multitude  is  found 
who  cannot  let  go  these  bodily  exercises,  in  which  a  part  of  di- 
vine service  heretofore  consisted.  The  apostle  testifies  in  seve- 
ral places  that  there  were  such  in  his  time,  1  Tim.  iv.  3  ;  and 
he  informs  us  in  others  that  there  would  also  be  such  in  after- 
ages  ;  and  the  event  has  precisely  answered  his  prediction  ;  an 
evident  sign  that  it  was  the  spirit  of  truth,  that  is,  the  Spirit  of 
God,  which  illuminated  his  understanding,  and  caused  him  to 
see  in  those  days  things  hidden  in  futurity,  far  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  natural  sight  of  men.  It  is  against  these  people 
that  he  labours  in  this  chapter,  to  fortify  against  their  attacks, 
not  only  the  Colossians,  to  whom  he  writes,  but  also  the  faith- 
ful in  all  ages.  He  laid  firm  and  immovable  foundations  of 
truth  in  his  foregoing  discourse  ;  showing  us,  according  to  his 
usual  custom,  with  great  strength,  and  glorious  evidence,  that 
we  have  all  those  advantages  plentifully  in  Jesus  Christ,  for 
which  error  would  introduce  its  inventions  and  carnal  obser- 


37é  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVII. 

varices  ;  that  in  him  we  have  all  fulness  necessary  to  complete 
us  ;  that  his  resurrection  and  his  Spirit  divest  us  of  all  the 
vices  of  the  flesh  ;  and  that  his  cross  gives  us  full  remission  of 
our  sins  ;  since  it  has  both  made  void  the  obligation  concern- 
ing all  the  punishments  we  owed  to  divine  justice,  and  tri- 
umphed over  all  those  powers  that  were  capable  of  accusing  or 
tormenting  us.  Whence  it  clearly  follows,  that  it  is  useless  for 
any  to  urge  the  necessity  of  legal  and  material  observances, 
seeing  that  we  most  perfectly  have,  in  the  death  and  resurrec- 
tion of  our  Lord,  all  that  sanctification  and  justification,  for  the 
advancement  of  which  it  is  pretended  that  these  things  are 
needful.  This  is,  dear  brethren,  the  direct  conclusion  that  the 
apostle  now  deduces  from  that  excellent  and  divine  doctrine 
which  he  before  established.  Therefore,  says  he,  "let  no  man 
judge  you  in  meat,  or  in  drink,  or  in  respect  of  an  holy-day, 
or  of  the  new  moon,  or  of  the  sabbath  days  :  which  are  a  shadow 
of  things  to  come  ;  but  the  body  is  of  Christ."  He  first  for- 
bids them  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  put  in  subjection  to  these 
legal  things  ;  and  next,  he  afibrds  them  a  reason  for  it,  taken 
from  their  nature,  inasmuch  as  these  things  were  but  shadows; 
of  which  Jesus  Christ  has  exhibited  and  given  to  us  the  true 
body.  These  shall  be,  by  the  will  of  God,  the  two  points 
which  we  will  handle  in  this  discourse;  commenting  on  each 
of  them,  as  we  shall  judge  most  conducive  to  your  edification. 
I.  Those  seducers  whom  the  apostle  opposes  in  this  place 
had  drawn  the  devotions  which  they  would  add  to  the  gospel, 
partly  from  the  Mosaic  law,  partly  from  heathen  philosophy, 
and  partly  from  their  own  imagination  ;  wherefore  in  one  of 
the  preceding  verses  he  advised  the  Colossians  to  beware  lest 
any  man  spoil  them  "  through  philosophy  and  vain  deceit,  after 
the  tradition  of  men,  and  the  rudiments  of  the  world."  They 
had  borrowed  from  Moses  circumcision,  and  the  distinction  of 
meats  and  days  ;  they  had  begged  from  the  schools  of  philoso- 
phy the  worshipping  of  angels,  and  the  vain  discourses  with 
which  they  coloured  over  this  abuse  ;  and  they  had  invented  of 
themselves  certain  austerities  and  pretended  mortifications, 
which  they  held  to  be  highly  advantageous  in  religion.  See, 
I  beseech  you,  what  a  heap  of  strange  things  the  spirit  of  su- 
perstition, even  at  that  time,  thrust  into  Christianity  ;  be  not 
amazed  therefore,  if  men,  in  so  many  ages  as  have  rolled  away 
since  those  days,  pursuing  the  same  design,  according  to  the 
passion  of  their  flesh,  have  by  degrees  quite  filled  up  religion 
with  similar  services  and  observations;  and,  as  it  were,  defiled 
and  polluted  that  pure  and  clear  fountain  of  our  Saviour's  dis- 
cipline with  the  dregs  and  sediment  of  their  inventions.  For 
if  flesh  had  the  impudence  to  promote  such  abuses  during  the 
lives  and  under  the  eyes  of  the  apostles,  how  much  more  would 
it  have  the  boldness  to  enterprise,  and  the  facility  to  execute 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  375 

it,  during  the  night  of  so  many  ages,  which  were  not  only  des- 
titute of  the  light  of  those  great  tapers,  but  also  overspread  with 
the  darkness  of  grossest  ignorance  ! 

Let  us  see  how  Paul  condemns  the  traditions  of  those  of  his 
age,  to  the  end  that  we  may  preserve  ourselves  from  those  of 
our  own,  by  the  example  and  authority  of  his  doctrine.  He 
spake  before  of  circumcision,  to  which  they  would  have  had 
christians  still  submit.  He  now  condemns  their  other  abuses; 
and  first,  the  distinction  they  made  of  days  and  of  meats;  and 
next,  in  the  verses  following,  their  doctrine  touching  angels, 
and  the  worship  they  gave  them  ;  and  last  of  all,  their  discipline 
and  mortifications,  from  the  20th  verse  to  the  end  of  the  chap- 
ter. We  will  consider,  by  the  grace  of  God,  the  two  other 
parts  of  his  dispute,  each  of  them  in  its  place.  As  for  the  for- 
mer, the  apostle  here  censures  two  sorts  of  distinctions,  or  ob- 
servances, which  these  men  held  in  religion  ;  the  one  of  meats, 
the  other  of  days.  And  as  to  the  latter,  he  notices  particularly, 
and  by  name,  some  of  the  days  which  they  observed,  namely, 
"  holy-days  "  or  festivals,  "  new  moons,  and  sabbaths."  But 
about  the  other  he  expresses  himself  in  general  only,  saying 
simply,  "Let  no  man  judge  you  in  meat,  or  in  drink,"  without 
declaring  particularly  the  kind  of  meat  or  drink  which  they 
prohibited  or  permitted  ;  so  that  as  the  apostle  does  not  parti- 
cularly inform  us  of  it,  and  as  we  have  no  light  respecting  it 
from  any  other  source,  it  is  not  easy  for  us  to  know  precisely 
what  the  meats  were,  the  distinction  of  which  these  people  set 
up.  For,  first,  the  law  of  Moses,  from  which  they  had  taken 
some  part  of  their  discipline,  forbade  a  great  number  of  meats, 
and  contained  several  very  scrupulous  regulations  about  eating, 
as  you  may  see  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Leviticus,  and  in 
other  places.  Among  the  beasts  of  the  field,  it  permitted  the 
Jews  to  take  none  for  meat  but  such  as  chew  the  cud,  and  di- 
vide the  hoof;  and  among  fishes,  none  but  such  as  have  fins 
and  scales;  and  by  this  rule  it  banished  from  their  tables  hares, 
rabbits,  leverets,  the  hog,  the  lamprey,  the  tortoise,  and  many 
other  things  ;  not  to  speak  of  several  sorts  of  birds  which  were 
interdicted  them.  It  was  an  abomination  for  them  so  much  as 
to  touch  any  of  these  things.  And  for  drink,  though  there  was 
no  general  rule  given,  yet  they  had  various  particular  obser- 
vances which  refer  to  it  ;  as,  for  instance,  they  were  not  to 
drink  any  liquor  drawn  out  of  a  vessel  that  had  no  close  cover, 
Numb.  xix.  15  ;  and  the  more  devout  abstained  from  wine  and 
strong  drink,  either  for  ever,  or  for  a  time  only,  according  to 
the  law  of  the  Nazarites.  And  that  they  might  not  fall  unin- 
tentionally into  the  transgressing  of  some  of  these  rules,  they 
never  ate  with  pagans,  or  of  any  meat  which  they  had  dressed, 
for  fear  there  might  have  been  some  lard  in  it,  or  other  mix- 
ture of  things  prohibited  ;  or  that  their  meat  and  drink  had 


876  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVII. 

been  offered  to  ido]s,  as  with  the  pagans  was  customary  ;  a  thing 
which  they  greatly  had  in  abomination.  For  this  cause  Daniel 
and  his  fellows  would  not  taste  of  the  meat  or  of  the  wine  of 
the  king  of  Babylon's  table,  Dan.  i.  8;  desiring  rather  to  eat 
nothing  but  pulse,  and  drink  nothing  but  water,  than  incur  the 
danger  of  being  defiled.  And  to  this  we  must  refer  that  eating 
herbs,  Rom.  xiv.  2,  which  the  apostle  reports  of  those  weak 
ones,  who  still  retained  the  Mosaic  distinction  of  meats.  The 
meaning  is,  that  living  among  pagans,  and  fearing  lest  the 
victuals  they  sold  in  their  shambles  and  shops  were  defiled  one 
way  or  other,  they  abstained  from  them,  and  confined  them- 
selves to  herbs,  in  which  they  feared  no  such  thing.  The  Ju- 
daical  rules  about  eating  and  drinking  being  such,  it  is  hard  to 
say  whether  the  seducers  retained  them  all  in  general,  or  ob- 
served only  part  of  them.  There  is  great  probability  that  they 
adhered  to  them  in  some  manner,  either  in  whole  or  in  part. 
Yet,  drawing  a  part  of  their  observances  (as  they  did)  from  the 
sinks  of  secular  philosophy,  it  is  probable  that,  beside  what 
they  had  taken  out  of  Judaism  for  this  purpose,  they  mingled 
with  it  some  observances  of  the  philosophers  also,  who  like- 
wise had  their  abstinences,  as  we  understand  by  the  books  of 
the  ancients.  And  that  of  the  Pythagoreans  is  sufliciently 
known,  who  fed  on  herbs  and  fruits  only,  forbidding  the  use 
of  all  animated  things.  It  is  very  likely  that  those  false  apos- 
tles, upon  whom  Paul  here  has  his  eye,  had  some  such  discip- 
line, considering  that  which  he  adds  afterwards  of  the  nature 
and  ends  of  their  abstinences.  Thus  much  we  may  say  con- 
cerning their  laws  about  eating  and  drinking. 

As  for  the  days  which  they  observed,  all  those  which  the 
apostle  names  in  the  text  were  taken  out  of  Judaism.  For 
that  the  new  moons,  by  which  the  Hebrews  began  all  the 
months  of  their  year,  (as  do  most  of  the  people  of  the  East 
to  this  day,)  were  solemnly  observed  among  the  Jews,  appears 
both  from  various  places  in  the  books  of  Moses,  where  he 
ordains  that  a  trumpet  should  be  sounded  at  the  beginning  of 
the  month,  and  that  certain  peculiar  sacrifices  should  be 
offered  to  Grod,  Numb.  x.  10;  xxviii.  11;  and  also  from  that 
Psalm  where  the  prophet  commands  to  sound  the  trumpet  on 
the  new  moon,  upou  the  solemn  feast-day,  Psal.  Ixxxi.  3  ;  and 
again,  from  Isaiah,  where  God,  rejecting  the  vain  services 
which  hypocrites  presented  to  him,  without  any  true  faith  or  de- 
votion, says,  "  The  new  moons  and  sabbaths,  the  calling  of 
assemblies,  I  cannot  away  with  ;  it  is  iniquity,  even  the  solemn 
meeting.  Your  new  moons  and  your  appointed  feasts  my 
soul  hateth  ;  they  are  a  trouble  unto  me  ;  I  am  weary  to  bear 
them,"  Isa.  i.  13,  14.  As  concerning  the  sabbath,  that  is,  the 
seventh  day  of  every  week,  which  we  call  Saturday,  no  one 
is  ignorant  with  what  devotion  it  was  observed  and  kept  holy 


CHAP.  II.]         THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  8T7 

by  the  Jews,  according  to  the  ordinance  of  God,  repeated  in 
various  parts  of  the  books  of  Moses,  and  even  registered  among 
the  ten  articles  of  the  decalogue.  Again,  by  the  festivals 
which  Paul  mentions,  he  means  those  high  days  which 
besides  the  sabbaths  and  new  moons  which  occurred  in  the 
ordinary  succession  of  weeks  and  months,  were  solemnized  at 
certain  seasons  of  the  year  ;  as  the  passover,  on  the  fourteenth 
day  of  the  first  month,  remarkable  for  the  immolation  of 
the  lamb,  and  for  the  unleavened  bread,  which  lasted  seven 
days  ;  pentecost,  which  was  kept  fifty  days  after  the  passover  ; 
and  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  which  was  celebrated  the  fifteenth 
day  of  the  seventh  month,  and  lasted  seven  daj'-s,  during 
which  time  the  people  resided  under  tents  and  booths.  Numb, 
xxviii.  So,  you  see,  the  apostle  here  points  at  all  the  three 
kinds  of  Jewish  feasts;  those  of  the  year,  which  he  calls  simply 
festivals,  namely,  the  passover,  pentecost,  and  the  tabernacles; 
those  of  months,  which  were  the  new  moons  ;  and  finally, 
those  of  the  weeks,  which  were  the  sabbaths. 

Now  whereas  the  French  has  translated  it,  "  in  the  distinction 
of  a  festival  day,"  it  is  word  for  word  in  the  original,  "  in  part 
of  a  festival  day,"  which  some  take  to  signify,  in  respect  of 
festivals,  or  upon  the  account  of  festivals  ;  in  the  same  sense 
that  Peter  seems  to  use  the  word,  when  he  says,  "If  any 
man  suffer  as  a  christian,  let  him  not  be  ashamed  ;  but  let 
him  glorify  God  on  this  behalf,"  1  Pet,  iv.  16  ;  that  is,  in  this 
respect,  and  as  to  this  matter.  And  thus  the  apostle  in  this 
place  would  say.  Let  no  man  condemn  you  in  regard  of  festi- 
vals or  for  festivals  ;  that  is,  in  the  matter  of  the  observation 
of  certain  days.  But  the  word  here  used  being  the  root  of  the 
other,  which  in  Greek  signifies  to  distinguish,  to  sever,  to 
divide,  as  in  French  partir  and  partager  come  from  the  word 
part,  or  party,  that  interpreter  has  not  succeeded  ill  in  render- 
ing it,  "the  distinction."  For  they  who  keep  holy  certain  days, 
and  make  them  festivals,  distinguish  them  from  others  and 
set  them  apart,  to  observe  and  celebrate  them  differently  to 
ordinary  days.  In  substance,  the  apostle's  intention  is  clear  ; 
namely,  that  he  forbids  every  man,  whoever  he  may  be,  to 
condemn  christians  for  using  certain  meats,  and  observing 
certain  days.  Let  no  man  judge  you,  says  he,  in  eating,  or  in 
drinking,  or  in  distinguishing  of  a  festival  day,  or  of  a  new 
moon,  or  of  sabbaths.  This  word  "judge"  aptly  suits  the 
apostle's  sense.  For  these  seducers  would  make  their  ordi- 
nances, about  the  distinction  of  meats  and  days,  to  pass  for 
necessary  laws,  which  they  meant  to  impose  on  the  faithful, 
and  by  these  judge  them;  praising  and  approving  such  as 
abstained  from  the  meat  they  forbade  them,  and  observed  the 
days  they  had  marked  out  to  them;  and  condemning,  as  guilty 
of  a  sin,  those  who  failed  to  do  the  one  or  the  other.  And  the 
48 


S7S  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVII. 

apostle,  shortly  afterwards,  ridiculing  their  pretended  laws, 
shows  us  the  form  of  them.  Why,  says  he,  are  ye  subject  to 
ordinances,  namely,  "  Touch  not,  taste  not,  handle  not  ?"  And 
this  should  be  particularly  noticed  ;  for  those  who,  through  a 
certain  feebleness  of  mind,  at  that  time  still  scrupled  to  violate 
these  Mosaic  distinctions,  but,  however,  without  condemning 
those  who  acted  otherwise,  or  obliging  them  to  such  obser- 
vances as  necessary  things  ;  those  the  apostle  would  have  to 
be  treated  with  patience  and  sweetness  ;  and  he  sharply  re- 
proves those  who  gave  them  any  offence.  But  though  he  has 
this  condescension  for  the  weak,  yet  he  is  altogether  rigid  and 
inexorable  against  these  pretended  teachers  ;  who,  acting  the 
legislators,  would  put  christians  under  their  yoke  ;  and,  not 
content  with  that  support  which  would  have  been  given  to 
their  infirmity,  pretended  to  make  others  subject  to  it,  and 
fiercely  condemned  those  who  observed  not  their  traditions. 
It  is  to  them  that  he  says,  "  Let  no  man  judge  you."  And  if, 
notwithstanding  his  prohibition,  these  men  have  the  presump- 
tion to  proceed,  and  condemn  christians  for  such  things,  it  is 
evident  that  in  this  case  he  would  have  us  despise  all  their 
judgments,  their  fulminations,  and  their  anathemas  ;  holding 
them  worthy  of  condemnation,  since  they  dare  to  make  laws 
in  the  house  of  God  ;  according  to  the  instruction  which  he 
gives  to  the  Galatians  upon  the  same  subject  :  If  any  man 
preach  any  other  gospel  unto  you,  than  that  ye  have  received, 
let  him  be  accursed.  Gal.  i.  9.  It  is  thus  that  the  apostle  guards 
and  fortifies  the  liberty  of  christians,  with  reference  to  meats 
and  days,  against  the  attempts  of  all  who  would  intrude  to 
make  laws  in  the  church  about  such  things  as  were  in  their 
own  nature  indifferent. 

II.  But  as  these  false  teachers  clothed  themselves  with  the 
authority  of  Moses,  the  apostle,  in  order  to  prevent  this  pre- 
text from  dazzling  the  eyes  of  the  simple,  shows,  (even  grant- 
ing that  such  distinctions  formerly  prevailed  in  Judaism  by 
the  ordinance  of  God,)  from  the  quality  of  their  nature,  that 
the  usage  of  them  is  ceased  now  under  Christianity.  This  is 
the  signification  of  those  words,  which  he  adds  in  the  second 
part  of  the  text  :  "  Which  are  a  shadow  of  things  to  come  ; 
but  the  body  is  of  Christ."  It  is  evident  that  he  means  the 
distinction  of  meats,  the  feasts,  the  new  moons,  and  the  sab- 
baths, of  which  he  had  been  speaking  ;  and,  in  general,  all 
other  similar  things:  and  he  says  that  they  are  "shadows  of 
things  to  come  ;"  not  to  signify  that  they  still  subsist  of  right, 
(on  the  contrary,  he  affirms  that  they  have  been  abolished,)  but 
simply  to  declare  to  us  what  their  nature  is,  and  for  what  end 
they  were  instituted  of  God  and  practised,  during  their  time, 
by  his  people.  He  says,  then,  that  they  are  shadows  of  things 
to  come,  of  which  the  body  is   in  Christ.     A  shadow   is  the 


CHAP,  il]  the   epistle   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  379 

representation  of  a  body,  but  an  obscure  and  imperfect  one, 
and  such  as  shows  us  merely  some  of  its  lineaments,  and  not 
the  lively  colour  and  true  form  of  its  members.  Conse- 
quently, this  word  is  taken  in  the  Greek  language,  in  which 
the  apostle  wrote,  for  that  which  we  call  a  rough  draught, 
which  is  a  dark  and  imperfect  painting,  executed  only  with 
lines,  and  not  with  the  lustre  and  diversity  of  colours,  op- 
posed to  that  which  they  call  painting  to  the  life.  And  Paul 
himself  elsewhere  makes  this  opposition,  when  he  says  that 
the  law  had  "  a  shadow  of  good  things  to  come,  and  not  the 
very  image  of  things,"  Heb.  x.  1  ;  and  again,  in  another  place, 
he  styles  the  law  "  the  example  and  shadow  of  heavenly 
things,"  Heb.  viii.  5.  But  here,  as  you  see,  he  takes  the  word 
shadow  properly,  and  not  figuratively  for  a  rough  draught  ; 
opposing  it  to  the  body  itself  which  it  represents,  and  not  to 
another  kind  of  more  express  and  lively  representation.  What 
then  is  this  body,  of  which  the  legal  observances  were  shadows  ? 
It  is,  says  the  apostle,  things  to  come;  a  body  which  is  of 
Christ,  or  in  Christ.  The  things  he  means  were  already  come, 
and  accomplished,  for  the  most  part,  at  the  time  he  wrote  ;  for- 
asmuch as  Christ,  in  whom  they  are,  having  been  manifested, 
has  fulfilled  all  the  mysteries  of  salvation.  But  the  apostle  con- 
sidering them  as  in  the  time  when  the  shadows  continued 
under  the  law,  calls  them  things  to  come,  because  at  that  time  they 
■were  indeed  not  come,  Christ,  who  was  to  exhibit  them,  being 
not  then  revealed.  At  that  time  they  were  future,  now  they 
are  present.  These  things,  my  brethren,  are  the  ofiices  and 
the  benefits  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  all  the  parts  of  that  hea- 
venly discipline  which  he  has  brought  into  the  world.  The 
apostle  therefore,  saying  that  legal  observances  were  shadows 
of  them,  means,  first,  that  they  prefigured  them,  and  referred 
to  them;  and,  secondly,  that  that  representation  of  them  which 
they  afforded  was  dusky,  obscure,  and  imperfect;  that  it  was 
not  a  clear,  distinct,  and  lively  portrait  of  them,  but  only  as 
it  were  a  rough,  naked,  and  simple  delineation  ;  such  as  a 
shadow  is  with  respect  to  the  body  which  projects  it.  This 
was  one  of  the  principal  ofiices  of  the  Mosaic  law,  even  to  pre- 
figure Christ  that  was  to  come.  For  God  having  purposed  in 
his  infinite  wisdom,  for  just  and  great  reasons,  not  to  send 
Christ  into  the  world  until  the  last  ages,  and,  as  the  Scripture 
speaks,  the  fulness  of  time,  judged  it  meet  to  give,  in  the  mean 
time,  the  figure,  model,  or  design  of  this  great  masterpiece  of 
■work  in  the  law  of  Moses.  First,  for  the  employment  of  his 
people,  during  this  time  of  their  minority,  in  those  low  and 
puerile  exercises,  which  suited  with  the  weakness  of  their  age, 
until  the  revelation  of  Christ  ;  as  the  apostle  excellently 
teaches  us  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  chap.  iii.  24.  Sec- 
ondly, he  proceeded  in  this  manner  for  the  justification  of  his 


380  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XXVn. 

gospel,  when  it  should  be  once  come.  For  the  shadows  and 
delineations  of  it  which  we  see  in  the  law  clearly  show  us  that 
it  is  the  workmanship  and  design  of  God  ;  and  the  admirable 
resemblance  between  these  ancient  figures,  long  since  drawn 
by  his  own  hand  in  the  tabernacle  of  Moses,  and  the  bodies  of 
the  things,  which  have  been  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ,  irre- 
fragably  prove  that  he  who  heretofore  took  the  care  to  make 
those  draughts  is  author  of  the  realities  which  they  repre- 
sented, and  that  the  body  descends  from  the  same  heaven 
which  at  first  made  the  shadows  of  it  to  be  seen.  I  pass  by 
for  this  time  the  lamb,  and  the  sacrifices,  and  the  aspersions, 
and  expiations,  and  all  the  Levitical  priesthood  ;  a  true  de- 
lineation of  our  grand  victim  offered  for  the  salvation  of  the 
world,  and  of  that  eternal  righteousness  which  his  blood  has 
procured  for  us,  and  other  similar  things,  which  cannot  but 
with  extreme  difficulty  be  maintained,  nor  made  to  agree  with 
the  ways  of  the  ordinary  wisdom  of  God,  except  by  acknow- 
ledging and  receiving  as  true  what  the  apostle  here  teaches  us, 
and  which  is  evident  enough  of  itself,  namely,  that  all  this  was 
heretofore  ordained  to  prefigure  Christ. 

1  will  only  speak  a  few  words  of  the  distinction  of  meats 
and  days.  The  apostle  opens  the  mystery  of  it  elsewhere.  For 
as  to  observance  of  meats,  giving  us  direction  in  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Corinthians  to  keep  the  feast  of  our  passover,  "  not 
with  the  old  leaven  of  malice  and  wickedness,  but  with  the 
unleavened  bread  of  sincerity  and  truth,"  1  Cor,  v.  8  ;  does  he 
not  clearly  show  us  that  abstinence  from  leavened  bread,  ob- 
served by  the  first  people,  was  a  picture  of  the  innocence  and 
holiness  of  the  second — and  that,  by  consequence,  it  is  to  the 
same  that  we  must  refer  the  distinction  of  other  legal  meats — the 
beasts  which  were  forbidden  them  representing  by  the  char- 
acters of  their  natural  qualities  those  moral  imperfections, 
that  is,  those  vices  and  corrupt  affections,  from  which  our  lives 
ought  to  be  exempt?  As,  for  example,  abstinence  from  swine's 
flesh,  which  was  an  abomination  to  them,  signified  that  the 
people  of  the  Messiah  should  have  no  commerce  with  that  un- 
cleanness  and  filth  of  deportment  in  which  men  of  the  world, 
fitly  represented  by  the  genius  of  this  animal,  wallow.  And 
when  the  same  apostle  tells  us  that  we  should  keep  our  feast 
in  truth  and  sincerity,  and,  in  another  place,  that  there  re- 
maineth  unto  us  a  sabbath,  or  a  rest,  Heb.  iv.  9  ;  does  he  not 
show  us  again  that  the  old  feasts  of  Israel  were  shadows  of 
ours,  even  of  that  feast  which  the  Messiah  has  procured  and 
appointed  for  the  faithful,  and  which  consists  in  two  things: 
the  one,  that  they  abstain  from  the  works  of  sin  and  of  the 
flesh,  the  common  works  of  men  ;  and  the  other,  that  they  cele- 
brate a  rest  in  God  with  eternal  joy  ?  Now  that  the  body  of 
these  shadows  is  in  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  evident.     For  innocence, 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS,  881 

sanctity,  abstinence  from  sin,  joy,  and  immortality  dwell  in 
him  fully.  There  it  is,  and  nowhere  else,  that  the  truth,  the 
example  and  pattern,  the  doctrine,  and  all  the  cause  of  them, 
are  to  be  found,  together  with  an  Almighty  Spirit  of  light, 
which  alone  is  capable  of  producing  these  divine  things  in 
every  one  of  us.  Whereby  you  see  it  is  so  far  from  being 
consequent,  upon  these  distinctions  having  been  heretofore  or- 
dained of  God,  that  we  ought  now  fully  to  observe  them,  that, 
on  the  contrary,  it  is  to  be  concluded  we  may  insist  no  longer 
on  them.  For  since  they  were  appointed  in  the  quality  of 
shadows,  until  Christ  should  be  revealed  ;  who  does  not  see 
that  now,  when  Christ  has  been  fully  manifested,  it  would  be 
mere  folly  in  us  to  adhere  to  them  still  ?  even  as,  if  seeing  and 
having  in  hand  the  very  body  of  a  thing,  we  should  occupy 
ourselves  in  following  after  and  embracing  the  shadow  of  it  ? 
Precisely  such  was  the  extravagance  of  these  false  teachers 
who  are  here  noted  by  Paul  ;  and.  such  also  is  the  error  of  all 
those  who,  upon  similar  pretences,  impose  laws  upon  christians 
concerning  the  use  of,  or  abstinence  from,  such  things  as  are 
in  their  nature  indifferent.  And  it  is  in  this  matter,  for  one, 
that  our  adversaries  of  Rome  are  infinitely  to  blame  ;  who, 
notwithstanding  the  reason  of  the  things  themselves,  and  the 
clear  doctrine  of  this  great  apostle,  both  in  this  place  and  ia 
many  others,  have  made  and  constituted  no  less  a  number  of 
laws,  about  the  distinction  of  days  and  meats,  than  were  among 
the  Jews  themselves.  They  have  marked  more  than  half  of 
the  days  of  the  year,  some  with  black,  and  others  with  white. 
I  call  those  marked  black  which  they  have  devoted  to  the  sad- 
ness of  fasts  and  abstinences,  as  all  the  Fridays  and  Saturdays 
of  the  year,  the  Ember  weeks,  the  Rogation-days,  the  Advent, 
the  Eves,  and  Lent.  Those  marked  with  white  are  such  as 
they  consecrate  to  joy,  as  that  great  throng  of  holy-days  which 
they  disperse  through  all  the  four  seasons.  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Father  of  eternity,  has  made  his  disciples  free  from  the  laws 
of  time,  raising  them  up  above  the  heavens,  which  make  and 
measure  it.  But  these  men  put  them  in  subjection  to  days  and 
months,  and  reduce  them  under  the  yoke  of  the  Jews,  and 
make  their  piety  to  depend  upon  the  almanac.  If  they  do  not 
observe  all  the  days  of  the  year  ;  if  they  fast  not  one  day  ; 
if  they  eat  not  on  another  ;  if  on  one  they  do  not  perform 
penance  ;  if  they  make  not  mirth  on  another  ;  though  upon 
the  former  they  should  have  cause  to  rejoice  in  God,  and  upon 
the  latter  to  afflict  themselves  for  their  sins  or  their  sufferings, 
they  commit  a  heinous  sin,  though  they  did  it  without  con- 
tempt or  scandal.  Was  there  ever  a  discipline  less  reasonable, 
or  more  contrary  to  the  doctrine  of  Paul,  who  would  not  have 
christians  condemned  for  the  distinction  of  a  festival  day,  of 
a  new  moon,  or  of  the  sabbaths  ;  who  reprehends  the  Gala- 


882  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVII. 

tians  for  their  observing  "  days,  and  months,  and  times,  and 
years,"  Gal.  iv.  10  ;  and  counts  it  for  a  weakness  in  faith  to 
esteem  "  one  day  above  another  ?"   Eom.  xiv.  5. 

Neither  may  it  be  replied  here,  that  we  also  discriminate 
Sundays,  and  Easter,  and  Christmas,  and  Pentecost.  We  ob- 
serve them  for  order's  sake,  not  for  religion  ;  for  the  polity  of 
the  church,  and  not  upon  scruples  of  devotion.*  For  what  a 
confusion  there  would  be,  if  we  had  no  days  appointed  for  the 
assembling  of  the  faithful  !  It  is  for  our  mutual  edification,  and 
not  for  the  worth  and  value  of  the  days  themselves,  that  we 
observe  them  ;  and,  as  St.  Hierom  said,  not  that  the  day  on 
which  we  assemble  is  more  holy  or  more  glorious  than  an- 
other, but  because  on  whatever  day  we  assemble,  it  is  a  conso- 
lation to  us  to  behold  ourselves  all  jointly  employed  in  holy 
exercises.  Generally,  all  days  to  us  are  equal  ;  as  uniform 
parts  of  the  same  time,  which  flow  on  by  the  order  of  one  and 
the  same  Lord,  and  are  all  employable  to  his  glory  :  but  the 
necessity  and  infirmity  of  this  poor  life  constrain  us  to  divide 
and  part  them  out  for  various  uses.  If  it  be  thus,  0  adversa- 
ries, that  you  discriminate  days,  I  shall  confess  I  have  done 
wrong  to  accuse  you  of  acting  contrary  to  the  doctrine  of  Paul. 
But  who  knows  not  that  it  is  a  devotion  for  days,  and  not  the 
profit  of  men,  that  makes  you  observe  them  ?  You  believe 
that  you  do  God's  service  in  this  very  thing,  that  you  feast  one 
day,  and  fast  another.  You  give  it  to  the  dignity  of  the  day, 
and  not  to  the  necessity  of  order,  or  to  your  edification  ; 
neither  do  you  esteem  days  alike.  Those  which  you  observe 
you  set  up  ver}"-  high  above  others,  not  only  on  account  of  the 
command  of  the  church,  but  because  they  have  the  honour  to 
represent  and  signify  some  mysterious  thing.  Accordingly, 
you  hold  that,  besides  the  use  which  festivals  may  be  of  for 
your  instruction,  and  your  having  time  for  works  of  piety, 
your  very  solemnization  of  them  is  a  religious  act,  such  as 
makes  up  a  part  of  divine  service,  and  is,  as  you  say,  merito- 
rious in  the  sight  of  God  ;  which  is  exactly  the  opinion  and  the 
practice  of  those  whom  the  apostle  in  this  place  opposes.  For 
they  condemned  christians,  not  for  absence  from  the  assembly 
of  the  church  on  the  day  appointed,  or  for  having  profaned 
such  hours  in  the  world  as  were  destined  to  the  service  of  God, 
or  for  having  scandalized  their  neighbour  by  this  kind  of 
fault;  but  only  and  precisely,  as  you  do,  for  not  having  cele- 
brated a  festival  day. 

What  shall  I  say  of  the  other  point,  namely,  the  use  of,  and 
abstinence  from,  meats?  The  apostle  says,  "Let  no  man  judge 
you  in  meat."  In  conscience,  dare  you  affirm  that  you  judge 
none  of  the  faithful  in  this  respect?     What  mean  then  those 

*  It  is  much  to  be  reo:retted,  that  the  author  should  have  been  so  influenced 
by  the  prevailing  opinions  of  the  times,  as  not  to  distinguish  the  Sabbath  above 
other  festivals,  as  a  divine  institution  of  perpetual  obligation. — Ed.  Près.  Bd. 


CHAP.   II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  883 

rigorous  laws  of  yours  against  those  who  eat  any  flesh — those 
laws  of  yours  which  deprive  christians  of  this  liberty  for  more 
than  one  third  of  the  year,  and  condemn  that  man  who,  during 
all  this  time,  shall  taste  one  morsel  of  beef  or  mutton,  to  pen- 
alties as  heavy  as  if  he  had  committed  a  deadly  sin  ?  You  are 
come  so  far,  that  you  look  not  upon  those  who  violate  these 
fine  laws  as  sinners  ;  you  abhor  them  as  profane  persons  and 
atheists,  and  count  them  not  for  christians.  Is  this  a  grave 
and  holy  discipline,  worthy  of  Paul  and  Jesus  Christ,  to  make 
the  service  of  God  to  consist  in  meat;  neither  the  abstinence 
nor  use  of  which  (as  reason  shows  every  one,  and  as  our  Sa- 
viour and  his  apostle  teach.  Matt.  xv.  ;  1  Cor.  viii.  8  ;  Eom. 
xiv.  17)  pollutes  or  sanctifies,  or  produces  loss  or  gain — it 
being  a  thing  purely  indifferent  in  itself,  good  or  evil  only  as 
it  hurts  or  helps  the  interest  of  temperance  and  charity  ?  But 
we  shall  have  shortly  a  fitter  occasion  to  speak  to  you  at  large 
upon  this  subject. 

For  the  present,  beloved  brethren,  make  your  profit,  I  be- 
seech you,  of  Paul's  instruction.  Use  the  liberty  which  the 
Lord  Jesus  has  obtained  for  you,  as  his  apostle  declares.  It  is 
not  reasonable  that  men  should  take  away  what  God  has  given 
you,  and  bought  with  the  precious  blood  of  his  Son.  Only  see 
that  you  take  not  this  liberty  for  an  occasion  to  live  after  the 
flesh.  Gal.  V.  13.  Lay  by  shadows,  since  you  are  no  longer 
children  ;  but  embrace  the  body  which  is  in  Jesus  Christ.  His 
kingdom  is  neither  meat  nor  drink  ;  and  no  one  will  he  con- 
demn for  having  eaten  any  of  the  things  which  he  has  created 
for  the  faithful  to  use  with  thanksgiving.  If  he  formerly  pro- 
hibited some  of  them,  it  was  to  delineate  and  portray  by  this 
fleshly  abstinence  that  body  which  is  mystical  and  spiritual, 
into  which  he  has  shaped  you  by  his  cross.  Your  abstinence, 
christian,  is  to  renounce  the  meat  that  perisheth,  to  loathe  the 
passions  and  productions  of  vice,  on  which  the  world  feeds. 
It  nourishes  itself  with  the  works  of  sin.  Avarice,  and  ambi- 
tion, and  injustice,  and  luxury,  and  the  filth  of  wantonness, 
and  the  infamous  sweets  of  revenge,  are  the  aliments  after 
which  it  runs,  and  without  which  it  cannot  live.  This  is,  O 
ye  faithful,  that  flesh  the  use  of  which  is  forbidden  you.  This 
is  the  Lent  which  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles  have  in  truth 
enjoined,  a  Lent  to  be  observed,  not  forty  days  only,  but  all 
the  year  long  ;  even  that  we  abhor  what  is  evil  ;  that  we  es- 
chew vice,  as  poison  ;  that  our  lives  be  pure,  and  innocent,  and 
clean  from  all  the  filthiness  of  the  flesh.  This  is  in  truth  that 
abstinence  which  makes  a  christian,  and  without  which  no  man 
can  have  place  among  the  members  of  Christ  :  "For  they  that 
are  Christ's  have  crucified  the  flesh  with  the  affections  and 
lusts,"  Gal.  v.  24  "  The  world  is  crucified"  to  them,  chap.  vi. 
14.    Its  provisions,  its  pleasures,  its  allurements,  are  had  in 


•^3^  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVII. 

execration  of  them.  Whoever  properly  fasts  this  Lent  shall 
have  part  in  the  resurrection  of  Christ  Jesus.  Not  a  man  shall 
attain  thereto  in  any  other  way.  Prosecute  it  in  good  earnest, 
christian  souls,  and  powerfully  mortify  in  yourselves  all  the 
lusts  of  this  accursed  flesh,  which  perishes  itself,  and  will  cause 
all  those  likewise  to  perish  who  desire  its  delights,  and  cannot 
wean  themselves  from  its  deadly  dainties.  See  what  Jesus 
Christ  has  done  and  suffered  for  its  destruction.  See  the  ex- 
cellency of  that  other  divine  food  on  which  he  would  have  you 
live.  Your  true  food  is  to  fulfil  the  will  of  his  Father.  This 
is  the  food  of  the  Prince  of  glory,  and  of  all  his  angels  ;  food 
that  is  holy  and  immortal  ;  which  will  leave  in  your  souls  a 
divine  relish  and  contentment,  much  better  than  all  the  feasts 
on  earth  ;  and  after  the  consolations  with  which  it  will  solidly 
strengthen  your  consciences  in  this  life,  it  will  eternally  repast 
you  in  the  heavens  with  the  delights  of  blissful  immortality. 

Brethren,  this  is  the  body,  of  which  the  abstinence  of  the 
Jews  was  the  shadow  and  delineation  only.  As  for  their 
festivals,  they  were  also  figures:  verily,  not  of  those  in  Rome 
(which,  to  say  the  truth,  are  mere  shadows  and  weak  represen- 
tations themselves,  no  less  than  these  of  the  Jews  ;  only  they 
are  instituted  by  men,  whereas  the  Jewish  were  ordained  of 
God)  ;  they  were,  I  say,  figures  of  the  resting  and  spiritual 
contentment  of  the  faithful.  Our  festival  (as  one  of  the  ancients 
formerly  answered  a  pagan,  who  reproached  christians  for  their 
having  none*)  is  to  do  our  duty  ;  to  worship  God,  and  offer  him 
the  bloodless  sacrifices  of  our  holy  supplications;  to  rest  from 
our  own  works,  and  entirely  sequester  ourselves  to  the  work 
of  God  ;  to  exterminate  from  among  us  that  really  servile  and 
mechanical  labour  of  vicious  actions,  and  spend  our  lives  in 
the  truly  noble  and  divine  exercise  of  sanctification.  Our 
passover  is  to  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Lamb,  to  make  use  of  his 
blood,  to  pass  out  of  Egypt  unto  Canaan,  out  of  the  world 
unto  God,  and  from  earth  to  heaven;  leaving  the  things  that 
are  behind,  and  advancing  daily  towards  the  mark  and  prize  of 
our  calling.  Our  pentecost  is  to  converse  with  Christ  in  heaven- 
ly places,  to  think  and  meditate  on  him,  and  to  receive  from  his 
hand  the  divine  fire  of  his  Spirit,  that  we  may  speak  of  his 
wonderful  works.  Our  feast  of  tabernacles  is  to  live  as  strangers 
in  the  world,  without  cleaving  to  it,  still  aspiring  unto 
Jerusalem  which  is  above,  the  mother  and  the  city  of  the  faith- 
ful. Oar  new  moons  are  the  praise  we  continually  sound  forth 
unto  God,  not  with  silver  trumpets,  but  with  heart  and  under- 
standing. Finally,  our  sabbath  is  to  do  not  our  own  will,  but 
the  will  of  God  ;  repressing  and  restraining  the  motions  and 
sentiments  of  our  nature,  that  space  may  be  left  for  Christ  to 

*  Origen  against  Celsus,  1.  8,  p.  404. 


CHAP,  II.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  385 

work  in  us,  so  that  it  may  not  be  we  that  live,  but  Christ  wha 
liveth  in  us. 

This  is,  christians,  that  true  body  which  was  formerly 
represented  by  the  Jewish  shadows.  These  are  your  festivals, 
your  solemnities,  and  your  devotions.  Keep  them  holy,  and 
celebrate  them  religiously.  It  is  the  great  Prince  of  your 
salvation  who  has  instituted  and  consecrated  them.  He  re- 
commends them  to  you  everywhere  in  his  gospel  ;  and  has  in- 
dissolubly  bound  you  to  them  by  that  death,  the  remembrance 
of  which  we  are  to  celebrate  next  Lord's  day.  If  you  acquit 
yourselves  worthily  herein,  be  assured  that  after  that  stay 
which  for  a  time  you  make  here  below,  he  will  raise  you  up  to 
heaven,  there  to  celebrate  with  him  and  his  angels  that  last  mysti- 
cal feast  of  the  great  day,  which,  rising  at  the  point  of  our  resur- 
rection, shall  not  go  down  for  ever  but  shine  eternally,  and 
render  us  happy  in  the  fruition  of  that  life  and  immortal  glory 
which  was  prepared  for  us  before  the  foundation  of  the  world. 
So  be  it. 


SERMON  XXVIII. 

VERSE   18. 

Let  no  man  beguile  you  of  your  reward  in  a  voluntary  humility 
and  loor shipping  of  angels,  intruding  into  those  things  which  he 
hath  not  seen,  vainly  'puffed  up  hy  his  fleshly  mind. 

Dear  brethren,  it  is  a  thing  exceedingly  strange,  and  which 
shows  the  extreme  corruption  of  our  nature  more  sensibly  than 
any  other,  that  men  should  have  so  vehement  and  invincible  a 
passion  for  the  service  of  creatures.  God,  the  sovereign  Lord 
both  of  them  and  of  the  universe,  manifested  himself  clearly  to 
them,  causing  the  illustrious  and  glorious  marks  of  his  good- 
ness, and  wisdom,  and  infinite  power  to  shine  forth  every 
where,  above  and  beneatl:  upon  and  about  them;  yea,  bringing 
them  home  even  to  thei;  aearts  ;  and  giving  them  a  feeling  of 
him,  by  the  innumeral-ie  benefits  which  he  pours  out  con- 
tinually upon  all  parts  of  their  lives.  In  short,  he  showed 
himself,  and  drew  near,  and  represented  himself  in  so  lively  a 
manner  to  their  understanding  and  perceptions,  that  they  could 
not  (if  I  may  presume  so  to  speak)  be  ignorant  of  him  if  they 
would.  Besides  all  this,  he  vouchsafed  to  reveal  himself  to 
them  at  the  beginning  in  a  particular  manner;  speaking 
familiarly  to  Adam  and  Noah,  and  others  of  the  primitive 
49 


886  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXVIII. 

patriarchs,  who  were  the  sources  of  the  first  and  second  world. 
You  are  aware,  however,  that  notwithstanding  all  these  lights, 
the  rage  of  that  passion  Avhich  men  had  for  idolatry  was  so 
violent,  that  it  made  them  forget  all  those  holy  and  admirable 
displays  of  the  Deity  ;  and  induced  them,  instead  of  their  great 
and  abundantly  good  and  omnipotent  Creator,  blessed  for  ever, 
to  serve  the  creature  ;  and  their  frenzy  rose  to  such  a  height, 
that  besides  the  luminaries  of  heaven,  and  the  invisible  powers 
which  govern  them  ;  besides  kings,  and  sages,  and  persons 
whom  worth  or  authority  had  raised  above  others  ;  they  were 
not  ashamed  to  adore  things  of  the  lowest  order  in  nature,  such 
as  beasts,  plants,  and  elements  ;  and  to  complete  their  extrava- 
gance, they  added  to  all  the  rest  images  and  figures,  things  ab- 
solutely insensible  and  unprofitable;  changing,  as  the  apostle 
says,  "  the  glory  of  the  uncorruptible  God  into  an  image  made 
like  to  corruptible  man,  and  to  birds,  and  four-footed  beasts, 
and  creeping  things,"  Rom.  i.  23. 

This  brutish  error  having  overwhelmed  all  mankind,  the 
Lord  was  so  gracious  that  he  drew  Abraham  out  of  it,  as  a 
brand  out  of  a  universal  conflagration  ;  and  afterwards,  mani- 
festing himself  more  clearly  unto  his  posterity  by  the  ministry 
of  Moses  and  giving  them  his  law,  he  raised  up  amidst  this 
people  a  public  testimony  of  his  truth,  against  the  general  mis- 
demeanour of  the  world,  fulminating  thousands  of  maledictions 
against  all  such  as  served  creatures.  But  the  love  of  idolatry 
was  so  strong,  that  it  broke  this  bar  of  heaven,  and  violated 
this  divine  declaration  ;  which  proved  to  be  so  far  from  re- 
ducing the  nations  to  their  duty,  that  it  could  not  keep  the 
very  Israelites  in  theirs;  but  they,  as  we  learn  by  their  history, 
often  gave  up  themselves  to  worship  the  creature.  At  last, 
after  so  many  significations  of  his  mind,  God  sent  his  only 
begotten,  the  Sun  of  righteousness  and  truth,  into  the  world, 
who  opened  to  us  the  manner  and  the  reasons  and  causes  of 
the  worship  of  God,  and  fully  discovered  that  of  which  the 
Gentiles  were  ignorant  on  account  of  their  stupidity,  and  the 
Jews  but  imperfectly  knew  in  their  minority.  Now  who 
would  think  that  so  shameful  and  gross  an  error  as  the  worship 
of  creatures  should  have  the  shamelessness  to  show  itself  in  so 
noble  and  so  glorious  a  light  ?  Yet  you  know  this  wretched 
passion  found  the  means  to  gratify  itself;  bringing  in,  by  de- 
grees, under  various  vain  but  plausible  pretences,  the  worship 
of  angels  and  men  among  christians.  But,  however,  it  is  not 
strange  that  a  corruption  should  gain  such  ground  in  the  latter 
ages,  when  it  was  favoured  by  a  universal  ignorance,  by  a 
decay  of  truth,  and  by  the  depravity  of  men  ;  such  a  thing  fre- 
'quently  happens  in  their  discipline  and  constitutions  ;  generally, 
as  they  go  on  they  grow  worse.  That  which  surpasses  all 
astonishment  is,  that  in  the  time  and  under  the  eyes  of  the  holy 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  387 

apostles  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  there  should  be  men  found 
of  so  impudent  a  spirit  as  to  promote  so  vile  an  error  in  the 
profession  of  Christianity.  We  should  scarcely  be  able  to  be- 
lieve it,  if  Paul  did  not  give  us  that  testimony  respecting  it 
which  we  have  just  read  to  you.  And  God  permitted  it,  as 
well  to  exercise  and  prove  the  primitive  church  as  to  confirm 
ours  ;  this  occasion  having  here  drawn  from  the  apostle's  pen 
a  clear  and  magnificent  condemnation  of  this  abuse.  He  has 
rejected  already,  in  the  context,  those  observances  which  the 
false  teachers,  whom  he  opposes,  had  taken  from  the  Mosaic 
law  ;  now  he  refutes  those  which  they  had  borrowed  from  the 
philosophers  of  the  world.  For,  as  we  shall  show  presently, 
that  worshipping  of  angels  which  these  men  would  have  in- 
troduced among  christians  was  a  fruit  and  an  invention  of 
heathen  philosophy.  Paul  strikes  down  this  vain  impiety  in 
a  few  words.  "  Let  no  man  beguile  you  of  your  reward  in  a 
voluntary  humility  and  worshipping  of  angels,  intruding  into 
those  things  which  he  hath  not  seen,  vainly  puffed  up  by  his 
fleshly  mind." 

Dear  brethren,  here  is  a  remarkable  sentence  pronounced, 
which  overthrows,  in  express  words,  all  the  worship  that  the 
superstition  of  men,  whether  ancient  or  modern,  attributes 
unto  creatures  ;  it  being  clear  that  there  is  not  one  of  them 
whom  we  can  lawfully  serve  in  religion,  since  the  apostle 
forbids  us  to  serve  the  angels  themselves,  who  are,  without 
contradiction,  of  all  creatures  the  most  excellent.  You  know 
the  interest  we  have  in  this  affair  ;  those  of  Rome  anathema- 
tizing us,  because,  being  content  to  adore  and  serve  God  our 
Creator  and  Redeemer  only,  we  refuse  to  render  unto  angels 
and  departed  saints  that  religious  worship,  and  those  divine 
honours,  which  they  decree  and  prefer  daily  to  them,  to  the 
great  prejudice  of  the  glory  of  God  and  the  irreparable  offence 
of  men.  Let  us  therefore  exactly  consider  this  oracle  of  the 
holy  apostle  ;  and  that  we  may  leave  nothing  in  it  behind  us, 
we  must  see,  first,  what  the  doctrine  of  those  seducers  is  which, 
he  condemns.  He  expresses  it  in  these  words,  "  Let  no  man 
beguile  you  of  your  reward  in  a  voluntary  humility  and  wor- 
shipping of  angels."  And  then  we  are  to  examine,  in  the 
second  place,  the  marks  which  he  gives  these  false  teachers  ; 
these  are  contained  in  the  following  words,  "  intruding  into 
those  things  which  he  hath  not  seen,  vainly  puffed  up  by  his 
fleshly  mind,  and  not  holding  the  Head."  But  we  will  satisfy 
ourselves,  for  the  present,  with  the  former  of  these  parts,  re- 
mitting the  second  to  another  opportunity,  on  account  of  the 
cavils  and  inventions  which  our  adversaries  make  use  of  to 
corrupt  this  passage,  and  which  we  must  refute  as  briefly  as 
we  can. 

I.  The  word  that  Paul   uses  at   the  commencement,  and 


388  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVIII. 

which  we  have  translated  "  beguile,"  is  difficult,  and  seldom 
found  in  the  authors  of  the  Greek  tongue.  St.  Hierom,  one 
of  the  most  learned  of  the  ancients,  says  it  was  peculiar  to  the 
country  of  Cilicia  ;*  of  which  Paul  was  a  native,  he  being 
born  at  Tarsus,  the  capital  city  of  that  province.  However 
this  may  be,  the  derivation  of  the  word  is  clear,  and  suffi- 
ciently expresses  what  is  nearly  its  signification.  For  those 
who  understand  the  Greek  know  that  this  term  comes  from 
another,  which  signifies  the  reward  that  was  given  to  those 
who  won  the  victory  in  those  games,  or  combats  for  prizes  at 
which  certain  judges  and  moderators  at  that  time  presided, 
who  had  the  superintendence  of  the  whole  business,  regula- 
ting and  bounding  the  race,  assigning  the  ground,  and  receiv- 
ing the  champions  into  it,  judging  of  their  courses  and  com- 
bats, proclaiming  that  man  victorious  to  whom  they  yielded 
the  advantage,  and  solemnly  putting  a  crown  upon  his  head. 
Consequently,  they  were  called  by  a  name  that  signifies.  Giv- 
ers of  the  reward;  and  the  term,  which  signifies  what  they 
did  on  such  occasions,  is  generally  used  to  express  governing, 
regulating,  ruling,  and  having  the  superintendence  of  a  mat- 
ter. It  is  expressly  from  this  term  that  that  which  the  apos- 
tle uses  here  is  formed  ;  except  that  it  seems  to  signify  govern- 
ing and  ordering,  not  simply,  but  to  the  prejudice  and  damage 
of  the  person  concerned.  Therefore  some  have  thought  that 
Paul,  comparing  here  the  faithful  to  racers,  or  combatants,  as 
he  very  often  does,  exhorts  them  not  to  let  the  prize,  or  re- 
ward of  the  victory,  be  taken  from  them  by  the  artifice  of 
seducers,  who  made  it  their  business  to  turn  them  out  of  the 
true  and  lawful  lists  of  their  race,  which  are  no  other  than  be- 
lieving and  obeying  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel  ;  and  to  cause 
them  to  enter  into  another  career,  namely,  that  of  their  own 
inventions  and  services  ;  in  the  same  sense  that  he  said  to  the 
Galatians,  who  were  injured  by  a  similar  impostor,  "  Ye  did 
run  well  ;  who  did  hinder  you  that  ye  should  not  obey  the 
truth  ?"  chap.  v.  7.  If  this  exposition  were  as  well  adapted  to 
the  apostle's  phrase  as  it  is  to  his  sense,  it  would  be  excellent  ; 
showing  us  how  this  serving  of  angels  here  forbidden  is  an 
error  of  no  small  importance,  since  it  causes  those  who  turn 
aside  unto,  or  employ  themselves  in  it,  to  lose  the  prize  of 
their  heavenly  calling. 

The  Latin  interpreter,  canonized  by  those  of  Eome,  having 
respect  to  the  eflect  of  such  false  doctrine,  namely,  the  driving 
of  the  faithful  out  of  the  right  way,  translates  it  simply,  Let 
no  man  seduce  you.  There  is  no  occasion  to  introduce  the 
interpretations  of  others.  But  I  affirm  that  there  can  be 
hardly  found  an  expression  more  proper,  more  suitable,  and 

*  Ep.  ad  Alg.  9,  10. 


CHAP.  II.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  389 

agreeing  better  with  either  the  term  or  the  scope  of  the  apostle, 
than  that  of  the  French  Bible,  Let  no  man  master  it  over  you  ; 
which  naturally  expresses  the  magisterial  authority  which 
these  seducers  assumed  to  themselves  ;  enjoining  and  com- 
manding their  fancies  to  the  faithful,  as  if  they  had  been  in- 
stalled superintendents  of  their  religion  and  their  lives  ;  and 
giving  them  to  understand  that,  without  practising  what  they 
prescribed,  it  was  not  possible  to  obtain  the  prize  of  their 
high  calling.  By  this  the  apostle  gives  them  a  blow,  and 
renders  them  ridiculous,  as  men  who,  having,  in  truth,  no 
lawful  authority,  would,  nevertheless,  cause  it  be  believed 
that  they  had  ;  and  spake  and  commanded  with  as  much  confi- 
dence as  if  it  belonged  to  them  to  distribute  the  crown  of 
heaven  at  the  last  day,  or  that  they  had  it  already  in  their 
hands  to  impart  to  whom  it  should  seem  to  them  good.  But 
that  which  Paul  adds  exposes  their  folly  still  more  ;  Let  no 
man  master  it  over  you,  at  his  pleasure,  or  at  his  will  ;  which 
may  be  referred  either  to  their  office  or  to  their  doctrine,  or, 
as  Ï  think,  to  them  both.  To  their  office  ;  meaning  that  they 
are  voluntary  superintendents,  and  that  their  own  will  alone, 
not  the  voice  of  God  or  men,  elevated  them  to  this  pretended 
mastership  ;  well  nigh  as  the  Koman  orator  calls  a  certain 
man  a  voluntary  senator,  who  thrust  himself  into  the  rank  of 
the  senators,  but  had  no  right  to  be  there,  having  been  elected 
only  by  himself.  But  this  respects  also  their  doctrine,  and 
signifies  that  the  worshipping  of  angels,  which  they  com- 
manded, was  founded  merely  on  their  own  good  pleasure,  and 
not  upon  any  precept  of  God  ;  that  their  will  alone  was  the 
reason  and  ground  of  it,  not  the  will  of  the  Lord  ;  that  it  was 
nothing  but  an  imagination  of  their  own  head,  and  a  fruit 
either  of  their  folly  or  their  malice.  Whence  we  may  observe, 
by  the  way,  that  those  who  teach  in  the  church  ought  to  set 
forth  nothing  but  what  is  founded  on  the  word  of  God.  "  To 
the  law  and  to  the  testimony  :  if  they  speak  not  according  to 
this  word,  it  is  because  there  is  no  light  in  them,"  Isa.  viii.  20. 
This  rule  is  enough  to  cashier  all  the  doctrines  of  Eome 
which  we  contest  with  her.  For  if  you  examine  their  wor- 
shipping of  saints  and  angels,  their  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  their 
papal  monarchy,  and  other  similar  opinions,  you  will  find 
that  they  have  no  foundation  but  their  will  ;  and  when  they  are 
pressed,  they  go  so  far  themselves,  and  boldly  assert  that  they 
are  judges  of  all  things,  judges  of  the  faith  of  men,  and  of  the 
Scriptures  of  God  ;  and  that  a  declaration  of  their  popes  ought 
to  suffice  for  the  reason  of  anything,  into  which  also  their 
whole  religion  and  belief  is  finally  resolved.  So  that  if  ever 
there  was  a  generation  of  whom  it  might  be  said  that  they 
mastered  it  over  the  faithful,  at  their  pleasure,  without  doubt 
it  is  they,  who  call  themselves  their  judges,  their  lords,  and 


Sdiï'  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVIII.. 

their  monarchs  ;  who  make  their  will  to  pass  with  them  for 
the  supreme  law  of  the  church  ;  who  obtrude  upon  them  aa 
endless  multitude  of  traditions  and  services,  upon  the  sole 
credit  of  their  good  pleasure  ;  and  undertake  to  distribute  to 
them  the  rewards  of  their  piety  after  their  death,  merely  ac- 
cording to  their  fancy  ;  exalting  some  to  be  saints,  others  to 
be  beatified  ;  ordaining  for  some  the  service  of  hyperduUa,  for 
others  of  simple  dtdia  (as  they  call  it)  ;  commissioning  some 
to  be  over  one  country  or  city,  or  over  one  sort  of  diseases  or 
afiairs,  and  others  over  another  ;  (as  kings  distribute,  accord- 
ing to  their  good  pleasure,  the  honours,  charges,  and  dignities 
of  their  state  ;)  while  they  cannot  produce,  for  one  particle 
of  all  this,  any  command  or  foundation  from  the  word  of 
God. 

But  let  us  come  to  our  apostle,  who  declares,  in  that  which 
follows,  what  the  discipline  was  which  these  voluntary  masters 
of  the  faithful  pretended  to  impose  upon  them  :  "  Let  no  man," 
says  he,  "  master  it  over  you  by  a  voluntary  humility  and  wor- 
shipping of  angels."  In  these  words  he  shows  us  what  it  is  to 
which  they  would  oblige  christians,  namely,  the  worship  of 
angels  ;  and  what  was  the  pretext  upon  which  they  promoted 
this  new  service,  namely,  a  humility  of  spirit  :  as  for  the  for- 
mer, the  word  used  in  the  original  signifies  not  in  general  all 
kind  of  service,  but  particularly  that  of  religion  ;  whence  the 
Latin  interpreter  renders  it,  "the  religion  of  angels."  This 
religious  service  comprehends  in  it  those  pieces  of  worship  and 
those  ceremonies  which  are  performed  to  the  Deity,  and  the 
actions  by  which  homage  is  done  to  him  in  that  character,  as 
adoration,  invocation,  thanksgiving,  trust,  and  such  others. 
The  meaning  of  these  men,  therefore,  was,  that  besides  that  su- 
preme worship  which  christians  render  to  God  the  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Spirit,  they  should  serve  angels  also,  as  their  media- 
tors and  intercessors  with  God,  and  that  under  this  character 
they  should  address  prayers,  and  thanksgivings,  and  other  du- 
ties of  religion  to  them.  This  was  their  error.  The  pretext 
which  they  used  to  authorize  this  service  was  a  humility  of 
spirit;  alleging  that  we  are  too  unworthy  to  present  ourselves 
directly  to  God,  and  address  ourselves  to  so  sublime  a  Majesty, 
and  also  that  Jesus  Christ,  being  the  Son  of  God,  and  God  with 
him  blessed  for  ever,  it  would  be  presumption  in  us  to  present 
ourselves  immediately  to  him;  whereupon  they  concluded  that 
we  must  have  recourse  to  angels,  who  are  middle  natures  be- 
tween God  and  us,  to  the  end  that  they,  receiving  our  prayers, 
may  present  them  to  our  common  Sovereign,  and  interceding 
with  him  on  our  behalf  may  obtain  access  for  us  to  his  other- 
wise inaccessible  throne.  Such  were  the  false  and  plausible 
pretences  with  which  these  people  painted  over  their  tradition. 

Upon  which  you  may  observe,  first,  in  general,  that  the  al- 


.CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  391 

leging  of  some  specious  and  plausible  reasons  is  not  sufficient 
to  authorize  a  worship  or  an  observance  in  religion.  All  that 
is  proposed  to  us  on  this  subject  must  be  founded  on  the  word 
of  God,  who  alone  has  the  wisdom  and  authority  necessary  for 
settling  the  doctrines  of  religion.  For  if  we  once  license  the 
mind  of  man  to  rely  upon  its  own  imaginations,  there  is  no 
error  nor  extravagance  upon  which  it  will  not  put  some  colour. 
Surely  the  discourse  of  these  seducers  is  not  destitute  of  show; 
for  men  have  found  so  much  of  that  in  it,  that  both  heathens, 
and  the  heretics  which  have  troubled  Christianity,  and  indeed 
those  of  Eorae,  have  all  of  them  used  it  to  colour  their  super- 
stitions. Yet  you  see  the  apostle,  without  dwelling  at  all  upon 
this  vain  lustre,  without  deigning  even  so  much  as  to  examine 
it,  rejects  and  absolutely  condemns  that  service  for  the  promo- 
tion of  which  it  was  designed  ;  only  because  such  service  was 
not  ordained  of  God,  but  founded  solely  on  the  will  of  men. 
Let  this  example  make  us  wise  to  abhor  and  refuse,  without 
delay,  whatever  men  would  introduce  into  religion  without  the 
order  and  the  word  of  God.  Let  us  not  for  a  moment  regard 
those  gaudy  reasons  with  which  they  endeavour  to  paint  over 
their  inventions.  Let  us  not  so  much  as  hearken  to  them.  It 
is  a  sufficient  warrant  for  the  rejection  of  their  services  that 
they  are  not  ordained  in  the  word  of  God.  From  this  alone  it 
follows  that  they  assuredly  are  vain  and  unprofitable  ;  neither 
is  there  any  pretext,  however  specious,  that  can  or  ought  to 
authorize  in  religion  a  thing  that  God  has  not  appointed. 

Again,  you  see  here,  in  particular,  that  that  humility  of  spirit 
with  Avhich  our  adversaries  at  this  day  colour  over  the  services 
they  perform  to  angels  and  saints,  is  but  an  old  paint  which 
ancient  heretics  used  for  bad  purposes,  and  the  apostle  long 
ago  expressly  rejects  ;  so  that  it  is  not  only  a  vanity,  but  an 
impudence,  for  them  to  avail  themselves  of  a  thing  so  con- 
demned. Let  them  cease  to  allege  that  we  are  too  poor  to  pre- 
sent ourselves  directly  to  God  ;  let  them  forbear  to  lay  before 
us  the  courts  of  earthly  kings,  where  men  make  use  of  the  me- 
diation of  officers  before  they  speak  to  the  princes  themselves, 
to  infer  therefrom  that  we  must  make  use  of  the  intercession 
of  saints  and  angels  in  a  similar  manner,  that  they  may  lead  us 
to  God,  and  present  to  him  our  persons  and  requests.  Paul 
has  blasted  all  this  artifice  ;  and  they  should  be  ashamed  to 
use  a  pretext  which  the  first  heretics  took  up  to  cover  their 
errors,  and  which  this  great  apostle  has  manifestly  taken  from 
them.  In  truth,  all  this  pretended  humility  of  spirit,  with 
which  these  people  mask  themselves,  is  but  a  cover  of  real  pre- 
sumption, which,  disdaining  to  be  subject  to  the  commands  of 
God,  would  serve  him  after  its  own  fancy,  and  not  as  he  has 
appointed.  It  is  like  the  humility  of  Ahaz,  who  haughtily  re- 
fused the  grace  which  the  goodness  of  the  Lord  offered  to  him, 


sits  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVIII. 

upon  pretence  that  he  would  not  tempt  him,  Isa.  vii.  11,  12. 
God,  in  his  great  mercy,  gives  us  his  Son  Jesus  to  be  our  Me- 
diator ;  he  humbles  himself,  and  is  made  man,  that  he  might 
be  more  accessible  unto  us.  He  proclaims  in  a  thousand  places 
that  he  is  the  "  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life  ;"  and  that  "  no 
man  cometh  to  the  Father,  but  by  him,"  John  xiv.  6  ;  that  it  is 
he  by  "  whom  we  have  boldness  and  access  with  confidence  by 
the  faith  of  him,"  Eph.  iii,  12.  He  calls  us  unto  himself:  "  Come 
unto  me,  and  I  will  give  you  rest,"  Matt.  xi.  28.  And  his  mini- 
sters not  only  permit  us  to  go  to  him,  they  command  and  press 
us  to  do  so.  Let  us  go,  say  they,  with  boldness  to  "  the  throne 
of  grace,  that  we  may  obtain  mercy,  and  find  grace  to  help  in 
time  of  need,"  Heb.  iv.  16.  Instead  of  obeying  these  holy  and 
divine  calls  of  God  and  his  ministers,  you  say.  No,  I  will  not 
do  it.  I  am  not  so  presumptuous  as  to  go  either  to  God  or  to 
his  Son.  I  must  beg  the  intercession  of  angels  and  saints,  to 
present  me  before  that  Supreme  Light.  Can  this  be  anything 
but  exalting  yourself  above  God  ?  Is  it  not  a  presuming  that 
you  know  better  than  he  what  belongs  to  your  duty  and  his 
service?  Is  it  not  a  hiding  under  the  fine  words  of  a  feigned 
humility,  plain  rebellion  and  disobedience  to  his  holy  Majesty? 
which  is  in  effect  the  highest  pride  of  which  a  creature  can  be 
guilty,  since  it  is  really  a  pretending  that  you  are  wiser  than 
he,  and  that  the  way  which  he  prescribes  you  is  neither  so  good 
nor  so  reasonable  as  that  which  yoa  have  chosen.  But  let  us 
forbear  further  argument.  For  where  the  apostle  speaks,  there 
is  no  need  for  us  to  discourse.  His  authority  relies  not  on  the 
succour  of  our  reasons.  Here,  you  see,  it  is  express  against 
our  adversaries'  corrupt  usage.  He  formally  condemns  the 
thing  which  they  do.  For  they  approve  and  daily  practise 
this  service  of  angels  which  Paul  forbids,  and  ground  it  upon 
that  same  humility  of  spirit  which  he  has  condemned  and  de- 
stroyed ;  and  thus  become  doubly  culpable,  inasmuch  as  they 
not  only  rebuild,  if  I  may  so  say,  this  Jericho  of  superstition 
which  he  has  demolished,  but  also  employ  in  its  erection  the 
very  stones  which  he  has  blasted  from  heaven.  What  can 
error  say  against  so  clear  a  determination?  By  what  charms 
can  it  avert  this  flash  of  lightning  from  falling  on  its  head  ? 
Dear  brethren,  it  is  too  much  in  love  with  its  own  inventions 
to  give  glory  to  God  ;  and  will  rather  renounce  his  word,  than 
quit  its  superstitious  imaginations.  In  the  present  matter,  see- 
ing itself  pressed,  it  has  recourse  to  subtlety  ;  and  though  it 
both  maintains  and  practises  the  worship  of  angels,  and  cannot 
deny  that  the  apostle  condemns  those  who  teach  and  practise 
it,  yet  it  pretends  with  an  incredible  boldness  that  it  is  not  this 
which  the  apostle  condemns.  It  has  turned  itself  various  ways 
to  effect  this  illusion  ;  all  which,  to  say  the  truth,  have  more 
hardiness  than  art  in  them.     And,  to  begin  at  this  one,  the  most 


CHAP,  il]  the   epistle   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  893 

famous  of  its  last  advocates,  being,  as  I  tliink,  ill  satisfied  in 
his  conscience  with  the  subtlety  of  his  fellows,  has  thought  of 
a  new  gloss,  unheard  of  till  now  in  all  the  schools  of  Christian- 
ity, both  ancient  and  modern  ;  born  of  his  own  conceit  alone, 
a  very  fruitful  breeder  of  such  productions,  and  begotten  by 
mere  despair  of  his  bad  cause.  This  man  then  affirms,*  that 
Paul  means  by  this  expression,  not  (as  all  the  fathers  and  all 
the  moderns  have  believed)  the  worshipping  of  angels,  but,  as 
he  all  alone  will  have  it,  the  law  of  Moses,  First,  the  novelty 
of  this  gloss,  and  the  very  consideration  that  for  the  space  of 
near  sixteen  hundred  years  not  so  much  as  one  single  man  has 
been  found  who  was  aware  of  it,  sufficiently  shows  that  it  is 
the  heat  of  disputation,  and  not  the  truth  of  the  thing,  which 
suggested  it  to  its  author:  and  the  maxims  of  his  church  he 
evidently  renounces  too,  which  forbids  the  Scriptures  to  be  in- 
terpreted by  any  but  the  fathers  ;  whereas  he,  laying  by  their 
exposition  brings  in  one  here  that  is  not  only  undiscernible  in 
any  one  of  them,  but  also  directly  contrary  to  that  of  the  most 
renowned  of  their  number,t  who  understand  these  words  of  the 
apostle  of  the  worship  rendered  to  angels  by  those  seducers 
whom  Paul  in  this  place  opposes.  But  I  say,  moreover,  that 
it  is  for  a  good  reason  that  no  man  ever  thought  upon  it,  since 
in  very  deed  it  is  not  maintainable  ;  nor  can  it  be  made  at  all 
to  agree  either  with  the  apostle's  words,  or  with  his  scope  and 
design. 

Not  with  his  words ^  for  they  must  be  interpreted  according 
to  the  style  of  the  authors  of  that  tongue  in  which  he  writes. 
Now  there  are  but  two  or  three  places  in  Scripture  where  the 
word  used  by  the  apostle  occurs  construed  as  it  is  in  this 
place.  One  is  in  James  :  "  If  any  man  among  you  seems  to  be 
religious,  and  bridleth  not  his  tongue,  but  deceiveth  his  own 
heart,  that  man's  religion,"  or  service,  "  is  vain,"  James  i.  26. 
Another  is  in  the  book  of  the  Acts,  where  Paul  says,  that, 
from  the  beginning,  he  lived  a  Pharisee,  after  the  straitest 
sect  of  his  religion,  chap.  xxvi.  5.  The  word  is  found  again 
so  construed  in  the  book  of  Wisdom,  held  for  canonical  by 
our  adversaries,  and  which,  though  it  is  not  so  indeed,  yet  is 
written  in  the  same  language  and  style  as  those  of  the  books 
of  the  New  Testament.  This  author  makes  use  of  the  word 
in  the  same  manner.  The  abominable  service,  says  he,  or  re- 
ligion of  idols,  "  is  the  beginning,  the  cause,  and  the  end  of 
evil,"  chap.  xiv.  27.  In  all  these  places  the  religion  or  the 
service  of  any  one  signifies  either  the  service  he  does  to  some 
other,  as  in  the  two  former  passages,  or  the  service  that  is 
done  to  him  by  others,  as  in  the  latter  of  them.     Here  there- 

*  Du  Perron,  in  his  Repl.  to  K.  James,  p.  909. 
f  Chrysost.  Theodoret.  Œcumen.  Theopliylact. 
50 


89é  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVIIT. 

fore,  except  you  think  the  apostle  swerved  from  the  style  in 
which  he  wrote,  the  service  or  religion  of  angels  must  of  ne- 
cessity signify  one  of  those  two  things  ;  either  the  service 
which  the  angels  perform  to  God,  or  the  service  which  men 
perform  to  them.  The  first  of  these  two  senses  cannot  take 
place,  by  the  confession  of  our  adversaries  themselves,  and  of 
every  sober  person.  They  must  then  necessarily  admit  the 
second,  and  confess  with  us,  and  with  all  the  ancients,  that  by 
the  service  of  angels  Paul  intends,  not  the  Jewish  religion,  or 
the  law  of  Moses,  but  the  religious  service  which  these  sedu- 
cers rendered  to  angels  under  pretext  of  humility. 

Moreover,  in  what  prophet,  in  what  apostle,  in  what  ra- 
tional author,  either  ancient  or  even  modern,  have  these  men 
ever  found  this  novel  and  extravagant  manner  of  speaking, 
the  service  of  angels,  that  is  to  say,  the  Jewish  religion  ?  It 
is  called  the  law  of  God,  because  God  instituted  it  ;  the  law  of 
Moses,  because  Moses  was  the  mediator  and  minister  of  it  ;  the 
religion  or  service  of  the  Jews,  because  that  people  made 
profession  of  it;  the  elements  or  rudiments  of  the  world,  be- 
cause it  contained  but  the  alphabet,  and  the  first  and  lowest 
lessons  of  piety,  and  was  generally  affixed  to  the  corporeal 
things  of  this  world.  But  that  it  was  ever  called  the  religion 
or  service  of  angels  we  read  not.  And  as  for  that,  which 
those  people  allege  out  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  chap, 
iii.  19,  namely,  that  the  law  "  was  ordained  by  angels  in  the 
hand  of  a  mediator  ;"  and  its  being  called,  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,  chap.  ii.  2,  "  the  word  spoken  by  angels  ;"  this 
I  say  does  not  at  all  justify  their  pretension.  For  in  these 
two  places  the  apostle  declares  only  the  service  which  the 
angels  did  to  God,  when  he  gave  the  decalogue  upon  Sinai, 
where  these  heavenly  ministers  accompanied  him,  and  ordered 
all  the  pomp  of  his  admirable  manifestation  ;  forming  the 
lightnings  and  the  thunders  with  which  the  mountain  re- 
sounded, elevating  in  the  air  the  smoke  and  darkness  which 
covered  it,  shaking  its  foundations,  and  making  the  whole  of 
it  to  tremble,  and  distinguishing  the  thunders  into  those  artic- 
ulate words  which  the  mouth  of  God  itself  pronounced.  So 
far  did  the  operation  of  angels  extend,  and  no  further.  For 
as  to  the  rest,  it  was  God  that  spake  in  his  own  person  ;  "  I 
am,"  said  he  at  the  beginning,  "the  Lord  thy  God;"  and  that 
gave  and  uttered  all  the  other  precepts  which  the  Israelites 
heard  ;  so  that  the  law  or  the  religion  which  he  then  established 
might  well  be  termed  the  religion  or  the  service  of  God.  But 
it  would  be  an  evident  injury  of  his  Majesty  to  call  it  the  re- 
ligion or  the  service  of  angels,  since  it  was  given  neither  in 
their  persons  nor  by  their  mediation.  Besides,  if  it  were 
otherwise  in  this  particular,  yet  it  is  clear  that  this  title  would 
be  proper  to  the  decalogue  only,  and  would  not  reach  that 


OHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  395 

part  of  tlie  law  which  is  called  ceremonial,  in  the  establish- 
ment of  which  the  angels  did  not  at  all  intervene,  God  having 
delivered  it  immediately  to  Moses,  and  Moses  to  the  Israelites; 
and  yet  it  would  be  this  precisely  which  Paul  would  be 
understood  to  mean  here,  if  his  purpose  were  to  speak  of  the 
Mosaical  law,  as  our  adversaries  believe.  Since  then  this 
name,  the  religion  of  angels,  can  no  way  belong  to  it,  it  must 
of  necessity  be  asserted,  that  it  is  not  the  law  of  Moses  that 
the  apostle  means  in  these  words. 

But  his  design,  and  the  thread  of  his  discourse,  is  no  lesg 
opposite  to  this  gloss  than  his  words.  For  first,  having  al- 
ready refuted  what  the  seducers  took  from  the  law  of  Moses, 
in  the  verse  immediately  preceding,  in  these  words,  "Let  no 
man  judge  you  in  meat,  or  in  drink,  or  in  respect  of  an  holy- 
day,  or  of  the  new  moon,  or  of  the  sabbath  days  :  which  are  a 
shadow  of  things  to  come  ;  but  the  body  is  of  Christ  ;"  having, 
I  say,  so  magnificently  deposited  this,  for  what  reason,  or  to 
what  purpose,  should  he  repeat  the  same  again  ?  How  should 
the  apostle  be  capable  of  such  vain  babbling?  Let  us  say, 
then,  that  the  error  he  rejects  here  is  different  from  that  which 
he  condemned  just  before.  That  which  he  condemned  before 
is  the  observation  of  the  Jewish  law  or  religion  ;  certainly  then 
this  is  not  the  thing  meant  in  this  place.  Besides,  that  which 
he  adds  can  no  way  refer  to  it  :  "  Let  no  man,"  says  he,  "  be- 
guile you  of  your  reward  by  a  voluntary  humility  and  wor- 
shipping of  angels,  intruding  into  those  things  which  he  hath 
not  seen  :"  where  the  apostle  evidently  shows  that  the  service 
of  angels  enjoined  by  the  seducers  was  founded  upon  hidden 
things,  and  such  as  they  could  have  no  knowledge  of,  either 
by  their  own  reason  or  by  Scripture;  whereas  the  Jewish 
ceremonies  are  so  clearly  and  so  distinctly  explained  in  the 
books  of  Moses,  that  every  man  may  see  them  there.  Lastly, 
the  apostle  shows  us,  at  the  beginning  of  this  discourse,  that 
these  seducers  had  drawn  some  of  their  observances  from 
philosophy,  which  could  not  have  been  the  case,  if  by  the 
service  of  angels  you  understand  the  Jewish  religion,  which, 
as  all  know,  was  delivered  by  Moses,  and  not  by  the  philoso- 
phers. For  our  adversaries  to  understand  the  discourses  of 
the  Jews  by  the  vain  deceit  of  philosophy,*  is  absurd  and 
ridiculous  in  the  highest  degree  ;  it  being  evident  that  the 
Jewish  doctors  are  sometimes  called  sages,  and  their  science 
wisdom;  as  when  Paul  asks,  "  Where  is  the  wise?  Hath  not 
God  made  foolish  the  wisdom  of  this  world  ?"  1  Cor.  i.  20. 
But  never  are  they  called  philosophers,  or  their  doctrine 
philosophy  ;  these  names  being  everywhere  constantly  re- 
ferred to  the  learned  men  of  Greece,  and  of  the  heathen,  and 
to  their  doctrine. 

*  Du  Perron,  p.  910. 


#îi  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVIII. 

Let  it  be  then  concluded,  that  the  apostle  means  here,  by 
the  religion  or  service  of  the  angels,  not  the  religion  delivered 
to  the  Jews  by  Moses  ;  but  the  worship,  and  invocation,  and 
service  which  these  seducers  taught  men  to  address  to  angels, 
tinder  a  pretext  of  humility  ;  they  having  borrowed  this  abuse 
from  the  Greek  philosophers,  in  whose  books  it  is  still  found 
to  this  day  ;  Plato,  one  of  the  chief  of  them,  writing  expressly, 
that  service  must  be  done  to  the  demons,  (for  so  they  called 
the  angels,)  as  holding  a  middle  place  between  the  gods  and 
men,  and  serving  us  for  interpreters  to  the  divine  nature  ;  and 
all  his  school  has  ever  thus  held  and  practised,  as  appears  by 
the  works  of  the  latest  of  his  disciples.  And  tlais  abuse 
•was  common  among  all  the  heathen.  They  founded  it,  too, 
just  as  did  the  seducers  here  censured  by  the  apostle,  and  as 
our  adversaries  do,  upon  pretended  humility  of  spirit,  as  we 
understand  by  an  ancient  commentary  upon  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  published  under  the  name  of  St.  Ambrose.*  The 
author,  speaking  of  the  heathen  of  his  time,  says.  They  are 
accustomed  to  make  a  miserable  excuse,  saying  that  by  means 
of  them  (that  is,  of  the  petty  deities  they  served)  they  might 
go  to  God,  as  men  come  to  a  prince,  by  means  of  his  counsel- 
lors of  state  and  his  masters  of  requests.  But,  says  he  a 
little  after,  men  go  to  a  king  by  means  of  his  officers,  because, 
after  all,  a  king  is  a  man  who  knows  not  whom  he  may  trust 
with  his  estate,  whereas  God  is  ignorant  of  nothing,  and  knows 
the  disposition,  and  action,  and  capacity  of  all  men  ;  so  that 
to  obtain  his  favour  we  want  not  the  suffrages  of  an  inter- 
poser  ;  there  needs  but  a  devout  soul.  Such  a  one  he  will 
surely  hear,  wheresoever  he  speaks  to  him. 

It  is  from  the  sinks  of  this  philosophy  of  the  world  that  the 
seducers,  here  opposed  by  the  apostle,  had  drawn  their  pre- 
tended humility,  and  their  worshipping  of  angels. 

And  our  adversaries,  well  perceiving  that  generally  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  such  was  the  doctrine  here  condemned 
by  the  apostle,  advance  another  of  their  fancies,  telling  us  that 
in  his  time  there  was  a  certain  sect  which  some  call  the  Judaic 
sect,  and  others  give  it  other  names,  consisting  of  people  who 
neither  served  God  nor  Jesus  Christ,  but  angels,  under  the  qual- 
ity of  chiefs,  and  supreme  patrons,  and  protectors  of  their  reli- 
gion ;  that  it  is  at  these  Paul  here  aims,  and  not  at  them,  who, 
it  is  true,  serve  angels,  but  who  also  serve  God  the  Father,  and 
his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  First,  all  this  sect  is  an  idol,  which 
never  had  subsistence  anywhere  except  in  their  fond  conceit; 
neither  could  it  indeed  be  anywhere  else.  For  if  they  were 
Jews,  who  can  believe  that  they  served  not  God,  whose  ser- 
vice  the   whole   Judaical   law  and   religion   expressly   com- 

*Ambrose,  p.  1807.  c.  4,  5. 


CHAP,  il]         the   epistle   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  397 

manded  throughout,  in  the  beginning,  in  the  middle,  and  at 
the  end  ?  Again,  if  they  were  christians,  how  served  they 
not  Jesus  Christ  ?  And  if  they  were  either  Jews  or  christians, 
how  did  they  own  no  other  chief  of  their  religion  than  the 
angels  ?  All  this  is  nothing  but  a  mere  fiction  of  our  adver- 
saries, who  endeavour  to  put  a  changeling  upon  us,  and  to  set 
up  this  chimera,  that  it  may  receive  the  blow  which  the 
apostle  aims  at  them.  It  is  not  lawful  for  us  to  forge  sects  at 
our  pleasure;  there  must  be  proof  of  them  produced  from 
good  and  creditable  witnesses,  if  we  would  wish  to  be  believed. 
But  so  far  are  they  from  having  any  warrant  for  this  fine  story 
in  antiquity,  that,  on  the  contrary,  the  ancient  interpreters  of 
the  apostle,  such  as  Theodoret,  Photius,  and  Theophylact,  over- 
throw it  ;  afiirming  that  those  whom  Paul  aims  at  alleged  that 
God  is  great  and  incomprehensible,  and  that  it  is  a  thing  un- 
worthy of  the  majesty  of  the  Son  to  conduct  such  mean  crea- 
tures as  men  unto  him:  whereupon  they  added  that  application 
must  be  made  to  angels,  to  obtain  access  by  their  means,  and 
to  gain  the  favour  and  good-will  of  God.  How  is  it  that  they 
did  not  serve  God,  since  it  was  for  access  to  him,  and  to  become 
acceptable  with  him,  that  they  employed  the  intercession  of 
angels  ?  and  how  is  it  that  they  did  not  adore  Jesus  Christ,  see- 
ing they  accounted  themselves  unworthy  to  go  immediately  to 
him  ?  Finally,  how  is  it  that  they  owned  the  angels  for  the  su- 
preme heads  of  their  religion,  seeing  that  they  made  use  of  their 
intervention  only  to  come  to  God  ?  This  very  thing  was  the 
motive  of  their  erroneous  practice.  And  one  of  the  before-named 
ancients*  adds  expressly,  that  the  service  which  they  did  to 
angels  was  praying  to  them  ;  and  also  this  abuse  reigned  a 
long  time  in  Phrygia  and  Pisidia  ;  and  that  even  in  his  days 
there  were  oratories  found  dedicated  to  St.  Michael  : — a  rela- 
tion which  has  so  stung  one  of  the  great  cardinals  of  Rome,f 
that,  all  in  choler  against  this  author,  (who  lived  almost 
twelve  hundred  years  ago,  and  was  besides  one  of  the  greatest 
and  most  learned  spirits  of  antiquity,)  he  says  that  with  his 
leave  he  has  had  ill  luck  in  this  particular.  Whence  you  may 
see  the  respect  that  these  gentlemen  bear  the  ancient  fathers, 
whom  they  have  perpetually  in  their  mouth.  When  they 
favour  them,  they  are  oracles.  If  they  speak  otherwise,  their 
antiquity  does  not  save  them  from  being  treated  as  ignorant 
and  unlearned.  But  they  allege  that  the  apostle  says  of  those 
of  whom  he  speaks,  that  they  held  not  the  Head  (that  is, 
Christ  Jesus).  I  grant  it  :  but  I  afiirm  that  this  does  not  infer 
that  they  made  profession  of  acknowledging  him  not.  As 
from  his  saying  that  they  were  puffed  up  by  their  fleshly  mind, 
and  intruded  into  things  which  they  had  not  seen,  it  follows 

*  Theodoret.  f  Baronius. 


W§  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXVIlt 

not  that  they  acknowledged  either  the  one  or  the  other  of 
these  things.  So  far  were  they  from  it  that  they  made  profes- 
sion of  humility,  and  it  was  under  this  very  pretext  that  they 
worshipped  angels,  and  boasted,  as  without  doubt  they  did, 
of  knowing  well  the  things  which  they  divulged.  But  the 
apostle  speaks  here  of  that  which  follows  truly  and  legiti- 
mately from  their  doctrine,  and  not  of  what  they  avowed.  For 
doubtless  they  made  profession  of  Jesus  Christ  and  of  his  gos- 
pel, and  Paul  clearly  presupposes  it  through  his  whole  dis- 
course. But  by  the  addition  of  their  errors  they  denied  in 
effect  what  they  confessed  with  their  mouth  ;  and  b}'"  this 
worshipping  of  angels  took  away  from  Christ  the  quality  of 
being  Head  of  the  church,  which  in  word  they  gave  him.  It 
is  this  with  which  the  apostle  here  charges  them,  and  on  this 
he  evidently  founds  this  maxim,  that  whosoever  takes  the  angels, 
or  any  other  creatures,  for  his  mediators  and  intercessors  with 
Grod,  he,  in  effect,  renounces  the  mediation  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  takes  from  him  the  glory  of  being  Head  of  the  church; 
this  dignity  no  more  admitting  an  associate  than  that  of  his 
regality,  and  being  such  as  cannot  be  possessed  by  any  one 
but  himself 

But  why  do  I  stand  considering  what  the  opinions  of  these 
fklse  teachers  in  other  respects  were  ?  Let  them  have  believed 
whatever  else  you  please,  sure  it  is  that  they  worshipped  angels, 
and  that  Paul  accuses  them  of  it,  and  reprehends  them  for 
it,  and  warns  the  faithful  of  following  them  in  this  particular. 
He  does  not  say  that  they  were  sorcerers  or  atheists,  that  they 
did  not  serve  or  invocate  God,  and  his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  He 
says  that  they  worshipped  angels,  and  severely  reproves  them 
for  it.  You  do  the  same.  Judge,  then,  whether  the  apostle's 
thunder  does  not  fall  upon  you.  But  you  will  say,  I  do  adore 
God  and  Jesus  Christ.  Indeed  !  do  you  not  mock  the  world 
by  defending  yourself  in  that  manner — as  if  you  were  accused 
of  not  acknowledging  the  Divinity  of  the  father,  or  of  the  Son, 
and  not  of  worshipping  angels  ?  But  it  is  always  the  custom 
of  these  masters  to  substitute  one  or  other  of  the  ancients  in 
their  place,  when  they  are  accused  of  transgressing  the  ordinances 
of  God  and  his  apostles.  The  Lord  forbids  the  bowing  down 
ourselves  before  images.  They  avow  they  do  it  ;  but  for  all 
that  pretend  that  the  law  thunders  against  the  heathen  of 
former  times,  and  not  against  them.  Paul  condemns,  with 
strong  expressions,  those  who  enjoin  abstinence  from  meats. 
They  confess  it  is  their  practice;  but  add,  that  it  is  the  old 
Encratites,  and  Montanists,  and  Manichees  whom  the  apostle 
means,  and  not  they.  In  like  manner  here,  being  accused  of 
worshipping  angels,  they  frankly  confess  it,  yea,  boast  of  wor- 
shipping them,  and  excommunicate  us  for  not  doing  so 
likewise.      And  thus  while  Paul  protests  so  clearly  that  we 


■CHAP.  It.]  THE    EPISTLE   TO    THE    C0L0SSIAN3.  899 

must  not  serve  them,  they  pay  us  off  with  this  brave  excuse, 
that  it  is  not  of  them  he  speaks,  but  of  I  know  not  what  old 
race  of  Jewish  heretics  ;  as  if  it  were  not  manifest  that  he 
speaks  in  general  of  all  those  who  at  any  time,  and  in  any 
place  whatever,  take  upon  themselves  to  serve  angels,  forbid- 
ding us,  under  a  heavy  penalty,  to  let  them  master  it  over  us 
upon  any  pretext  whatever. 

As  for  us,  dear  brethren,  who  know  that  the  laws  of  God 
are  universal  and  eternal,  and  that  no  age  nor  climate  can 
dispense  with  them,  or  exempt  the  violators  of  them  from  that 
righteous  curse  which  they  threaten  ;  let  us  faithfully  obey 
this  holy  and  sacred  direction  which  the  apostle  has  given. 
Let  us  not  heed  the  vain  glosses  and  frivolous  distinctions  by 
which  human  subtilty  endeavours  to  elude  it,  and  colour  over 
its  own  abuses.  Let  us  observe  sincerely  what  this  great  minister 
of  Jesus  Christ  enjoins  us.  He  forbids  us  to  worship  angels 
in  point  of  religion.  There  is  no  reason  that  either  the 
eloquence  or  subtilty,  the  splendour  or  the  power  of  men, 
much  less  their  pleasure  and  usurped  dominion,  should  have 
more  efficacy  upon  us  than  this  heavenly  authority.  And 
praised  be  God  for  that  he  has  given  us  the  courage  to  obey 
his  apostle  in  this  particular,  and  to  put  away  the  worshipping 
of  angels  and  men  from  among  us,  notwithstanding  the  strong 
contradiction  of  flesh  and  blood.  Let  us  abide  firm  in  this 
resolution.  Let  us  adore  none  but  God,  since  there  is  none 
adorable  but  he.  It  is  just  that  he  alone  should  be  served 
among  us,  since  it  is  he  alone  who  has  created  and  redeemed 
us. 

But,  beloved,  remember  I  remind  you,  that  rightly  to  render 
him  his  due  glory  it  is  not  sufficient  to  have  renounced  the 
error  of  those  ancient  Phrygians  whom  the  apostle  here  op- 
poses, and  of  our  adversaries  of  Rome,  namely,  the  adoration 
of  angels  and  departed  saints  ;  there  must  also  be  a  banishing 
of  all  strange  service,  all  idolizing  of  anything  whatever.  For 
if  God  cannot  suffer  those  who  serve  angels  and  deceased 
saints,  that  is,  the  most  excellent  natures  which  exist,  and  such 
as  have  the  image  of  the  Deity  most  clearly  resplendent  in 
them,  how  much  less  will  he  endure  those  that  adore  gold  and 
silver,  the  productions  of  the  earth — or  their  own  belly,  the 
most  shameful  and  infamous  of  all  idols — or  the  flesh,  which  is 
but  a  vain  and  perishing  figure — or  the  grandeurs  of  the  world, 
which  are  but  exhalations  ?  And  we  who  have  renounced  the 
first  of  these  false  services,  how  can  we  be  excusable  if  we  re- 
tain and  exercise  the  second  ?  Now  would  to  God  we  were  as 
free  from  the  one  as  we  are  from  the  other. 

But  it  must  be  confessed,  to  our  shame,  these  latter  kind  of 
idols  have  still  a  great  many  devotees  and  servitors  among  us. 
That  avarice  which  Paul  calls  an  idolatry  is  but  too  much  ex- 


éiû  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXIX. 

ercised  among  us  ;  the  flesh  and  vanity  are  here  publicly  served. 
Wretched  men,  where  is  your  judgment  ?  You  do  not  serve 
the  angels  of  heaven,  yet  you  serve  the  metals  of  the  earth. 
You  do  not  adore  spirits  made  perfect,  yet  you  adore  profane 
flesh.  Neither  the  light  of  the  sun,  nor  the  brightness  of  the 
moon,  has  been  able  to  seduce  your  hearts  ;  and  yet  you  have 
suffered  yourselves  to  be  seduced  by  the  glittering  of  gold  and 
silver,  the  false  Sol  and  Lima  of  the  chemists.  You  who  have 
disdained  to  put  your  confidence  in  saints,  have  put  your  hope 
in  gold,  and  said  unto  fine  gold,  Tbou  art  my  confidence.  The 
belly,  with  shame  and  horror  do  I  utter  it,  the  belly  is  your 
God  ;  yours,  who  have  made  this  glorious  promise,  to  have  none 
but  the  Eternal  only  for  your  God.  How  can  you  hope  that 
the  Lord  will  suffer  you  to  give  him  such  monsters  for  com- 
panions— he,  who  is  so  jealous  of  his  glory  that  he  cannot  suf- 
fer the  angels  themselves  to  be  associated  with  him  ?  Dear 
brethren,  let  us  deceive  ourselves  no  longer.  Let  us  once  for 
all  put  completely  away  all  these  false  services  ;  and  extermi^ 
nating  every  idol  from  among  us,  adore  and  serve  none  but 
God  alone.  Let  him  have  the  entire  possession  of  our  whole 
hearts  ;  let  him  reign  and  exercise  an  absolute  dominion  in 
them,  governing  all  the  sentiments  and  motions  of  them  at  his 
will  ;  that  after  having  constantly  adored  him  in  spirit  and  in 
truth,  we  may  hereafter  receive  from  his  holy,  faithful  hand 
the  crown  of  glory,  and  eternity,  which  he  has  purchased  for 
us  by  the  merit  of  his  only  Son  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  to 
whom,  with  him  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  true  and  only  God, 
blessed  for  ever,  be  honour  and  praise  unto  ages  of  ages. 
Amen. 


SERMON    XXIX, 

VERSES   18,  19. 


Let  no  man  beguile  you  of  your  reward  in  a  voluntary  humility 
and  worshijyping  of  angels,  intruding  into  those  things  tuhich  he 
hath  not  seen,  vainly  puffed  up  by  his  fleshly  mind,  and  not  holding 
the  Head,  from  ivhich  all  the  body  by  joints  and  bands  having 
nourishment  ministered,  and  knit  together,  increaseth  xoith  the 
increase  of  God. 

Dear  brethren,  the  same  pride  which  destroyed  the  first  man 
at  the  beginning  is  the  cause  of  the  ruin  of  such  of  his  poster- 
ity as  perish.  For  if  you  consider  it  well,  you  will  perceive 
that  that  is  the  thing  which  makes  them  despise  or  wrongly 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  401 

embrace  the  Christ  of  God,  in  whom  alone  stands  our  salvation. 
It  was  pride  that  kept  the  Jews  from  embracing  this  singular 
gift  of  Heaven,  because,  saith  John,  they  loved  the  praise  of 
men  ;  even  as  our  Lord  reproached  them,  saying,  "  How  can 
ye  believe,  which  receive  honour  one  of  another  ?"  And  Paul 
expressly  informs  us,  that  the  proud  fancy  they  had  to  estab- 
lish their  own  righteousness  was  the  reason  of  their  not  sub- 
mitting to  the  righteousness  of  God,  Rom.  x.  3.  It  was  like- 
wise pride  that  blinded  the  minds  of  the  Gentiles,  so  that  they 
saw  not  the  wonderful  things  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  haughty  opinion  they  had  of  their  own  vain  wisdom  in- 
duced them  to  disdain  the  wisdom  of  God  ;  and  to  account  the 
cross  of  his  Son  foolishness,  though  it  is  an  inexhaustible 
treasury  of  wisdom.  Again,  it  is  pride  that  has  disseminated 
among  christians  themselves  all  the  heresies  which  have  grown 
up  into  any  repute,  from  the  nativity  of  the  church  to  this 
hour.  Ignorance  animated  with  presumption  has  brought 
them  all  forth,  and  bred  them  up.  For  if  the  unhappy  workers 
who  divulged  them  had  kept  to  the  doctrine  of  God,  and  not 
launched  out  beyond  that  which  he  has  revealed  in  his  word  ; 
if  the  vain  fierceness  of  their  spirit  had  not  imboldened  them 
to  attempt  things  above  the  reach  of  men;  they  would  never 
have  thought  of  corrupting  religion  with  their  falsely  sub- 
tile inventions.  It  would  have  remained  pure  throughout, 
and  sincere  to  this  day,  and  the  same  as  when  the  ministers 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  delivered  it  at  first  to  their  disciples 
by  word  and  writing.  But  their  pride  misleading  them,  in- 
duced them  to  attempt  things  above  their  capacity,  and  to 
adore  and  spread  abroad  their  presumptuous  imaginations  as 
true  secrets  of  God. 

The  apostle  informs  us,  in  this  text,  that  this  was  the  origin, 
in  particular,  of  those  errors  and  false  services  which  certain 
seducers  went  about  to  introduce  at  that  time  among  christians. 
We  heard,  in  the  last  discourse  upon  this  subject,  what  their 
error  was,  namely,  that  under  colour  of  a  false  humility  they 
taught  the  service  or  religious  worship  of  angels.  We  are 
now  to  consider,  by  the  assistance  of  God,  that  which  the  short- 
ness of  time  hindered  us  from  then  explaining,  namely,  the 
marks  of  these  false  teachers,  and  the  pernicious  consequence 
of  their  error.  For  though  the  apostle's  intimation  of  the  thing 
itself  is  sufficient;  his  authority  in  the  church  is  such,  that  it 
is  not  lawful  for  any  man,  whoever  he  may  be,  to  teach  or  be- 
lieve anything  in  the  christian  religion  contrary  to  the  senti- 
ment of  this  great  servant  of  God  :  yet,  not  content  with  en- 
joining the  Colossians  that  they  should  not  let  these  pretended 
doctors,  who  would  cause  them  to  serve  angels,  to  beguile  them 
of  their  reward,  in  order  to  add  more  weight  to  his  exhorta- 
tion, he  explains  to  them  the  true  motives  of  those  seducers, 
51 


402  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXIX. 

and  the  cause  of  their  error,  and  demonstrates  also  the  dismal 
issue  in  which  it  involved  them.  For,  as  you  have  heard,  he 
notices,  first,  their  audaciousness  and  ignorance,  when  he  says 
that  they  intrude  into  things  which  they  have  not  seen.  Next, 
he  shows  the  source  of  these  evils,  namely,  their  foolish  pre- 
sumption, when  he  adds  that  they  are  vainly  puffed  up  by 
their  fleshly  mind.  And  lastly,  he  represents  to  us  the  perni- 
cious consequence  of  their  doctrine,  the  fruit  and  result  in 
which  all  their  striving  terminated,  which  was,  that  by  their 
glorious  services  they  in  effect  seduced  and  separated  men  from 
Jesus  Christ,  the  true  and  only  Head  of  believers,  and  so  de- 
prived them  of  that  life,  light,  and  salvation  which  this  divine 
Head  infuses  into  the  members  of  his  mystical  body.  For  this 
is,  in  substance,  the  sense  of  the  latter  part  of  the  text,  in  which 
the  apostle  says  that  these  people  did  not  hold  "  the  Head, 
from  which  the  whole  body  by  joints  and  bands  having  nour- 
ishment administered,  and  knit  together,  increaseth  with  the 
increase  of  God."  In  these  three  heads  the  whole  meaning  of 
this  text  seems  to  me  to  consist.  Wherefore,  if  it  please  God, 
we  will  examine  them  distinctly  one  after  another  ;  and,  in  the 
apostle's  order,  treat,  first,  of  the  boldness  of  these  seducers  ; 
secondly,  of  their  presumption  ;  and  lastly,  of  the  consequence 
of  their  doctrine,  which  tends  to  separate  men  from  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Head  of  the  whole  body  of  the  church. 
■  I.  In  the  first  place,  this  temerity,  to  intrude  into  things 
one  has  not  seen,  is  ordinary  enough  with  all  sorts  of  men, 
ever  since  the  venom  of  pride  poisoned  their  hearts,  but  espe- 
cially with  all  heretics  :  but  it  is  peculiarly  remarkable  in 
those  who  teach  the  worshipping  of  angels  ;  it  being  manifest 
that  these  blessed  spirits,  whose  worship  they  establish,  are  of 
a  nature  much  superior  to  ours,  the  order  and  operations  of 
which  are  open  to  none  of  our  senses.  But  when  the  apostle 
says  they  have  not  seen  the  things  into  which  they  intrude, 
his  meaning  is  not  simply,  that  the  eyes  either  of  their  body  or  of 
their  natural  reason  never  received  the  species  of  these  objects, 
nor  apprehended  or  conceived  the  consequences  and  conduct 
of  their  being  ;  but  also  that  they  neither  had,  nor  could  have, 
by  the  word  or  revelation  of  God,  any  certainty  of  the  things 
they  affirmed.  For  though  the  greater  part  of  the  matters  of 
religion  is  above  our  senses  ;  yet  when  God  has  revealed  them 
to  us,  and  as  it  were  rendered  them  visible  in  his  word,  it  becomes 
easy  for  us  to  know  them  by  this  means;  and  the  Scripture 
too  calls  this  knowledge  a  sight  of  them.  Ezekiel  means  this 
when  he  reproaches  the  false  prophets  with  following  their  own 
spirit  when  they  had  seen  nothing,  Ezck.  xiii.  3  ;  that  is,  they 
predicted  and  assured  things  for  truth  which  the  foolish  imagi- 
nation of  their  own  spirit  suggested  to  them,  though,  in  fact, 
God  had  showed  them  no  such  matter  in  the  light  of  his  reve- 


CHAP.   II.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  403 

lation.  It  was  just  so  with  those  seducers  whom  the  apostle 
censures  in  this  place.  They  dogmatized  and  affirmed  it  as  a 
clear  case,  that  angels  were  to  be  served  and  invocated  ;  and  to 
persuade  men  of  this,  they  delivered  many  things  concerning 
their  nature,  and  their  intervention  between  God  and  us.  Yet 
the  truth  is,  that  of  all  this  they  neither  had,  nor  could  have 
had,  an}--  certainty  ;  they  being  things  which  they  had  never 
seen,  either  in  the  school  of  nature  or  the  revelation  of  God. 

All  our  knowledge  and  assurance  necessarily  comes  from 
one  of  these  three  sources  :  namely,  either  from  sense,  and 
such  is  the  knowledge  we  have  of  the  things  we  see,  hear, 
smell,  touch,  and  taste  ;  or  from  reason,  such  as  human  science, 
which  is  acquired  or  formed  by  discourse  and  natural  reason- 
ing ;  or,  lastly,  from  the  revelation  of  God,  who  reveals  to  us 
by  the  light  of  his  word  various  objects  and  truths,  which 
neither  our  sense  nor  our  reason  could  perceive  in  nature. 
Now  though  reason  causes  men,  by  the  consideration  of  things 
which  exist,  or  are  done  in  the  world,  to  discern  some  princi- 
ples and  truths  of  religion  ;  yet  the  whole  of  this  is  so  small 
a  matter,  and  withal  so  confused  and  imperfect,  in  consequence 
of  the  corruption  of  our  understandings,  that  the  word  of  God 
ought  to  be  held  for  the  sole  assured  foundation  of  religion  ; 
according  to  that  which  the  apostle  signifies  to  us  in  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Romans,  chap.  x.  17,  that  "  faith  cometh  by  hearing, 
and  hearing  by  the  word  of  God."  When  therefore  he  says 
here  that  the  seducers  intrude  into  things  which  they  have 
not  seen,  he  respects  in  general  all  those  sources  of  our 
knowledge,  and  absolutely  denies  that  these  men  had  by  them 
any  of  the  things  which  they  taught  ;  but  he  also  particularly 
refers  to  the  third,  that  is,  the  revelation  of  God.  And  his 
meaning  is,  that  the  Lord  had  not  showed  them,  nor  caused 
them  to  see  by  his  word,  any  of  the  things  which  they 
preached  and  desired  to  set  up  in  the  religion  of  christians. 
And  though  indeed  they  neither  had,  nor  could  have  had,  any 
certain  knowledge  of  them  ;  nevertheless  they  discoursed 
about  them  blindfold,  and  published  their  fancies,  the  visions 
of  their  brain,  and  dreams  of  their  own  spirit,  for  indubitable, 
necessary,  and  wholesome  truths. 

This  conduct  the  apostle  excellently  sets  forth  by  that 
word  which  we  have  translated  "  intruding  ;"  a  word  that 
properly  signifies  entering  into,  setting  foot  on,  and  marching 
forth  in  some  quarter,  as  on  ground  we  have  a  title  to. 
Whereby  he  points  out  the  vanity  of  these  false  teachers,  who 
did  not  merely  busy  themselves  in  a  research  of  things  above 
their  capacity,  (which  is  in  itself  a  vain  and  ridiculous  labour,) 
but  also  dared  to  speak  of  them,  and  make  peremptory  deci- 
sions about  them  :  so,  going  above  ground,  and  walking  as  it 
were  in  the  vacuum  of  their  own   imaginations;    mounting 


é04  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXIX. 

their  thoughts  to  a  region  far  above  them  ;  like  that  poor 
phrenetick  of  whom  the  poets  speak,  who  having  presumed  to 
enter  upon  a  strange  element,  and  fly  there,  soon  found  his 
rashness  punished  with  his  ruin.  The  prophet  makes  use  of 
a  similar  phrase,  when,  to  represent  his  modesty,  he  says  that 
he  had  not  exercised  himself  in  great  matters,  or  in  things 
too  high  for  him,  Psal.  cxxxi,  1. 

Dear  brethren,  we  have  no  occasion  to  go  so  far  back  as  the 
apostle's  time  for  examples  of  this  vanity.  Our  adversaries 
of  the  communion  of  Rome  afford  us  a  sufficient  store  ;  who 
retain  the  error  of  those  whom  the  apostle  here  reproves, 
serving  angels,  as  they  also  inherited  their  temerity,  intruding 
into  things  which  they  have  not  seen.  They  magisterially 
pronounce,  that  men  must  serve  and  invoke  angels  and  de- 
parted saints.  They  boldly  define  the  religious  worship  that 
is  to  be  given,  and  divide  it  into  its  kinds  ;  naming  one  of  them 
duUa,  and  the  other  hyperdulia  ;  all  with  as  much  confidence 
as  if  they  spake  of  things  most  obvious  to  sense.  I  urge  not, 
for  the  present,  that  Scripture  blasts  this  whole  error,  every- 
where intimating  that  we  ought  to  serve  no  one  in  religion 
but  God  alone,  and  with  a  loud  voice  anathematizing  the  wor- 
ship of  any  creature.  I  pass  by  what  it  says  particularly 
against  the  adoration  and  worshipping  of  angels  ;  and  also 
that  which  Paul  expressly  prohibits  in  the  text.  I  keep  singly 
to  the  rule  he  here  gives  me,  that  no  belief  be  afforded  those 
who  intrude  into  things  which  they  have  not  seen  ;  and  de- 
mand of  these  hardy  doctors,  in  what  region,  in  what  part  of 
divine  revelation,  have  they  seen  these  services,  these  dulias, 
and  these  hyperdulias^  of  which  they  so  positively  speak? 
Where  is  it  that  the  Holy  Ghost  has  showed  them  these  bold 
doctrines  ?  To  what  prophet  has  he  revealed  them  ?  To  what 
apostle  has  he  signified  them  ?  Of  what  evangelist  have  they 
learnt  them  ?  Surely  they  must  here  of  necessity  be  silenced. 
They  have  not  seen  one  of  these  pretended  mysteries  in  the 
book  of  God.  They  cannot  show  us  any  track  of  them  any- 
where, except  it  be  in  the  fancies  of  Plato,  and  of  the  hea- 
then philosophers,  the  disciples  of  demons,  and  not  of  God  ; 
men  taught  in  the  school  of  error,  and  not  in  that  of  truth. 
They  proceed  further  yet,  and  give  us  discourses  about  the 
orders  of  angels,  and  distribute  to  them  their  business,  and 
appoint  them  their  ministrations  ;  they  rank  the  saints,  and 
give  to  them  each  his  charge  and  employment.  And  if  you 
ask  them  how  these  spirits,  being  in  heaven,  hear  our  prayers 
and  requests,  and  by  what  means  they  see  the  secret  motions 
of  our  hearts  ;  some  of  them  answer,  that  the  mirror  of  the 
Trinity,  upon  which  they  incessantly  have  their  eyes,  presents 
to  them  all  the  ideas  of  these  things  ;  others  say  that  God  re- 
them  to  them  some  other  way.     But   whence  do  they 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS,  405 

know  this  ?  It  is  neither  sense  nor  natural  reason  that  has 
showed  it  to  them.  If  therefore  they  have  seen  it  anywhere, 
it  must  be  in  the  revelation  of  God.  Yet  it  is  clear,  and  they 
cannot  deny  it,  that  neither  this  pretended  mirror,  nor  any 
one  of  their  other  conjectures,  appears  there  at  all.  And  one 
of  their  most  famed  authors  sufficiently  declares  it  :  We  do 
not  know,  says  he,  by  any  certain  reason,  whether  the  saints 
perceive  our  prayers  or  not,  although  we  piously  believe  it  :  * 
as  if  it  were  piety,  and  not  pitiful  credulity,  to  believe  things 
of  which  we  have  no  assurance.  But  let  him  make  what  ac- 
count of  it  he  pleases.  This  is  evident,  that  since  he  confesses 
they  have  no  assurance  of  these  things,  it  must  of  necessity  be 
confessed  also  that  it  is  extremely  imprudent  to  intrude  into 
them,  except  he  will  reject  the  authority  of  the  apostle  in  con- 
demning here  most  expressly  those  who  intrude  into  things 
which  they  have  not  seen. 

This  vanity  further  shows  itself  in  the  things  which  they 
publish  concerning  the  state  of  souls  in  their  fabulous  pur- 
gatory, the  situation,  the  structure,  and  partitions  of  which 
they  represent,  together  with  the  fire  and  torments  of  the 
spirits  which  are  there  imprisoned,  with  as  much  confidence 
as  if  they  were  just  now  come  from  thence  after  many  years' 
stay  in  the  place.  Nevertheless,  the  truth  is,  that  neither  they 
nor  their  ancestors  ever  saw  one  particle  of  it,  either  in  the 
Scriptures  of  God  or  in  the  nature  of  things  ;  there  being  not 
a  word  anywhere  of  any  one  of  these  imaginations.  That 
which  they  say  of  their  transubstantiation,  with  its  conditions 
and  circumstances,  and  of  the  manner  in  which  the  body  of 
Christ  is  present  in  every  crumb  of  their  host,  and  in  every  drop 
of  their  chalice  ;  their  positions,  likewise,  concerning  their  pre- 
tended sacrifice  of  the  mass,  and  concerning  the  relative  or  ana- 
logical adoration  of  images,  and  concerning  the  characters 
which  some  of  their  sacraments  imprint  upon  the  souls  of  men  ; 
and,  in  one  word,  all  the  points  of  doctrine  which  we  contest 
with  them,  are  of  the  same  nature.  All  of  them  are  things 
which  they  have  have  not  seen  ;  they  intrude  into  them,  walk 
in  them,  and  strut  vainly  ;  commanding  the  belief  or  practice 
of  them  under  pain  of  damnation,  however  doubtful  and  un- 
certain they  may  be,  and  furiously  anathematizing  all  those 
who  make  the  least  scruple  to  receive  them. 

As  for  us,  dear  brethren,  who,  through  the  grace  of  God, 
have  learned  to  prefer  his  voice  to  the  imaginations  of  men, 
and  to  fear  the  thunderings  of  heaven  more  than  the  fulmina- 
tions  of  Kome,  let  us  leave  them  in  this  vain  humour  ;  or 
rather  let  us  pray  to  God  to  bring  them  out  of  it,  and  to  give 
them  to  distinguish  their  own  dreams  from  his  declarations. 

*  Cajetan.  in  22.  q.  88.  a.  5, 


406  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  XXIX. 

And,  for  our  further  safety,  let  us  religiously  keep  to  the  apos- 
tle's direction.  Let  us  never  intrude  into  things  which  we 
have  not  seen.  Neither  let  us  be  so  simple  as  to  follow  those 
who  do,  or  saffer  ourselves  to  be  beguiled  by  them.  Let  us 
rest  in  the  things  which  God  has  clearly  revealed  to  us  in  his 
word;  which  he  has  so  set  forth  before  our  eyes  in  that  divine 
treasury  of  his  truth,  that  very  children  may  there  behold 
them.  This  portion  is  sufficient  for  us  ;  if  we  cultivate  it  well, 
we  shall  find  in  it  abundantly  wherewith  to  inform  our  under- 
standings, to  calm  our  consciences,  to  sanctify  our  hearts,  and 
to  perfect  all  the  faculties  of  our  souls.  Let  no  man  presume 
"  above  that  which  is  written,"  1  Cor.  iv.  6.  Take  heed  of 
being  wise  above  what  is  meet  ;  but  be  wise  to  sobriety,  Rom. 
xii.  3.  Let  the  word  of  God  be  the  rule  of  our  science,  and 
his  book  the  bound  of  all  our  curiosity.  All  knowledge  is 
obtained  without  knowing  anything  beyond  it.  This  consid- 
eration alone  is  enough  to  preserve  us  from  all  the  errors  of 
Eome  ;  for  since  the  intruding  into  things  which  we  have  not 
seen  is  a  temerity  condemned  here  by  the  apostle,  and  in  mat- 
ters of  religion  we  can  have  seen  none  but  such  as  God  has 
revealed  in  his  word,  it  evidently  follows,  that  we  are  ob- 
liged not  only  to  refrain  from  believing,  but  also  to  proceed  to 
the  rejection  of  all  the  doctrines  about  which  we  are  in  contest 
with  Rome,  no  one  of  which  appears  in  the  word  of  God. 
And  it  is  manifestly  sin  to  reduce  them  to  practice,  since,  ac- 
cording to  the  apostle,  "  whatsoever  is  not  of  faith  is  sin." 
Rom.  xiv.  23  ;  it  being  certain  that  there  cannot  be  any  true 
faith  of  things  which  are  not  found  in  the  word  of  God,  seeing 
that  the  same  apostle  shows  us  that  that  hearing  which  produces 
faith  in  us  is  of  the  word  of  God,  as  we  have  before  intimated. 
II,  But  I  come  to  the  second  point,  where  Paul  condemns 
the  arrogance  and  presumption  of  the  false  teachers.  It  is  this 
properly  that  leads,  or  rather  misleads,  them  into  that  Utopia 
of  things  they  never  saw.  They  are,  says  the  apostle,  vainly 
puffed  up  by  their  fleshly  minds.  By  this  understanding,  or 
mind  of  their  flesh,  he  means  all  the  vivacity,  ability,  and 
acuteness  with  which  nature  has  endowed  us,  to  whatever  de- 
gree of  vigour  and  light  reason  of  itself  attains.  For  under 
the  word  flesh  Scripture  comprehends  the  whole  nature  of 
man  ;  that  is  to  say,  not  his  body  only,  to  which  this  name 
properly  belongs,  but  also  his  soul,  yea,  even  his  understanding, 
his  will,  and  his  reason,  which  is  the  most  excellent  part 
of  it.  As  sin,  since  it  infected  our  nature,  has  in  such  a  man- 
ner condensated,  and  corrupted,  and  altered  all  the  faculties  of 
our  soul,  that  it  has  turned  them,  in  a  manner,  into  flesh  and 
blood  ;  not  that  it  has,  properly  speaking,  destroyed  the  nature 
of  them,  which,  as  you  know,  is  still  spiritual  and  immortal, 
but  in  consequence  of  its  deadening  the  vigour,  and  vitiating 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  ANS.  407 

and  depraving  the  dispositions  of  them,  having  fastened  us  to 
the  earth  and  to  ourselves,  and  filled  our  affections  and  wills 
with  so  perverse  and  violent  a  love  of  the  flesh,  that  all  the 
light  of  our  understandings  is  obscured  and  blackened  by  the 
contagion  of  this  poison  :  and  their  conceptions  are  totally 
tainted  with  it,  all  our  discourses  and  reasonings,  in  this 
miserable  state,  being  nothing  but  flesh  and  blood,  until  the 
Spirit  of  God  comes  and  reforms  us,  and  of  carnal  and  natural 
"understandings,  as  were  ours,  makes  them  spiritual,  by  the 
infusion  of  his  holy  light  into  them.  Thus  it  is  that  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  said  to  Peter,  "Flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed 
this  secret  to  thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven,"  Matt, 
xvi.  17.  And  Paul  protests  that  "the  natural  man  receiveth 
not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,"  1  Cor.  ii.  14.  It  is  there- 
fore properly  this  reason  or  intelligence  of  the  natural  man, 
that  is,  of  a  man  not  illuminated  from  on  high,  which  the 
apostle  here  calls  the  "fleshly  mind." 

But  the  good  opinion  which  those  seducers  have  of  it  he 
terms,  with  much  elegance,  a  puffing  up.  For,  to  say  the  truth, 
it  is  but  wind  with  which  they  are  inflated,  filled  they  are  not. 
Now,  not  satisfied  with  having  thus  exposed  their  vanity,  he 
further  adds  that  they  are  puffed  up  vainly,  that  is  to  say,  in 
vain,  and  without  cause.  For  indeed,  whatever  may  be  the 
pretended  acuteness  of  our  mind,  it  is,  in  reality,  so  insignifi- 
cant, it  is  a  faculty  so  feeble,  so  limited,  and  of  such  narrow 
dimensions,  that  if  it  give  us  any  vanity,  it  is  without  cause. 
They  who  best  know  themselves,  and  possess  this  part  in  a 
higher  degree,  well  perceive  it,  and  frankly  confess  that  all  the 
light  of  our  understanding  is  but  a  vapour;  its  science,  ignor- 
ance, and  its  ability,  presumption.  For  who  is  there  that  does 
not  daily  find,  upon  trial,  that  the  point  of  this  so  much 
esteemed  understanding  turns  at  the  least  difficulties,  that  its 
sight  is  dazzled  at  the  meanest  lights,  and  that  its  reason  is 
confounded  in  the  plainest  meditations?  And  when  we  con- 
sider, not  bat-ely  what  each  single  person  knows,  but  all  the 
science  that  all  mankind  have  acquired  during  the  many  ages 
that  its  greatest  and  most  accomplished  wits  have  been  busied 
about  it,  we  find  that  it  is  so  little  in  comparison  with  that  of 
which  we  are  ignorant,  that  a  drop  of  water  has  more  propor- 
tion to  the  whole  ocean.  It  is,  therefore,  without  doubt,  a 
vanity  extremely  foolish  to  make  ostentation  of  it,  and  to  pre- 
sume much  upon  a  man's  self  for  so  small  an  advantage.  But 
it  is  a  much  worse  extravagance  still  to  take  this  understand- 
ing of  the  flesh  for  our  guide  in  matters  of  religion  which  are 
all  of  them  divine  and  celestial;  while  it  is  incapable  of  con- 
ducting us  in  the  very  things  of  nature,  and  of  the  earth,  as 
experience  enables  us  daily  to  see  ;  so  that  we  must  conclude 
that  all  those  who,  laying  aside  the  word  of  God,  would  instruct 


108  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXIX. 

US  in  religion  by  the  light  of  their  own  understandings,  are 
imbued  with  as  high  a  degree  of  senselessness  as  ever  existed  ; 
and  that,  besides  vanity,  there  is  frenzy  in  what  they  do,  and 
some  such  extravagance  as  those  mad  people  showed  who 
formerly  attempted  to  raise  the  fabric  of  their  tower  up  to 
heaven.  This  is  just  the  malady  of  all  the  heretics  and  seducers 
that  ever  rose  up  in  the  world.  Accordingly,  you  see  that  the 
apostle,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  enrols  heresy  among 
the  works  of  the  flesh,  because  it  is  a  production  of  its  under- 
standing, which,  incited  and  heated  by  its  presumption,  brings 
forth  this  wretched  brood.  And  it  is  remarkable  that  these 
same  seducers,  whose  puffing  up  and  pride  the  apostle  here 
exposes,  notwithstanding  made  profession  of  humility  of  spirit, 
as  he  himself  testifies,  to  show  us  that  we  should  not  rely  upon 
appearances  ;  and  that  oftentimes  under  the  habits,  and  looks, 
and  outward  actions  of  humility  there  are  hidden  hearts  puffed 
up  with  vanity  and  swoln  with  pride.  And  such  is,  in  reality, 
the  genius  of  all  those  who  would  have  their  inventions  to  be 
valid  in  religion.  Their  having  the  audacity  to  exceed  the 
institutions  of  God  proves  an  insufferable  arrogance,  inasmuch 
as,  instead  of  being  content  with  his  directions,  and  submitting 
to  them  with  a  humble  and  teachable  spirit,  they  undertake  to 
cut  out  new  ways  to  heaven.  I  leave  now  to  each  one  the  care 
of  applying  this  observation  to  those  new  rules,  which  the  spirit 
of  superstition  has  multiplied,  for  various  ages,  almost  to  an 
infinity.  They  all  set  the  cross  over  their  gates  ;  the  services 
they  perform  to  angels  and  men,  the  habits  they  shape  for  their 
zealots,  their  countenances,  and  their  very  looks,  and  eyes  ever 
fixed  on  the  ground,  promise  a  profound  humility.  But  God 
knows  what  the  reality  is.  Leaving,  therefore,  the  dijudication 
of  it  to  him,  I  only  warn  you  not  to  suffer  such  fair  outsides 
to  deceive  you  ;  remembering  how  the  apostle  has  here  taught 
us  that  a  profession  of  humility  of  spirit  sometimes  covers  a 
soul  vainly  puffed  up  with  the  sense  of  its  fleshly  lusts,  and  also 
that  not  seldom  this  very  humility  and  pretended  mortifica- 
tion is  the  matter  which  feeds  its  pride,  and  maintains  its  fla- 
tulency. 

III.  But  it  is  time  to  come  to  the  third  point,  which  contains 
the  worst  and  most  pernicious  effect  of  this  worshipping  of 
angels,  here  condemned  by  the  apostle  ;  namely,  that  they  who 
promote  it,  or  adhere  to  and  practise  it,  do  not  hold  "the 
Head,  from  which  all  the  body  b}^  joints  and  bands  having 
nourishment  administered,  and  knit  together,  increaseth  with 
the  increase  of  God."  You  know  that  this  Head  of  which  he 
speaks  is  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  eternal  and  true  God  made 
man,  who  died  and  rose  again  for  the  salvation  of  the  world  ; 
and  that  the  body  of  this  Head  is  the  church,  the  whole  multi- 
tude of  true  believers.     This  comparison  is  so   frequent  in 


CHAP,  il]  the   epistle   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  409 

Scripture,  and  the  reasons  upon  which  it  is  founded  are  so  clear 
and  so  well  known,  that  there  is  no  necessity  for  me  here  to 
repeat  them.  We  have  to  observe  only  the  operation  of  this 
divine  Head  upon  the  body,  and  the  benefits  which  it  commu- 
nicates thereto,  both  which  the  apostle  touches  upon.  He  says, 
first,  that  this  Head  nourishes  the  body  of  his  church.  Then, 
in  the  second  place,  that  he  knits  the  same  together  by  joints 
and  bands.  And,  lastly,  that  by  this  means  he  causes  it  to  in- 
crease with  the  increase  of  God.  All  this  is  taken  from  the 
resemblances  of  natural  bodies,  from  which  this  comparison  is 
drawn.  For  you  see  that  in  nature  the  head  first  distributes  to 
all  the  parts  of  the  body  such  strength  as  is  necessary  for  ex- 
ercising their  motions  and  sensations  ;  it  being,  as  it  were,  the 
common  source  from  which  the  animal  spirits,  as  they  are 
called,  the  principles  of  motion  and  sensation,  are  by  the 
nerves,  as  by  so  many  channels,  shed  forth  into  all  the  parts 
of  the  whole  frame,  as  well  higher  as  lower,  the  most  remote  as 
well  as  the  nearest  ;  and  when  this  influence  and  communication 
of  the  head  happens  to  cease,  you  see  the  members  which  are 
deprived  of  it  presently  become  paralytic  and  insensible. 
Then,  further,  the  head  does  the  body  this  office  :  it  binds  and 
keeps  properly  fastened  to  each  other,  by  means  of  the  same 
nerves,  all  the  parts  of  which  it  is  made  up,  both  the  harder 
ones,  as  the  bones  and  cartilages,  and  the  softer,  as  the  muscles, 
and  other  substances.  Finally,  the  head,  by  means  of  this 
continual  influence,  gives  its  body  the  ability  to  grow,  and  ex- 
tend itself,  and  rise  up  by  degrees  to  the  measure  of  its  due 
magnitude.  The  apostle  therefore  makes  use  of  this  natural 
image,  to  represent  to  us  those  spiritual  benefits  which  we 
receive  from  the  communion  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  our  mystical 
Head,  and  says, 

First,  that  he  furnishes  his  body,  that  is,  gives  it  abundantly 
spiritual  sense  and  motion,  and,  in  a  word,  all  the  graces  neces- 
sary for  the  exercise  of  a  heavenly  life  ;  diffusing  them  into  all 
his  mystical  members,  that  is,  into  all  his  believers,  by  means 
not  of  their  animal  nature,  but  of  his  divine  and  eternal  Spirit. 
This  Spirit,  which  he  distributes  to  all  and  to  each  of  his 
members,  replenishes  our  eyes  and  senses  with  that  light  and 
vigour  which  is  requisite  for  seeing,  feeling,  and  tasting  divine 
things.  It  sheds  abroad  peace  and  joy  into  our  hearts,  and 
curing  our  benumbed  limbs,  and  opening  our  hands  which  vice 
had  locked  up,  gives  us  the  operations  and  motions  of  the  life 
of  God  ;  and,  in  short,  forms  in  us  all  the  conceptions  and 
virtues  of  the  new  man. 

But  he  says,  secondly,  continuing  this  excellent  metaphor, 

that  this  divine  Head  fitly  knits  together  his  body  by  joints 

and  bands  ;  expressing,  by  these  words,  that  spiritual  union 

which  binds  and  joins  all  true  believers  to  their  Head  and  to 

52 


41©  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXIX. 

each  other.  For  as  every  member  of  the  body  has  its  particular 
temperature  and  qualities,  very  different  from  the  rest,  one 
being  hard,  another  soft;  one  cold,  another  hot;  one  dry,  another 
moist;  and  yet,  being  linked  by  those  secret  and  imperceptible 
bands  which,  descending  from  the  head,  fasten  them  all  together, 
make  up  but  one  only  and  the  same  body  :  so  is  it  with  the 
church.  The  faithful,  of  whom  it  is  composed,  are  both  in 
nature  and  grace  infinitely  different  from  each  other.  In 
nature  :  for  some  are  of  one  nation,  of  one  age,  of  one  sex,  of 
one  condition,  and  others  of  another;  one  rich,  and  another 
poor;  one  learned,  another  ignorant;  one  noble,  another  of  low 
extraction.  In  grace  likewise:  for  who  can  utter  all  the  differ- 
ences of  their  gifts  in  this  respect?  But  Jesus  Christ,  their 
mystical  Head,  notwithstanding  this  diversity,  reduces  them 
all  into  one  and  the  same  body  ;  as  Paul  says  elsewhere,  "  We 
being  many  are  one  body  in  Christ."  He  sets  us  together,  and 
fitly  unites  us  one  with  another,  by  these  mystical  joints  and 
bands,  of  which  the  apostle  here  speaks  ;  that  is,  the  gifts  and 
graces  of  his  Spirit  :  and  first  of  all  charity,  the  universal  bond 
of  all  the  faithful,  which  ties  them  inseparably  together,  by  the 
sentiments  of  a  sincere  and  ardent  love,  and  by  all  the  motions, 
offices,  services,  and  assistances  which  depend  upon  it.  It  is 
this  spirit  of  charity  that  mixes  all  their  souls  into  one;  that 
renders  them  sensible  of  each  other's  weal  and  woe  ;  that  in- 
spires into  them  the  same  prayers  and  wishes  ;  and  so  governs 
their  actions,  that,  though  different,  they  yet  all  aim  at  the 
same  mark,  the  glory  of  their  Head,  and  the  common  edification 
of  his  members.  Among  these  joints  and  ligaments  of  the 
Lord's  body  I  also  place  the  various  graces  with  which  he  in- 
vests them,  giving  to  this  man  one  talent,  and  to  that  man 
another  ;  to  one  zeal,  to  another  knowledge  ;  to  one  utterance, 
to  another  judgment.  To  the  same,  too,  must  be  referred  the 
different  offices  which  he  has  instituted  in  his  church,  pastors, 
teachers,  elders,  and  deacons  ;  this  various  distribution  ap- 
proximating them  to  one  another  ;  the  need  they  have  of  their 
brethren,  and  the  succour  they  may  afford  them,  admirably 
knitting  and  keeping  up  the  commerce  of  their  common  charity, 
as  Paul  expressly  observes  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians, 
chap.  iv.  12  ;  where,  speaking  of  the  different  ministries  which 
the  Lord  Jesus  formed  and  erected  among  his  people,  he  says 
that  he  made  them  for  the  perfecting  or  setting  together  of  the 
saints,  for  the  edification  of  his  body. 

But  he  adds  a  third  benefit  derived  from  this  Head,  which  is 
as  the  sequel  and  fruit  of  the  two  former  ;  that  his  body,  thus 
furnished  and  compacted  by  its  Head,  increases  with  the  in- 
crease of  God,  that  is,  with  a  divine  and  spiritual  incirease, 
arising  from  the  efficacy  of  God,  and  tending  to  his  glory  ;  in- 
asmuch as  the  church,  thus  united  to  its  Head,  and  filled  with 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  411 

tlie  influences  of  his  grace,  is  established,  strengthened,  and 
completed  by  degrees,  in  faith,  in  hope,  in  charity,  in  light, 
and  in  sanctity,  until  it  attain  unto  the  measure  of  its  perfect 
stature  in  Christ.  Such  is  the  communion  of  the  church  with 
its  Head  Jesus  Christ  here  described  by  the  apostle. 

And  hence  it  appears  how  grievous  is  the  error  of  those  who 
worship  angels,  there  being  nothing  in  these  words  but  what 
evinces  it.  First,  then,  the  apostle  says  they  hold  not  the  Head. 
It  is  true  that  they  do  not  profess  to  let  it  go.  For  they  affirm 
themselves  to  be  christians,  and  own  Jesus  Christ  for  the  Prince 
and  Author  of  their  religion.  But  in  reality  and  in  effect  they 
break  the  union  which  they  should  have  with  him  in  the  char- 
acter of  Head,  since  they  address  themselves  to  angels  as  their 
mediators  and  intercessors  with  God.  For  it  is  giving  them 
the  office  of  head,  which  pertains  to  one  alone  ;  it  being  clear 
that  this  mediation,  which  is  the  source  of  our  life,  is  the  office 
of  our  Head.  Again,  their  impudence  plainly  appears,  in  that 
Jesus  Christ  our  Head  furnishes  his  body  with  all  necessary 
graces.  For  why  should  we  seek  in  angels  or  saints  what  we 
have  abundantly  in  Jesus  Christ?  Is  there  any  grace,  any 
light,  any  blessing,  which  we  may  not  have  from  him  ?  Nay, 
says  the  apostle,  it  is  he  that  furnishes  the  whole  body.  He  is 
the  fulness  of  grace,  an  inexhaustible  abyss  of  good.  Surely, 
then,  it  is  extreme  vanity  to  address  ourselves  to  any  other, 
and  to  seek  the  waters  of  life  and  of  salvation  in  petty  by- 
streams,  rather  than  in  that  full,  fresh,  abundant  and  only  source 
which  the  Father  has  given  us  in  this  divine  Head.  If  the  wor- 
ship of  angels  and  saints  were  permitted,  (which  it  is  not,)  it 
is  evident  it  would  be  unprofitable,  since  we  most  assuredly 
have,  in  Jesus  Christ  alone,  all  the  succour  and  assistance 
which  we  can  possibly  pretend  to  obtain  from  those  creatures. 

But  that  which  the  apostle  adds,  in  the  second  place,  namely, 
that  this  divine  Head  compacts  and  knits  together  his  whole 
body,  further  powerfully  opposes  this  error,  which  divides  the 
church,  and  brings  a  manifest  strange  variety  into  its  services; 
inasmuch  as  it  multiplies  the  objects  of  its  devotion,  causing 
some  to  serve  one  angel,  or  one  saint,  and  others  another  ;  some 
have  a  partiality  for  one  and  call  themselves  after  him,  and 
others  adhere  to  another  ;  as  you  plainly  see  by  the  example 
of  those  of  Rome,  who  are  divided  into  various  bands  and  fra- 
ternities, according  to  the  angels,  the  male  and  female  saints,  to 
whom  they  offer  their  devotion;  not  to  mention  that  each  of 
them  has  a  particular  service  for  his  guardian  angel,  differing 
from  the  service  of  all  others  on  account  of  its  object,  inas- 
much as,  according  to  their  account,  every  one  has  his  par- 
ticular angel,  different  from  those  of  others.  Whereas  the 
true  body  of  Christ  is  all  knit  together  in  a  perfect  union, 
having  but  one  only  Head  Jesus  Christ,  and  one  only  reli- 


4li  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXIX. 

gious  service,  one  and  the  same  faith,  and  one  and  the  same 
worship. 

Lastly,  the  apostle  again  strikes  at  the  authors  of  this  error, 
when  he  says  that  the  body  of  the  church  being  united,  guided, 
and  governed  by  its  Head  Jesus  Christ,  increases  with  the  in- 
crease of  God.  For  these  people  are  accustomed  to  boast  of 
perfecting  and  increasing  the  religion  of  christians  by  the  ad- 
dition of  such  services  as  they  invent.  But  Paul  informs  us 
that  this  is  not  the  increase  which  the  church  receives,  which 
must  be  an  increase  of  God,  an  augmentation  and  advancement 
in  things  which  he  has  commanded  and  instituted  ;  whereas 
these  people  grow  only  in  the  traditions  of  men,  and  inven- 
tions of  the  flesh,  which  add  nothing  to  the  true  and  legitimate 
magnitude  of  the  body  ;  it  becomes  by  them  more  puffed  up, 
not  fuller;  more  deformed,  not  greater.  They  are  like  warts, 
and  imposthumes,  which  disfigure  and  incommode  the  body, 
but  are  far  from  enriching  or  perfecting  it. 

Dear  brethren,  let  us  lay  by  all  these  strange  doctrines. 
Let  us  hold  fast  to  this  holy  and  blessed  Head,  Jesus  the  Son 
of  God,  who  has  vouchsafed  to  take  us  for  his  body.  Let  us 
enjoy,  with  most  profound  respect,  the  great  honour  he  has 
therein  conferred  upon  us.  Let  us  not  be  so  ungrateful,  or  so 
imprudent,  as  to  give  that  glory  to  another  which  belongs  to 
him  alone.  Let  vain  men  submit  to  other  heads  ;  let  them 
profane  this  divine  quality  of  head  of  the  church,  attributing 
it  either  to  angels,  or  (which  is  yet  worse)  to  a  mortal  man. 
For  our  parts,  O  Lord  Jesus,  we  neither  have,  nor  ever  will 
have,  any  other  head  than  thee.  As  it  is  thou  alone  that  hast 
redeemed  us,  formed  and  associated  us  in  the  communion  of 
thy  body  ;  so  never  will  we  address  our  devotions,  our  religion, 
our  services,  and  invocations  to  any  but  to  thee.  It  is  on  thee 
alone  that  we  will  live,  and  from  thy  springs  alone  we  will 
draw.  Likewise  with  thee  are  the  words  of  eternal  life.  To 
which  of  the  saints  shall  we  turn  ?  Without  thee  we  can  do 
nothing,  and  in  thee  alone  we  can  do  all  things.  Beloved 
brethren,  this  is  the  vow  which  I  now  present  to  the  Lord  Je- 
sus in  the  behalf  of  us  all,  and  I  assure  myself  that  there  is  not 
one  of  you  who  does  not  heartily  say  Amen  thereto.  It  re- 
mains that  we  faithfully  perform  this  great  vow,  rendering  up 
ourselves  to  be  guided  and  governed  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
since  he  is  our  Head  ;  having  no  motion  or  sentiment  but  what 
descends  from  him,  and  receiving  into  our  nerves  and  arteries 
his  celestial  and  divine  Spirit;  sincerely  renouncing  the  spirit 
of  the  flesh  and  of  the  earth,  which  animates  the  world.  Re- 
member that  you  are  the  body  of  Christ,  and  live  in  such  a 
purity  as  may  be  worthy  of  so  great  a  name.  Above  all,  let 
us  have  those  sacred  bonds  between  us  which  fitly  knit  all  the 
members  of  our  Lord  together  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  sentiments 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  413 

of  a  vigorous  charity,  communicating  readily  and  cheerfully 
to  each  other  the  graces  with  which  our  common  Head  has 
furnished  us,  for  our  mutual  edification  :  the  rich,  their  alms  to 
those  that  are  poor  ;  the  wise,  their  instructions  to  the  igno- 
rant ;  the  strong,  their  succour  to  the  weak  ;  those  that  are  in 
prosperity,  their  consolations  to  the  afflicted  :  increasing  all  of 
us  continually  with  the  increase  of  God,  in  faith  and  sanctifi- 
cation, and  advancing  daily  some  paces  towards  the  mark  and 
prize  of  our  high  calling.  This  is  the  discipline  of  the 
Lord  Jesus.  This  is  what  he  has  commanded  us,  his  apostles 
preached,  and  left  in  their  writings,  to  us  ;  not  the  worshipping 
of  angels,  and  other  such  inventions  of  superstition,  of  which 
those  holy  men  say  not  one  word,  except  it  be  to  refute  and 
condemn  them.  Let  us  rest  in  their  doctrine,  and  we  shall 
have  part  in  their  bliss,  through  the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ,  their 
Head  and  ours  ;  to  whom,  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  only  true  God,  blessed  for  ever,  be  honour,  praise,  and 
glory  to  ages  of  ages.     Amen. 


SERMON    XXX 

VERSES  20-22. 


Wherefore  if  ye  he  dead  with  CJirist  from  the  rudiments  of  the 
world,  lohy,  as  though  living  in  the  world,  are  ye  subject  to  or- 
dinances, {Touch  not  ;  taste  not;  handle  not  ;  ivhich  all  are  to 
perish  with  the  using,)  after  the  commandments  and  doctrines 
of  men  ? 

Dear  brethren,  seeing  that  the  apostle  plainly  shows  in  va- 
rious places  that  the  use  of  meats  is  a  thing  indifferent  ;  and 
that  if  we  eat  we  have  not  thereby  the  more,  or  the  less  if  we 
eat  not,  1  Cor,  viii.  8  ;  and  even  enjoins  us  to  accommodate 
ourselves  to  the  infirmity  of  our  brethren,  declaring  that  "  it 
is  good  neither  to  eat  flesh,  nor  to  drink  wine,  nor  to  do  any- 
thing whereby  our  brother  stumbleth,  or  is  ofiended,  or  is 
made  weak,"  Eom.  xiv.  21  ;  it  may  seem  strange  to  some,  that 
in  this  Epistle,  and  in  the  First  to  Timothy,  and  elsewhere,  he 
so  earnestly  insists  upon  this  point,  and  employs  so  many 
words  and  reasons  against  those  who  prohibited  certain  sorts 
of  meats  to  christians.  But  if  you  thoroughly  consider  the 
whole  procedure  of  this  holy  man,  and  the  motives  for  his  giv- 
ing such  direction,  you  will  find  it  in  all  its  parts  to  be  full  of 
reason  and  profound  discretion.     For,  first,  there  is  a  great 


414  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXX. 

difference  between  those  with  whom  he  bears,  and  those  whom 
he  rejects.  The  one  were  infirm,  and  the  other  insolent.  The 
former,  through  want  of  knowledge,  could  hardly  consider 
those  things  permitted  which  were  prohibited  by  the  school  of 
Moses.  The  latter,  in  their  rashness,  attempted  to  bring  chris- 
tians under  the  yoke  again.  The  error  of  those  reached  no 
further  than  their  own  persons.  These  would  dogmatize,  and 
give  the  church  new  laws.  Wherefore  the  apostle  is  lenient 
towards  the  one,  and  severe  against  the  others,  according  to 
the  difference  of  their  faults.  And  as  to  the  thing  itself,  though 
it  is  no  more  a  crime  to  abstain  from  any  of  the  meats  which 
God  has  created  for  our  use  than  it  is  to  eat  them,  yet  to  make 
this  abstinence  pass  for  a  matter  of  necessity  is  a  pernicious 
attempt.  First,  it  is  an  overthrow  or  a  diminution  of  our  lib- 
erty, which  having  been  purchased  by  the  blood  of  Christ, 
ought  to  be  very  precious  to  us  ;  for  it  is  not  just  that  the  fancy 
or  the  tyrannical  humour  of  men  should  bereave  us  of  that 
which  has  cost  him  so  dear.  Moreover,  such  injunctions  cause 
that  to  be  thought  necessary  which  is  indifferent,  and  that  to 
pass  for  a  part  of  the  service  of  God  which  is  not  so  ;  an  opinion 
which  has  dangerous  consequences  ;  for  men,  once  possessed 
with  this  imagination,  lose,  in  such  exercises,  a  great  portion 
of  that  time  which  should  be  wholly  spent  in  the  study  and 
practice  of  the  true  commandments  of  our  Lord  Jesus.  But, 
what  is  still  worse,  they  easily  imagine  that  they  get  by  such 
abstinence  from  things  permitted  a  licence  to  commit  without 
danger  things  prohibited,  and  the  privilege  of  having  their  obe- 
dience to  God  dispensed  with  on  account  of  that  which  they 
render  unto  men  ;  a  conception  which,  as  you  perceive,  under- 
mines the  foundations  of  that  true  and  real  sanctification,  with- 
out which  no  man  shall  see  God. 

The  apostle,  well  knowing  therefore  the  venom  of  these 
doctrines,  and  seeing,  on  the  other  hand,  the  strong  inclina- 
tion that  men  have  towards  them,  being  likewise  not  ignorant  (as 
experience  has  but  too  much  verified)  that  there  would  alwaj^s 
be  people  found  to  propagate  them  among  christians,  con- 
sidered it  necessary  for  the  security  of  our  faith  to  give  us, 
in  various  parts  of  his  divine  Epistles,  strong  preservatives 
against  the  contagion  of  this  pernicious  error.  You  have 
heard  already  how  he  said  concerning  it,  "Let  no  man  judge 
you  in  meat  or  in  drink;"  completely  repressing,  by  those 
few  words,  the  temerity  of  all  those  who,  for  such  things, 
bring  the  faithful  to  the  bar,  and  condemn  to  the  fire  of  hell 
for  having  but  tasted  of  meats  which  they  prohibit.  He  now 
resumes  the  same  discourse;  and  having,  in  the  two  preceding 
verses,  refuted  the  worshipping  of  angels,  which  the  seducers 
taught  in  religion,  he  comes  to  their  other  ordinances,  which 
concerned  certain  abstinences  and  devotions,  which  they  im- 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  415 

posed  on  christians  as  salutiferous,  and  necessary  for  humbling 
the  spirit  and  mortifying  the  flesh  ;  and,  first,  he  refutes  them 
by  three  excellent  reasons  which  he  urges  against  them  ;  next, 
he  rejects  the  vain  and  specious  pretexts  under  colour  of  which 
they  were  recommended.  The  first  of  those  three  reasons 
which  he  advances  against  these  pretended  devotions,  is  taken 
from  the  liberty  which  Jesus  Christ  has  purchased  for  us  by 
his  death,  freeing  us  from  all  carnal  and  ceremonial  services  : 
"Wherefore  if  ye  be  dead  with  Christ,  why,  as  though  living 
in  the  world,  are  ye  subject  to  ordinances,"  such  as,  "  Touch 
not;  taste  not;  handle  not?"  The  second  is  drawn  from  the 
nature  of  those  things  themselves  from  which  an  abstinence 
was  ordered  :  "  which  all  are  to  perish  with  the  using."  And 
the  third  from  the  origin  of  such  ordinances  :  instituted,  not 
by  the  authority  of  God,  but  "  after  the  commandments  and 
doctrines  of  men,"  These  are  the  three  points  of  which  we 
purpose  to  treat  in  this  discourse,  by  the  assistance  of  God  ; 
beseeching  him  to  grant  that  we  may  meditate  upon  them  to 
our  common  edification  and  consolation. 

I.  The  apostle's  last  words  were  concerning  the  communion 
of  the  church  with  Jesus  Christ  its  Head,  who  nourishes  his 
whole  body,  and  fitly  knits  it  together  by  joints  and  bands, 
causing  it  to  increase  with  the  increase  of  God.  Here  he  takes 
occasion  to  set  before  us  again  that  enfranchisement  from  the 
yoke  of  ceremonies  which  we  have  by  this  holy  and  mystical 
communion  with  our  Lord.  This  is  his  meaning  in  these 
words,  we  are  "  dead  with  Christ  from  the  rudiments  of  the 
world."  For,  as  we  have  showed  before,  the  apostle  calls  the 
ceremonial  ordinances  of  Moses's  law  the  elements  or  rudi- 
ments of  the  world,  because  they  were  the  first  and  lowest 
lessons  of  God's  people  ;  all  of  them  consisting  in  material 
and  worldly  things,  and  in  the  use  of,  or  in  an  abstinence 
from,  either  elements,  or  plants,  and  animals,  and  other  fruits 
and  productions  of  the  world.  But  he  seems  in  this  place  to 
signify  by  these  words  generally  all  services  of  this  nature, 
whether  those  that  Moses  formerly  instituted  for  the  exercise 
of  the  childhood  and  minority  of  Israel,  or  those  that  other 
men  afterwards  introduced,  of  which  sort  were  the  devotions 
and  ceremonies  which  the  elders  of  the  Jews  and  the  Phari- 
sees added  to  the  law,  and  passed  for  traditions  of  antiquity, 
as  we  understand  by  the  gospel,  where  in  various  places  our 
Saviour  notices  them,  and  very  sharply  reproves  them.  Such 
again  were  the  systems  and  devotions  of  those  seducers  whom 
the  apostle  here  opposes,  and  all  others  similar  to  them,  which, 
though  instituted  by  different  authors,  and  at  different  times, 
yet  jointly  consist  in  one  and  the  same  kind  of  earthly  and 
material  things,  and  tend  to  one  and  the  same  end,  namely, 
the  purifying  and  sanctifying  of  men,  and  the  rendering  the 


416  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXX. 

Deity  propitious  and  favourable  to  them  by  sucb  exercises. 
This  whole  service  is  carnal,  confined  to  certain  corporeal 
things  and  actions  in  which  it  consists,  as  in  meat  and  drink, 
in  watchings  and  clothing  ;  in  men's  washing  and  disciplining 
themselves,  going  in  procession,  or  on  pilgrimage,  repeating 
certain  words  and  forms  of  prayer  :  it  also  depends  upon  times, 
having  its  years,  its  months,  its  days,  its  festivals,  and  its  very 
hours  all  regulated.  This  was  the  very  form  of  the  carnal  or 
ceremonial  service  of  the  Jews,  which  was  directly  opposed  to 
that  other  service  which  Jesus  Christ  gave  us  in  his  gospel, 
and  which,  instead  of  confining  us  to  these  childish  scruples 
of  times,  of  places,  and  of  things,  wholly  consists  in  a  pure 
and  genuine  worship  of  God,  in  loving  and  fearing  him,  in 
tenderly  regarding  our  neighbour,  in  honesty  and  justice,  and 
in  a  true  and  lively  holiness.  Accordingly,  you  know,  that 
as  the  former  service  is  termed  carnal,  the  latter  is  styled 
spiritual.  The  one  is  a  serving  in  shadow,  the  other  in  truth  ; 
the  one  in  flesh,  the  other  in  spirit.  It  is  then,  in  my  opinion, 
all  that  first  species  of  carnal  services,  from  whatever  source 
they  flow,  either  the  institution  of  Moses,  or  the  invention  of 
any  other  man,  that  the  apostle  here  calls  "  the  rudiments  of 
the  world,"  declaring  that  we  have  been  freed  from  it  by  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ;  remaining  no  longer  subject  to  all  this 
childish  and  infantile  discipline,  nor  bound  up  to  hours,  or 
times,  or  elements,  or  other  things  of  the  world  ;  but  being 
raised  above  all  these,  so  that  we  may  make  use  of  them  with 
full  liberty,  according  to  the  interests  of  piety  and  charity, 
and  not  be  any  more  in  bondage  to  them,  or  dependent  upon 
them. 

But  because  Jesus  Christ  has  procured  us  this  great  benefit 
by  his  death,  and  puts  us  in  possession  of  it  by  the  commu- 
nion we  have  with  him,  Paul  sets  forth  this  grace,  of  his  free- 
ing us  from  subjection  to  the  rudiments  of  the  world,  in  terms 
which  refer  to  that  death,  saying,  not  simply  that  we  are 
delivered  from  such  kind  of  services  by  Jesus  Christ,  but  that 
we  are  "  dead  with  him  from  the  rudiments  of  the  world  ;"  an 
expression  exceedingly  graceful  and  elegant.  It  signifies,  first, 
that  we  are  no  longer  subject  to  these  rudiments  of  the  world. 
For  the  dead  are  out  of  all  servitude.  The  laws  no  more  de- 
mand anything  of  them.  Neither  their  lords  nor  their  masters 
have  power  any  longer  to  require  aught  of  them.  Death 
breaks  all  the  bonds  that  tied  them  to  any  subjection  what- 
ever. The  apostle  says,  therefore,  that  we  are  dead  to  the 
rudiments  of  the  world,  to  signify  that  we  are  freed  from  them  ; 
that  we  are  no  more  subject  to  them,  as  he  tells  us  elsewhere 
in  the  same  sense,  that  we  are  "  dead  to  the  law,"  Rom.  vii.  4  ; 
and  again  in  another  place,  "  I  am,"  says  he,  "  dead  to  the  law, 
that  I  might  live  unto  God,"  Gal.  ii.  19.     And  thus,  too,  it  is 


CHAP.  II.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  417 

that  we  must  take  his  affirmation  that  we  are  "  dead  to  sin," 
Rom.  vi.  2  ;  that  is  to  say,  delivered  from  its  tyranny.  And 
because  death  puts  an  end  to  and  abolishes  the  power  and 
authority  of  the  master,  as  well  as  the  servitude  and  subjec-' 
tion  of  the  vassal,  Paul  says  indifferently  that  sin  and  the 
commandment  of  the  old  law  are  dead  to  us,  and  that  we  are 
dead  to  them,  signifying  by  this  expression  that  we  are  their 
subjects  no  more. 

But  Paul's  expression  here,  that  we  are  "  dead  with  Christ 
from  the  rudiments  of  the  world,"  shows  us,  in  the  second 
place,  both  the  cause  of  our  liberty — Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
means  by  which  he  acquired  it  for  us,  namely,  his  death.  We 
are  dead  to  all  ceremonial  services,  because  our  Lord  has 
dissolved  and  abolished  them  in  dying  for  us.  His  death  has 
completed  all  the  designs  for  which  these  rudiments  of  the  world 
were,  for  a  time,  appointed.  It  has  procured  that  righteous- 
ness which  they  represented,  and  exhibited  that  salvation 
which  they  promised,  and  brought  in  the  substance  of  which 
they  were  but  shadows.  It  has  opened  the  house  of  God  to 
the  Gentiles,  whom  they  excluded  ;  put  an  end  to  the  old 
testament,  to  which  they  pertained  ;  and  founded  the  new,  an 
eternal,  and  immutable  one,  which  they  prefigured.  Where- 
fore the  veil  of  the  temple  was  rent  from  the  top  to  the  bot- 
tom at  the  time  that  Jesus  suffered  death,  for  a  token  that  the 
ancient  worship,  of  which  this  veil  was  a  symbol,  became 
thenceforth  abrogated  and  annulled. 

Lastly,  these  words  of  the  apostle  further  exhibit  an  apt 
resemblance  between  the  Lord's  death  on  the  cross,  and  our 
freedom  from  the  yoke  of  ceremonies.  For  as  Jesus  in  dying 
divested  himself  of  the  life  he  led  here  below,  during  the  days 
of  his  flesh,  in  infirmity,  and  in  subjection  to  the  elements  of 
Moses,  to  take  up  a  new  one  by  his  resurrection,  which  was 
to  be  free,  divine  and  celestial  ;  so  we,  in  like  manner,  by 
virtue  of  the  communion  we  have  with  him,  and  particularly 
in  his  death,  lay  down  that  former  manner  of  life,  which  con- 
sisted in  the  childish  exercises  of  some  carnal  abstinences  and 
devotions,  to  live  henceforth  in  the  liberty  of  the  children  of 
God  ;  serving  him  no  more  in  shadow  and  in  figure,  but  in 
spirit  and  in  truth,  with  a  conscience  pure,  and  a  heart  not 
confined  to  the  places,  things,  and  times  of  the  old  world,  but 
continually  elevated  to  that  new,  incorruptible,  and  eternal 
one  above  the  heavens,  where  Jesus  Christ,  the  Author  and 
Prince  of  our  religion  and  salvation,  dwells.  Such  is  this 
evangelical  truth  here  laid  down  by  Paul  at  the  beginning  of 
the  text,  that  we  are  "dead  with  Christ  from  the  rudiments  of 
the  world." 

Therefore  you  may  see,  by  the  way,  how  erroneous  were 
their  conceptious  who  placed  the  perfection  of  the  faithful  in 
53 


418  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXX. 

the  practice  of  these  carnal  systems  and  devotions,  accounting 
those  perfect  who  use  them.  Paul,  on  the  contrary,  terms 
them  here  "  the  rudiments  of  the  world  ;"  so  that  the  subjecting 
of  christians  to  such  discipline  is  so  far  from  being  a  perfect- 
ing and  completing  them,  as  these  men  pretend,  that,  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  a  putting  them  back  to  their  alphabet,  and  a 
reducing  them,  from  the  highest  classes  of  the  school  of  God, 
down  to  the  lowest,  there  to  become  children  again,  and  to 
lead  a  childish  life  with  the  disciples  of  Moses,  in  an  ap- 
prenticeship to  his  rudiments,  and  under  the  scourge  of  his 
discipline. 

The  apostle,  from  this  principle  thus  asserted,  concludes 
against  the  false  teachers,  that  all  their  ordinances,  touching 
abstinence  from  certain  meats,  were  vain,  unjust,  and  tyran- 
nical. "If  therefore,"  says  he,  "ye  be  dead  with  Christ  from 
the  rudiments  of  the  world,  why,  as  though  living  in  the 
world,  are  ye  subject  to  ordinances  ?"  Afterwards  he  notices 
and  expressly  specifies  some  of  those  ordinances  which  men 
would  impose  upon  the  faithful,  namely,  "  Touch  not  ;  taste 
not  ;  handle  not."  The  force  and  the  coherence  of  his  argu- 
ment is  evident.  It  is  an  injustice,  says  he,  and  a  tyranny, 
still  to  burden  those  with  worldly  ordinances  who  are  dead 
to  the  world.  You  are  dead  to  his  rudiments  through  Christ, 
who  has  by  his  death  abolished  all  this  kind  of  carnal  disci- 
plines and  services,  and  nailed  up  and  torn  upon  his  cross  the 
obligation  to  them.  By  his  grace,  you  live  no  longer  in  the 
world,  in  the  school  of  figures  and  worldly  ceremonies.  You 
live  henceforth  in  heaven,  in  the  light  and  liberty  of  the 
Spirit.  For  Paul  sometimes  applies  the  word  world  to  the 
state  of  God's  people  within  their  land  of  Canaan,  in  the 
school  of  their  Moses,  and  the  performance  of  a  worldly  and 
carnal  service.  And  therefore  he  elsewhere  terms  the  Levit- 
ical  sanctuary  "a  worldly  sanctuary,"  Heb.  ix.  1.  The  faith- 
ful, then,  being  without  this  Mosaic  world,  it  is  clear,  that  no 
man  can  justly  impose  upon  them  in  matters  of  religion  any 
laws  or  ordinances  of  this  nature  ;  that  those  who  attempt  it 
outrage  Him  that  freed  them,  and  oppress  the  liberty  of  his 
people  ;  and  that  every  one  may  justly  reject  the  yoke  and 
oppose  their  tyranny. 

Neither  must  it  be  alleged,  that  the  ordinances  in  question 
are  not  those  of  Moses,  but  others  quite  different.  For  what- 
ever ordinances  they  are,  it  is  evident  they  are  a  yoke  ;  and 
every  yoke,  whatever  may  be  its  nature  and  form,  deprives  us 
of  our  liberty.  Besides,  it  is  very  probable  that  the  apostle, 
as  we  have  already  observed,  by  "  the  rudiments  of  the  world," 
intends  not  particularly  the  Mosaical  service  alone,  but  gen- 
erally all  such  service  as  is  bodily,  and  of  the  same  nature 
with  that  of  Moses.     And  finally,  though  it  should  be  taken 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  419 

simply  for  the  Mosaic  laws,  yet  would  Paul's  argument  be 
good  and  conclusive  from  the  greater  to  the  less  ;  as  he  would 
then  say,  If  you  be  set  free  from  the  yoke  of  Moses,  which 
was  framed  and  put  upon  the  necks  of  the  ancient  people  by 
the  express  appointment  of  God,  how  much  more  shall  ye  be 
free  from  that  of  men  !  If  Christ  has  delivered  you  from  those 
ordinances  of  which  it  cannot  be  denied  that  God  was  the  au- 
thor, how  intolerable  is  the  presumption  of  those  men  who 
burden  you  with  their  laws  !  Indeed,  who  can  believe  that  God 
would  have  freed  us  from  his  own  commands,  to  put  us  under 
those  of  others  ?  and  that  his  Son  would  have  delivered  us 
from  a  yoke  of  God,  to  load  us  with  one  of  mortal  men  ?  and 
that  he  would  have  exempted  us  from  the  rod  of  Moses,  to 
yield  us  up  to  the  scourges  of  these  new  Rehoboams  ? 

As  to  these  ordinances  which  the  apostle  here  specifies, 
doubtless  they  were  those  of  the  seducers,  and  not  his  own,  as 
was  imagined,  against  all  semblance  of  truth  and  reason,  by 
the  author  of  the  Comment  on  Paul  that  goes  under  the  name 
of  St.  Ambrose,  one  of  the  ancients.  Paul's  previous  caution, 
"Let  no  man  condemn  you  in  meat  or  in  drink,"  sufficiently 
shows  that  they  were  the  magisterial  ordinances  of  these  pre- 
tended legislators,  who  very  severely  commanded  their  people 
not  only  to  forbear  the  eating,  but  even  the  tasting  and  touch- 
ing, of  such  meats  as  they  prohibited.  Our  adversaries  of 
Eome  understand  the  first  of  those  three  words  to  refer  to  the 
prohibitions  in  the  Mosaic  law,  of  touching  or  handling  a 
dead  body,  for  instance,  or  such  other  things  as  the  Jews  might 
not  touch  without  being  counted  unclean.  In  the  same  man- 
ner they  refer  what  is  said  of  tasting  to  the  prohibition  of 
eating  swine's  flesh,  and  the  hare,  and  other  meats,  the  use  of 
which  was  not  permitted  in  the  law  ;  as  if  the  false  teachers, 
at  whom  the  apostle  aims,  would  have  introduced  among  chris- 
tians no  other  ordinances  than  those  of  the  Mosaic  law. 
-  But  this  whole  exposition  is  impertinent,  and  contrary  to 
the  apostle's  meaning.  If  he  had  referred  to  those  Jewish 
prohibitions,  it  would  have  been  sufficient  to  have  said  once, 
Touch  not,  without  superadding  a  third  word  of  the  same  sig- 
nification, namely,  handle  not.  Not  to  urge  that  this  cannot 
agree  with  that  which  follows,  where  he  says  that  these  things 
were  set  up  "  after  the  commandments  and  doctrines  of  men  ;" 
it  being  evident  that  the  prohibitions  in  the  Mosaic  law  were 
made  by  the  authority,  not  of  men,  but  of  God  ;  so  that  if  the 
seducers  had  pressed  nothing  else,  it  would  have  been  harsh, 
not  to  say  false,  to  accuse  them  of  making  ordinances  after  the 
doctrines  of  men  ;  and  they  would  without  doubt  have  ans- 
wered, that  they  were  founded  upon  the  commandment  of  God. 
Finally,  the  apostle's  assertion,  that  the  things,  an  abstinence 
from  which  the  seducers  ordered,  were  all  such  as  perished 


420  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXX. 

•with  the  using,  subverts  this  exposition,  and  evidently  shows 
that  the  things  forbidden  by  those  false  teachers  were  only 
meat  and  drink,  and  not  dead  bodies,  or  other  substances,  the 
touching  of  which  was  prohibited  by  the  law.  For  since  the 
things  of  which  he  speaks  are  consumed,  destroyed,  and  all 
perish  with  the  using  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  most  evi- 
dent that  the  things  which  the  Jews  were  forbidden  to  touch 
are  not  at  all  of  that  nature  (that  is,  such  as  perish  in  the 
using)  ;  it  must  of  necessity  be  concluded,  that  it  is  not  of 
them  Paul  speaks,  but  of  those  only  which  serve  for  the  food 
of  man,  and  which  are  all  consumed  by  the  use  that  is  made 
of  them  in  eating  or  drinking.  And,  in  the  end,  we  must 
come  back  to  the  interpretation  our  Bibles  exhibit,  which  have 
very  rightly  rendered  this  passage  in  these  words,  "  Touch"  or 
eat  "  not  ;  taste  not  ;  handle  not."  For  though  the  first  of 
these  three  words  frequently  and  commonly  signifies  to  touch, 
yet  those  who  understand  the  Greek  know  that  it  is  sometimes 
taken  for  to  eat  ;  of  which  our  expositors  have  produced  in- 
stances from  good  and  irrefragable  authors. 

Now  in  these  three  words  thus  arranged  the  apostle  repre- 
sents to  us,  by  the  way,  both  the  order  of  the  scrupulous  de- 
votions of  superstition,  and  the  progress  of  the  tyranny  of 
these  legislators.  At  first  they  forbid  the  eating  of  certain 
meats  ;  that  is,  the  use  of  them  at  your  ordinary  meals.  If 
they  win  this  ground,  they  proceed  further,  and  will  debar 
you  even  from  tasting  them.  At  last  they  possess  you  with 
scruple  to  touch  them,  as  if  the  mere  contact  of  such  things 
were  apt  to  pollute  you.  There  is  no  end  to  the  scruples  of 
superstition,  nor  any  measure  in  its  devotions  and  observances. 
It  heaps  them  up  daily  one  upon  another,  and  is  never  sati- 
ated with  this  vain  food.  It  never  says,  It  is  enough  ;  it  is 
always  saying,  Give,  give,  like  the  wise  man's  horse-leech  in 
the  Proverbs,  chap.  xxx.  15.  If  it  regulate  your  eating  to-day, 
to-morrow  it  will  give  you  laws  for  your  clothing,  and  after- 
wards for  each  of  the  parts  of  your  life  ;  not  leaving  so  much 
as  your  looks  or  your  breathing  free.  It  is  a  labyrinth  in 
which  poor  consciences  go  on  intricating  themselves  without 
any  issue  ;  and  a  snare  which  first  takes  them,  then  binds  them 
fast,  and  in  the  end  strangles  them. 

II.  But  let  us  now  consider  the  two  other  reasons  of  which 
the  apostle  makes  use,  to  show  the  vanity  of  the  pretended  or- 
dinances of  superstition,  respecting  meats,  and  eating,  and 
drinking.  The  second,  then,  is  taken,  as  we  have  already  in- 
timated, from  the  nature  of  those  things  from  which  abstinence 
was  commanded.  They  are  all,  says  he,  things  which  perish 
with  the  using  ;  that  is,  such  as  are  consumed  in  doing  us  ser- 
vice. The  very  eating  and  drinking,  by  which  they  are  taken, 
destroy  them  ;  and  they  are  so  feeble  and  infirm  a  substance, 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  421 

that  they  cannot  be  of  use  to  us  without  being  corrupted  ;  and 
to  nourish  us,  thej  must  first  perish  ;  an  evident  sign  that  all 
the  benefit  we  receive  from  them  respects  only  this  wretched 
mortal  life,  it  being  neither  possible  nor  imaginable,  that  what 
perishes,  and  is  consumed  in  us,  should  have  any  force  or  vir 
tue  for  the  life  of  our  soul,  which  is  immortal  and  incorrupt 
ible.  So  you  see  the  apostle  here  presupposes  this  maxim 
that  neither  religion,  nor  the  service  of  God,  properly  and  im 
mediately  consists  either  in  the  use  of,  or  an  abstinence  from 
any  of  those  things  which  serve  to  maintain  our  common  life 
and  are  consumed  in  serving  it  ;  as  he  says  elsewhere  ex 
pressly,  that  "  the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink 
but  righteousness  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,"  Rom. 
xiv.  17.  He  makes  use  of  the  same  reason  again  in  another 
place.  "  Meats,"  says  he,  are  "  for  the  belly,  and  the  belly  for 
meats  :  but  God  shall  destroy  both  it  and  them,"  1  Cor.  vi.  13. 
His  Master  and  ours  had  used  it  before  upon  the  same  argu- 
ment, to  the  same  purpose,  against  the  vain  scruples  of  the 
Pharisees,  the  patriarchs  of  all  this  kind  of  discipline.  "  Not 
that,"  says  he,  "  which  goeth  into  the  mouth  defileth  a  man  ;" 
because,  as  he  adds  immediately  after,  "  whatsoever  entereth  in 
at  the  mouth  goeth  into  the  belly,  and  is  cast  out  into  the 
draught,"  Matt.  xv.  11,  17  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  perishes  and  is 
consumed  with  the  using.  Consequently,  the  apostle  pro- 
nounces again,  in  consequence  of  the  same  doctrine,  that 
"  meat  (that  is,  any  certain  sort  of  meat)  commendeth  us  not 
to  God:  for  neither,  if  we  eat,  are  we  the  better:  neither,  if 
we  eat  not,  are  we  the  worse,"  1  Cor.  viii.  8  ;  because,  as  he 
says  in  another  place,  "  every  creature  of  God  is  good,  and 
nothing  to  be  refused,  if  it  be  received  with  thanksgiving,"  1 
Tim.  iv.  4. 

Surely,  were  it  not  for  the  extreme  blindness  of  men,  there 
would  be  no  occasion  for  us  to  repeat  and  confirm  so  easy  a 
lesson  with  such  diligence  and  in  so  many  places  ;  the  sole 
light  of  reason,  and  the  nature  of  things  itself,  teaching  it  so 
clearly.  For  who  is  there  that  does  not  perceive  this  truth, 
if  he  heed  it  ever  so  little  ?  and  that  does  not  discover  of 
himself  that  one  is  not  the  better  or  the  more  holy  for  eating 
herbs  or  fish,  nor  the  worse  or  more  vicious  for  living  on 
other  things  ?  All  this  serves  but  to  sustain  the  feeble  nature 
of  this  poor  body,  and  terminates  there,  without  penetrating 
to  the  soul,  whose  essence  is  wholly  spiritual.  The  conception 
of  the  understanding,  the  disposition  of  the  heart,  the  habits 
which  refer  to  them,  and  the  actions  that  proceed  from  them, 
these  alone  make  men  good  or  bad,  and  their  morals  laudable 
or  blâmable  ;  so  that  it  is  a  gross  and  a  deploi-able  error, 
though  I  grant  that  it  has  ever  been,  and  still  is,  a  very  com- 
mon one,  to  make  a  part  of  piety  and  holiness  to  consist  in 
eating  of,  or  abstaining  from,  certain  sorts  of  meats. 


422  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXX. 

Ill,  The  apostle  contents  not  himself  with  citing  the  con- 
clusions of  reason  and  the  nature  of  the  things  themselves, 
against  the  vain  and  pernicious  ordinances  of  these  seducers  ; 
but  in  order  to  overthrow  them  without  recovery,  and  to  take 
away  all  pretext  of  defending  them,  he  makes  use,  in  the  last 
place,  of  a  strong  and  invincible  argument,  drawn  from  their 
being  established  after  the  commandments  and  doctrines  of 
men.  Thus  it  was  that  God  formerly  struck  at  the  vain  ser- 
vices of  Israel  :  "  Their  fear  towards  me  (said  he)  is  taught 
by  the  precept  of  men,"  Isa.  xxix.  13,  And  the  Lord  Jesus 
overturns  all  the  authority  of  the  Jewish  traditions  in  a 
similar  manner,  telling  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  that  it  was 
in  vain  they  honoured  God,  "  teaching  for  doctrines  the  com- 
mandments of  men,"  Matt,  xv,  9,  And  it  appears  to  have 
been  from  this  that  Paul  took  both  the  conception  and  the  ex- 
pression which  he  uses  in  this  place.  This  reasoning,  my 
brethren,  is  deserving  the  deepest  attention.  The  apostle  re- 
jects the  ordinances  of  the  seducers,  because  they  are  command- 
ments and  doctrines  of  men.  There  is  no  man  who  sees  not 
that  this  discourse  has  no  consequence,  unless  by  presupposing 
that  nothing  ought  to  be  received  in  religion  under  the  quality 
of  necessary  belief  or  service,  except  it  be  either  taught  or  com- 
manded of  God.  It  is  the  doctrine  of  the  apostle  Paul  in  this 
place  ;  the  doctrine  of  the  prophet  Isaiah  in  that  to  which  we 
have  just  referred  ;  and  it  is  the  doctrine  of  Jesus,  the  Master 
of  apostles  and  prophets,  in  his  dispute  against  the  Pharisees. 
O  holy  and  precious  truth  !  from  how  many  errors  wouldst 
thou  deliver  the  world,  if,  according  to  the  authority  of  our 
Lord,  and  those  of  his  two  grand  ministers,  men  would  ex- 
amine all  things  by  thee  as  their  rule  ;  and  consider,  when  some 
article  in  religion  is  preached  to  them,  not  whether  it  be  spe- 
cious and  have  some  appearance  of  reason,  or  whether  it  has 
been  held  by  the  sages  of  antiquity,  or  is  now  believed  by 
the  greater  number  of  princes  and  people;  but  whether  it  is 
indeed  taught  of  God  in  his  word,  or  is  merely  commanded  by 
men  ! 

Dear  brethren,  by  this  short  and  simple  method  you  may 
easily  settle  your  thoughts  about  all  the  differences  which 
rend  Christendom  at  this  day.  Take  the  book  of  God,  and 
admit  nothing  into  your  belief  but  what  you  shall  find  either 
asserted  or  commanded  there;  refusing  wlaatever  the  word  of 
the  Lord  has  not  authorized.  Sure  I  am  that  the  sacrifice  of 
the  mass,  and  purgatory,  and  transubstantiation,  and  the 
monarchy  of  the  pope,  and  the  invocation  of  saints,  and,  in  a 
word,  all  that  divides  us  from  Eome,  will  remain  among  those 
commandments  and  doctrines  of  men  which  Paul  here  casts 
away  from  our  faith  ;  and  that  nothing  will  be  found  among 
the  commandments  and  doctrines  of  God,  but  those  seivices 


CHAP.  II.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  ANS.  423 

and  beliefs  which  are  received  and  confessed  by  our  churches. 
In  the  name  of  God,  make  trial  of  it,  if  you  have  not  already 
done  it  ;  and  you  will  see,  that  if  our  adversaries  have  doc- 
trines of  men  for  them,  we  have  the  doctrines  of  God,  of  his 
prophets  and  apostles,  for  us.  I  pass  by  other  doctrines  of 
Rome  for  the  present.  Only  how  can  they  defend  their 
ordinances  for  the  not  eating  of  flesh  during  more  than  a 
third  part  of  the  year;  commanding  the  faithful  to  live  all 
that  time  upon  nothing  but  herbs  and  fish,  under  pain  of 
damnation  ;  pressing  this  ridiculous  law  with  so  much  rigour, 
that  they  do  not  acknowledge  those  for  christians  who  trans- 
gress it  ;  and  punish  them  not  with  spiritual  pains  only,  but, 
in  the  countries  where  the  inquisition  reigns,  even  with  tem- 
poral, unto  death  itself?  Is  not  this  doing  with  a  high  hand 
that  which  the  apostle  here  forbids,  "Let  no  man  judge  you  in 
meat  or  in  drink  ;"  and,  "  AVhy  are  ye  subject  to  ordinances," 
namely,  "  Touch  not,  taste  not,  handle  not  ?" 

The  assertion  of  our  adversaries,  that  the  apostle  speaks  only 
of  the  Mosaic  prohibitions  of  touching  the  dead,  and  tasting 
the  flesh  of  the  hog  and  hare,  we  have  already  refuted.  He 
speaks,  in  general,  of  ordinances  which  forbid  the  tasting  of 
any  sort  of  meat  upon  a  religious  account.  And  it  is  no  way 
credible  that  he  should  grant  the  pope,  or  any  other  man,  that 
which  he  denies  to  Moses,  or  should  respect  their  laws  more 
than  his.  Besides,  all  the  circumstances  and  reasons  which  he 
notices  or  urges  against  the  laws  of  the  false  teachers,  are  evi- 
dently of  force  against  those  of  our  adversaries.  Those  teachers 
ordained  that  there  should  be  no  eating  nor  tasting  of  certain 
meats.  These  men  do  the  same.  They  recommended  their  ab- 
stinences upon  pretence  that  they  humbled  the  body,  and  did 
not  spare  it.  This  is  exactly  what  our  adversaries  affirm  of 
theirs.  The  apostle  alleges  against  them  that  they  stitched  up 
again  the  veil  of  Moses,  which  had  been  rent  in  twain  by  Jesus 
Christ  ;  and  reduced  that  carnal  and  worldly  worship  into  the 
church  which  had  been  abrogated  and  abolished  by  the  cross 
of  our  Lord.  Is  it  not  a  service  of  the  same  kind  as  that  which 
is  taught  by  those  of  Rome — a  service  which  consists  in  things 
purely  external  and  corporeal,  namely,  eating  and  meats  ?  Paul 
adds,  that  the  things  from  which  the  seducers  required  chris- 
tians to  abstain  were  all  such  as  perished  in  the  using.  Those 
about  which  our  adversaries  make  laws,  are  they  not  consumed 
in  the  very  same  manner — the  flesh,  which  they  forbid — the 
fish  and  herbs,  which  they  command  ?  Finally,  Paul  rejects 
the  ordinances  of  the  seducers,  because  they  were  doctrines  and 
commandments  of  men.  Those  of  Rome,  to  which  the  same 
quality  adheres,  ought  not  then  to  be  any  more  tolerated  than 
they.  For  however  bold  they  may  be,  they  durst  not  say  that 
God  appointed  them.     They  only  say  that  they  are  conform- 


424:  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXX. 

able  to  Scripture.  But  how  can  this  be  while  they  so  rudely 
clash  with  the  apostle's  doctrine  in  this  place  ? 

As  to  their  allegation,  that  the  Hebrew  children  would  not 
eat  of  the  meats  of  the  king  of  Babylon's  table,  the  Scripture 
tells  us  they  did  it  for  fear  of  being  defiled,  Dan,  i.  8,  because 
the  greater  part  of  the  meats  of  pagans  was  offered  to  idols. 
Besides,  they  doubted  whether  there  might  not  be  some  of  those 
things  which  were  forbidden  by  the  law  of  Moses,  under  which 
they  lived  ;  causes,  as  every  one  knows,  that  take  place  no 
longer,  and  are  in  effect  very  far  off  from  the  reasons  of 
the  abstinences  of  Eome.  They  produce  also  Daniel's  three 
weeks,  during  which  neither  flesh  nor  wine  entered  into  his 
mouth,  Dan.  x.  2,  3.  They  should  add,  what  the  Scripture  ex- 
pressly declares,  that  he  "  ate  no  pleasant  bread  "  nor  anointed 
himself  all  that  while,  because,  as  he  says  himself,  he  was 
mourning.  It  therefore  follows,  indeed,  that  those  who  mourn 
and  are  in  affliction  of  spirit  may,  if  they  think  proper,  banish 
all  the  pleasures  of  their  mode  of  living,  even  to  those  which 
are  innocent,  permitted,  and  ordinary,  as  Daniel  did  at  that  time 
upon  his  own  judgment,  and  not  from  any  public  command- 
ment. But  it  cannot  be  concluded  from  this  that  either  there 
was  then,  or  that  there  ought  to  be  now,  a  law  for  perpetuity 
in  the  christian  church,  which  forbids  the  use  of  meats  for  cer- 
tain times  of  the  year,  which  is  precisely  the  thing  that  our  ad- 
versaries pretend.  I  pass  by  Timothy's  abstinence,  who  drank 
no  wine;  for  there  is  little  probability  that  it  was  through  a 
religious  scruple  he  abstained  from  it.  Beside,  he  was  a  parti- 
cular person,  and  did  so  at  his  own  discretion,  not  by  the  order 
of  any  public  law.  And  yet  too  Paul  recommends  to  him  to 
do  the  contrary,  1  Tim.  v.  23  ;  and,  in  fine,  the  question  is  now 
of  meats,  not  of  wine,  which  those  of  Rome  prohibit  to  none  at 
all.  I  also  pass  by  the  fasts  of  the  Israelites  on  various  occa- 
sions ;  as  those  of  Anna,  of  David,  of  Esther,  of  John  Baptist 
and  his  disciples  :  these  have  no  communion  with  the  absti- 
nences in  question.  We  do  not  refuse  fasts,  far  be  it  from  us. 
"We  do  not  simply  and  absolutely  forbid  even  abstinence.  For 
it  is  equally  in  a  Christian's  liberty  to  eat,  or  not  to  eat,  any 
sort  of  meat  whatever  ;  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  is  a  sin, 
provided  it  be  done  in  faith  and  charity.  All  that  the  apostle 
condemns,  and  we  with  him,  and  after  him,  is  the  tyranny  that 
prohibits  what  God  permits,  and  which  makes  that  necessary 
which  he  has  left  free,  and  also  the  superstition  that  places  the 
true  service  of  God  in  things  purely  indifferent.  It  remains 
then  for  us  to  conclude,  that  this  law  of  our  adversaries  is  a 
doctrine  and  a  commandment  of  men,  since  it  has  no  founda- 
tion in  the  word  of  God. 

But,  which  is  more,  it  is  evidently  contrary  to  it.  For  the 
apostle  writing  to  the  faithful  at  Corinth,  who  lived  in  the  midst 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  425 

of  a  heathen  people,  in  whose  raarlcets  and  at  whose  tables  all 
sorts  of  meats  were  indifferently  sold  and  served  up,  he  gives 
them  this  rule  :  "  Whatsoever  is  sold  in  the  shambles,  that  eat, 
asking  no  question  for  conscience  sake."  And,  "If  any  of 
them  that  believe  not  bid  you  to  a  feast,  and  ye  be  disposed  to 
go,  whatsoever  is  set  before  you,  eat,  asking  no  question  for 
conscience  sake,"  1  Cor.  x.  25,  27.  How  does  this  accord  with 
the  Roman  laws,  which  forbid  so  many  sorts  of  meat  for  con- 
science sake?  But  this  holy  man  has  proceeded  much  further 
yet.  He  has  not  only  refuted  this  error,  he  has  also  predicted 
it,  and  given  us  timely  information  of  it  ;  ranking  abstinence 
from  meats  expressly  among  the  articles  of  the  false  doctrine 
of  those  seducers,  of  whose  coming  he  prophesied  ;  describing 
them  by  dreadful  marks,  that  we  might  have  a  just  abhorrence 
of  them,  1  Tim.  iv.  1 — 3.  Neither  may  it  be  answered,  that  he 
speaks  of  those  who  hold  the  nature  of  meats  to  be  impure  and 
polluted  in  itself  He  attributes  no  such  thing  to  those  whom 
he  condemns,  and  says  simply  that  they  would  command  to 
abstain  from  meats.  If  our  adversaries  do  not  so  command, 
we  do  wrong  to  apply  this  text  to  them.  But  since  they  emi- 
nently command  the  thing,  and  so  highly  esteem  the  command, 
that  they  deny  him  the  name  of  a  christian  who  violates  it,  it 
is  clear  that  of  them  also  the  apostle  speaks.  He  says,  it  is 
true,  that  every  creature  of  God  is  good,  and  was  created  to  be 
"Used  by  the  faithful  with  thanksgiving.  He  affirms  this,  I  say, 
to  refute  this  error  ;  as  we  also  make  use  of  it  to  refute  that  of 
Eome.  But  he  does  not  at  all  impute  to  them  whom  he  op- 
poses, that  they  formerly  denied  this  truth  ;  and  hereafter  we 
shall  hear  that  those  whom  he  in  this  place  refutes  ordained 
their  abstinences,  for  the  humbling  of  the  spirit,  and  the  morti- 
fying of  the  flesh,  altogether  in  the  same  manner  as  our  adver- 
saries do  at  this  day,  and  not  out  of  any  opinion  they  enter- 
tained that  the  meats  they  prohibited  were  unclean  or  polluted 
in  their  nature.  Accordingly,  we  read  that  the  ancient  chris- 
tians, who  lived  about  the  end  of  the  second  century  and  the 
beginning  of  the  third,  did  not  forbear  to  condemn  the  Mon- 
tanists'  laws  of  abstinence,  and  to  apply  to  them  that  passage 
of  the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy,  which  we  have  just  quoted; 
though  those  heretics  protested,  as  they  of  Rome  do  at  this  day, 
that  it  was  not  intended  against  them,  who  believed,  with 
Catholics,  both  the  divinity  of  the  Creator,  and  the  goodness 
and  purity  of  the  creatures,  but  against  the  Marcionites  and 
the  Encratites,  who  denied  the  one  or  the  other,  or  both  of  them 
together,  as  we  learn  by  a  certain  book  of  Tertullian,  in  which 
he  expressly  pleads  the  cause  of  Montanus  against  the  ortho- 
dox, whom  in  derision  he  calls  Physici.^ 

*  Tertul.  lib.  de  Jejuniis.  c.  15. 
54 


426  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXX. 

Having  thus  refuted  the  error  of  those  of  the  Roman  com- 
mua ion,  I  now  proceed  to  answer  their  revilings.  For  upon 
the  pretext  of  our  disapproving  the  tyrannical  law  of  their  ab- 
stinences they  accuse  us  of  being  Epicureans,  and  our  religion 
altogether  a  religion  of  flesh  and  blood,  and  favouring  gluttony 
and  drunkenness  ;  as  if  it  were  neither  possible  to  commit  ex- 
cess with  fish,  nor  to  exercise  sobriety  with  any  other  food.  It 
is  not  in  the  present  days  only  that  this  error,  being  unable  to 
defend  itself  with  reason,  has  had  recourse  to  railing  :  the  Jews 
at  the  beginning,  seeing  our  Saviour  live  simply,  without  the 
pomp  of  their  fasts  and  abstinences,  called  him  a  glutton  and  a 
wine-bibber,  Matt.  xi.  19  ;  the  Montanists  afterwards  cried  out 
against  the  Catholics  of  those  days,  as  they  of  Rome  do  against 
us  at  present,  that  the  belly  was  their  god,  the  buttery  their 
altar,  the  kitchen  their  temple,  a  cook  their  priest,  the  steam  of 
meats  their  Holy  Spirit,  and  sauces  their  gifts  of  grace.*  Let 
it  not  shame  us  to  be  treated  as  the  Son  of  God  was,  with  his 
first  and  best  disciples.  I  might  here  say  many  things  of  our 
morals,  and  the  morals  of  our  adversaries,  and  perhaps  it  would 
be  found  that  our  carnival  is  no  less  sober  than  their  Lent,  and 
their  abstinence  many  times  as  intemperate  as  our  pretended 
dissoluteness.  But  it  is  better  to  refute  their  slanders  by  the 
honesty  of  our  lives,  than  with  the  acrimony  of  our  words. 

Show  then,  dearly  beloved  brethren,  by  your  sobriety,  purity, 
and  temperance,  that  it  is  not  the  love  of  the  flesh,  as  calumny 
proclaims,  but  respect  to  truth,  which  makes  you  embrace  the 
party  you  do.  Defend  your  liberty  in  such  a  manner,  as  that 
you  take  it  not  for  an  occasion  to  live  after  the  flesh.  Gal.  v. 
13.  It  is  this  flesh  which  Jesus  Christ  has  forbidden  us.  That 
of  animals  does  not  defile  those  who  eat  of  it  soberly,  and 
with  thanksgiving;  but  this  flesh  renders  all  those  truly  un- 
clean who  suffer  themselves  to  be  tempted  with  its  pleasures. 
Abstain  from  all  its  lusts,  1  Pet.  ii.  11.  Have  in  abhorrence 
all  its  sweets.  Eat  not  at  any  time  of  its  fruits,  and  count  it  a 
grievous  crime  to  taste  of  its  dainties.  It  is  of  this  flesh  that 
we  may  without  rigour  lay  the  injunction  upon  you,  Touch  it 
not,  and  taste  not  of  it.  Let  the  acts  of  injustice  and  the  pol- 
lutions and  the  vanities  to  which  it  carries  men  of  the  world 
be  an  abomination  to  you,  and  your  meat  as  that  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  was,  to  do  the  will  of  God,  and  finish  his  work,  John  iv. 
34.  In  particular,  keep  yourselves  from  the  excesses  of  the 
season  that  is  at  hand.  Abhor  the  disorders  of  the  world,  even 
more  than  you  pity  its  superstition,  and  partake  far  less  in  its 
debauches  than  in  its  abstinences.  Prepare  yourselves  also  for 
that  divine  repast  to  which  we  are  about  to  invite  you,  by  all 
kind  of  good  works  of  piety  and  charity  ;  and  above  all  rc- 

*  Tertul.  lib.  de  Jejuniis.  c.  15. 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  427 

member  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord  Jesus  is,  to  renounce  un- 
godliness and  worldly  lusts,  and  to  live  soberly,  religiously, 
and  godly  ;  and  that  his  true  discipline  consists  only  in  two 
points  :  the  one,  that  we  abstain,  not  from  what  is  in  its  nature 
indifferent,  but  from  what  he  has  forbidden  us,  as  contrary  to 
piety  towards  him,  or  charity  towards  our  neighbour,  or  hon- 
esty with  respect  to  ourselves  ;  the  other,  that  we  patiently 
and  cheerfully  suffer  the  pains  and  mortifications,  not  which  a 
voluntary  superstition  assigns  us,  but  which  his  holy  and  pa- 
ternal hand  dispenses  unto  us.  This,  dear  brethren,  is  our  Ad- 
vent, this  our  Lent,  and  the  true  law  of  our  abstinences.  The 
Lord  Jesus,  who  has  given  it  to  us,  vouchsafe  us  his  grace,  that 
we  may  duly  fulfil  it  to  his  glory,  the  edification  of  our  neigh- 
bours, and  our  own  salvation.     Amen. 


SERMON    XXXI. 

VEESE   23. 

Which  things  have  indeed  a  shoiu  of  ivisdom  in  will  worship^  and 
humility,  and  neglecting  of  the  hody;  not  in  any  honour  to  the 
satisfying  of  the  flesh. 

Dear  brethren,  it  is  a  truth  acknowledged  by  the  sages,  both 
of  the  church  and  of  the  world,  that  man  sets  his  affections  only 
on  things  which  seem  to  him  to  be  good  ;  whether  they  are  so 
in  reality,  or  through  error  of  mind,  he  so  considers  them, 
when  in  truth  they  are  not.  Examine  the  motions  of  your 
own  souls,  and  the  designs  and  desires  of  your  neighbours,  as 
far  as  you  can  penetrate  them.  You  will  find  without  doubt, 
and  discover  without  difficulty,  that  neither  yourselves  nor 
they  love  or  pursue  anything  but  what  you  account  to  be  good, 
that  is,  tending  to  your  benefit,  and  capable  either  of  yielding 
you  some  pleasure,  of  affording  you  some  profit,  or  of  acquiring 
you  some  honour.  Hence  the  philosophers  defined  good  by 
its  reference  to  our  affections,  and  by  the  power  it  has  to  move 
and  attract  our  desires,  saying,  Good  is  that  which  all  desire. 
And  hence  impostors,  who  make  a  trade  of  seducing  men,  have 
always  taken  a  great  deal  of  care  to  give  their  errors  and  vain 
institutions  some  show  of  goodness  ;  being  aware  that  without 
this  they  would  not  be  able  to  gain  any  man's  affections,  much 
less  to  have  a  train  of  followers  in  the  world.  This  is  to  be 
seen  particularly  in  religion,  into  which  neither  heresy  nor  su- 
perstition was  ever  introduced,  except  under  the  favour  of  this 


428  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXI. 

imposture  ;  though  spirits  of  different  capacities,  having  med- 
dled in  the  affair,  there  has  been,  accordingly,  a  great  difference 
between  their  deceptions.  For  as  those  who  would  make  a 
false  stone  pass  for  a  diamond,  or  an  emerald,  or  a  ruby,  en- 
deavour, as  far  as  cunning  is  able  to  counterfeit  the  truth,  to 
give  it  the  colour,  the  shape,  the  lustre,  the  sparkling,  and  other 
qualities  of  it,  that  by  such  a  feigned  resemblance  they  may 
deceive  simple  and  inexperienced  persons  :  so  they  who  have 
endeavoured  to  corrupt  religion,  that  they  might  cause  the  opi- 
nions and  services  which  they  introduced  to  be  received  for 
sound  doctrines  and  systems,  have,  above  all  things,  been  so- 
licitous to  gild  over  their  merchandise,  and  to  colour  it  with 
some  fair  and  specious  pretexts,  calculated  to  dazzle  the  eyes 
of  men,  to  hide  the  defects  of  their  doctrine,  and  to  give  it  the 
appearance  of  that  which  in  substance  it  is  not. 

It  is  this  that  the  apostle  Paul  here  observes  in  the  doctrines 
and  commandments  of  those  seducers  whom  he  encounters 
in  this  chapter.  For  having  solidly  and  admirably  refuted 
that  superstitious  discipline  which  they  had  introduced,  and 
which  consisted  in  a  religious  worshipping  of  angels,  and 
in  a  scrupulous  abstinence  from  certain  meats,  and  in  the 
observation  of  certain  festival  days,  he  concludes  by  exposing, 
in  this  last  verse,  the  false  colours,  with  which  they  in  vain 
daubed  it  over.  He  acknowledges  that  it  had,  it  is  true,  some 
show  of  wisdom,  but  denies  that  this  was  sufficient  to  cover 
its  defects,  or  to  oblige  the  faithful  to  receive  it.  Their  ordi- 
nances, said  he  before,  are  "  commandments  and  doctrines  of 
men  ;"  which  indeed,  he  now  adds,  "  have  a  show  of  wisdom 
in  will  worship,  and  humility,  and  neglecting  of  the  body  ; 
not  in  any  honour  to  the  satisfying  of  the  flesh."  It  is 
evident  that  he  speaks  of  those  human  doctrines  which  he 
mentioned  in  the  verse  immediately  preceding  ;  and  he  says, 
first,  that  they  have  a  show  of  wisdom  ;  next,  he  represents  par- 
ticularly three  things  which  give  them  this  false  show,  volun- 
tary service,  humility  of  spirit,  and  rough  treatment  of  the 
body,  which  they  did  not  at  all  spare.  These  are,  as  it  were,  the 
three  colours  which,  being  mingled  together  by  the  artifice  of 
the  seducers,  composed  that  paint  which  rendered  their  doctrine 
plausible,  and  gave  it  this  false  show  of  wisdom,  which  de- 
ceived the  eyes  of  the  simple.  In  compliance  with  this  distinc- 
tion, we  shall  treat  of  three  points  in  this  discourse  :  voluntary 
service,  humility  of  spirit,  and  little  care  for  the  body  ;  and 
then  consider  how  error  and  superstition  have  always  used 
them,  and  still,  to  this  day,  make  use  of  them,  to  gloss  their 
inventions.  God  grant  us  to  be  duly  awaro  of  them,  and  be 
pleased,  for  this  end,  so  to  guide  and  assist  us  by  his  Spirit, 
in  discoursing  upon  them,  that  we  may  all  bear  away  some 
edification  and  consolation. 


CHAP.  II.]         THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSI  ANS.  429 

The  name  of  wisdom  is  great  and  honourable  in  the  opinion 
of  all  people  in  the  world.  For  other  sciences  have  respect 
only  to  natural  or  human  things,  but  wisdom  relates  to  divine. 
Other  branches  of  knowledge,  too,  are,  for  the  most  part,  unprofit- 
able to  him  who  professes  them  ;  that  of  wisdom  is  salutifer- 
ous  ;  signifying  the  skill  of  conducting  one's  way  aright  for 
the  attainment  of  happiness,  by  the  light  of  some  choice  and 
excellent  truth.  Consequently,  this  title  of  wisdom  properly 
belongs  only  to  the  knowledge  of  God,  which  he  has  given 
us  by  his  Son  in  the  gospel,  the  only  light  that  is  capable  of 
conducting  us  to  supreme  felicity.  Accordingly,  you  know, 
it  is  the  name  that  Paul  ordinarily  gives  to  it  ;  as  when  he 
desires  that  the  word  of  God  may  dwell  richly  in  us  in  all 
wisdom  ;  and  when  he  says,  in  another  place,  that  he  speaks 
wisdom  among  them  that  are  perfect,  calling  it,  shortly  after- 
wards, the  wisdom  of  God  in  a  mystery,  the  hidden  wisdom  ; 
and  the  same  he  repeats  in  various  places.  Now,  though  the 
doctrine  of  those  who  corrupt  the  gospel,  as  did  these  seducers 
whom  Paul  opposes  in  this  chapter,  is  most  falsely  called 
wisdom,  yet  so  it  is  that  its  authors  gave  it  the  name,  and 
would  have  it  pass  in  the  belief  of  men  for  a  rare  and  a 
beneficial  knowledge,  more  worthy  of  heaven  than  earth,  and 
capable,  indeed,  of  rendering  those  who  follow  it  perfect  and 
happy.  The  apostle  acknowledges  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
seducers  of  his  time  had  this  show  of  wisdom,  but  by  his  very 
granting  them  the  show  he  denies  them  the  truth  "of  it  ;  and 
his  meaning  is,  that  their  doctrine  had  nothing  but  a  false 
and  a  deceitful  colour  of  wisdom,  not  the  substance  and  reality 
of  it. 

I.  Will  worship,  or  voluntary  service,  is  the  first  particular 
that  gave  these  doctrines  of  the  seducers  this  false  show. 
They  have,  says  the  apostle,  some  "show  of  wisdom  in  will 
worship,"  that  is,  on  account  or  because  of  the  voluntary  ser- 
vice which  they  introduced  and  taught;  the  observances  and 
instructions  which  these  men  enjoined,  as  abstinence  from 
certain  meats,  the  worshipping  of  angels,  and  the  like,  being 
nothing  else  but  voluntary  services.  A  service  may  be  called 
voluntary  two  ways:  first,  when  he  that  performs  it  unto  God, 
does  it  with  affection  and  good  will,  without  dislike  or  con- 
straint; the  love  he  bears  this  great  and  sovereign  Lord  sweetly 
bringing  his  soul  under  his  yoke,  and  disposing  him  to  ac- 
count whatever  he  has  commanded  to  be  good  and  delectable. 
In  this  sense  that  free  and  sincere  obedience  which  true  be- 
lievers render  unto  God,  according  to  the  gospel,  mav  be  styled 
voluntary,  because  it  proceeds  not  from  a  spirit  of  bondage, 
as  does  theirs,  who  serve  only  because  they  are  afraid  ;  but 
from  a  spirit  of  love  and  of  adoption,  crying  in  their  hearts, 
Abba,  Father.     Wherefore  the  prophet  terms  the  new  people, 


430  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXXI. 

who  rendered  this  frank  and  filial  service  unto  God,  under 
the  gospel  of  the  Messiah,  a  voluntary  or  willing  people. 
"Thy  people,"  says  he,  speaking  to  him,  "shall  be  willing  in 
the  day  of  thy  power,"  Psalm  ex.  3.  It  is  not  in  this  sense 
that  the  apostle  understands  the  voluntary  servipe  of  which 
he  speaks  :  for,  first,  though  the  terms  voluntary  service, 
which  are  taken  up  in  the  French  to  express  what  Paul  has 
set  down,  may  be  so  understood;  yet  true  it  is  the  Greek  word 
he  used  in  the  original  text  is  never  so  taken,  as  the  intelligent 
know  ;  for  this  kind  of  worship  or  service  consists  in  things 
which  God  has  expressly  commanded,  but  the  worship  here 
meant  by  the  apostle  is  not  so. 

We  are  to  know,  then,  that  the  will  worship  of  which  he 
speaks  is  worship  which  God  by  his  word  never  commanded 
men  to  render;  but  they  present  it  to  him  merely  of  their  own 
will,  subjecting  themselves  and  others  to  it  because  it  is  their 
pleasure,  without  any  necessity  imposed  on  God's  part,  who 
demanded  no  such  thing  of  them.  It  is  voluntary,  not  with 
regard  to  the  manner  in  which  it  is  performed;  for  in  this 
sense,  as  we  have  said,  the  service  of  true  children  of  God  may 
be  also  termed  voluntary  :  but  with  regard  to  its  institution  ; 
the  principle  which  introduces  it,  and  presses  the  performance 
of  it,  being  not  the  law  or  the  authority  of  God,  but  simply  the 
will  of  men,  who  of  their  forwardness  undertake  to  do  things 
to  the  honour  of  God,  and  for  his  service,  which  he  for  his  part 
never  ordered.  The  word  therefore,  in  the  language  of  the 
Greeks,  is  ordinarily  taken  in  an  ill  sense,  as  importing  super- 
stition, because  it  is  the  property  of  this  vice  to  invent  various 
services  at  his  own  pleasure,  and  to  pretend  to  satisfy  the  Deity 
with  them. 

But  as  the  apostle  points  at  that  which  gave  the  seducers' 
doctrine  its  show  and  lustre,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  he 
means  their  service  or  worship  was  voluntary,  not  supersti- 
tious, though  indeed  it  was  so  likewise.  For  superstition  being 
generally  decried,  and  known  to  be  a  vice,  it  is  clear  that  in  that 
character  it  is  incapable  of  recommending  any  one's  doctrine  ; 
nor  were  there  ever  found  seducers  so  foolish  as  to  profess  that 
their  worship  was  superstition  ;  much  less  to  boast  of  it,  and 
to  strive  to  render  it  acceptable  on  that  account.  But  volun- 
tary service  charms  men,  and  pleases  their  carnal  sense.  And 
false  teachers  generally  glory  in  it,  and  propose  it  as  a  mark 
of  the  sublime  wisdom  of  their  doctrine.  There  are  two  sorts 
of  it  :  the  one  wicked  and  shameful  to  the  highest  degree, 
which  would  make  that  pass  for  the  service  of  God  which  he 
not  only  has  not  commanded,  but  has  even  expressly  prohibited  ; 
as  when  the  idolaters  in  the  wilderness  counted  the  festival 
which  they  kept  before  their  golden  calf,  and  the  honours 
which  they  gave  it, — things  which  God  had  expressly  inter- 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  431 

dieted, — for  worship  performed  to  the  Lord  their  God.  Such 
also  in  effect  was  that  religious  serving  of  angels  which  the 
apostle  censured  before,  though  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the 
seducers  who  introduced  it  endeavoured,  by  various  subtilties, 
to  elude  those  passages  of  Scripture  in  which  we  are  forbidden 
to  do  religious  service  unto  any  creature  whatever.  The  other 
sort  of  voluntary  service  has  a  little  more  bashfulness  and 
modesty  than  the  former  ;  when  a  man  ordains  and,  if  we  may 
so  speak,  erects  into  the  title  of  a  divine  service  the  observance 
of  certain  things  which  God  has  neither  commanded  nor  for- 
bidden, such  as  abstinence  from  certain  meats,  and  the  obser- 
vation of  certain  days.  It  is  properly  to  this  rank  we  must 
assign  that  voluntary  service  which  the  apostle  intends  in  the 
text.  For  they  who  institute  such  services  as  the  former  do 
not  acknowledge  that  they  are  commanded  of  God,  they  only 
pretend  that  God  has  not  forbidden  what  they  command  ;  gloss- 
ing those  passages  in  which  he  forbids  it,  and  so  artificially 
changing  the  true  and  genuine  sense  of  them,  that  they  cause 
it  to  be  believed  that  the  objects  of  their  service  are  not  com- 
prehended in  it. 

Now  that  this  gives  their  inventions  a  show  of  wisdom,  as 
the  apostle  here  says,  and  a  lustre  fair  and  plausible  in  the 
eyes  of  carnal  men,  is  very  clear.  For,  first,  it  seems  magnani- 
mous and  heroic  to  be  discontented  with  what  God  has  com- 
manded for  his  service,  and  to  have  the  resolution  to  exceed 
it.  That  which  he  has  commanded  being  evidently  due,  and 
of  indubitable  equity,  it  seems  a  small  matter  to  do  no  more 
than  this,  because  it  is  simply  nothing  else  than  the  discharge 
of  what  a  man  owes  ;  which  appears  not  to  be  a  virtue  so  ex- 
ceedingly praiseworth}'  ;  for  who  ever  heard  of  panegyrics 
made  in  a  man's  praise  because  he  duly  paid  his  debts  ?  Ac- 
cordingly, you  see  that  presumptuous  young  man  who  is  men- 
tioned in  the  gospel  made  no  great  merit  of  all  this.  For 
when  our  Saviour  told  him  simply  what  God  commands  us  in 
his  law,  he  answers  disdainfully,  that  he  had  kept  all  those  things 
from  his  youth,  Matt.  xix.  20  ;  as  if  he  had  said  that  was  his 
ordinary,  his  daily  practice,  and  that  he  expected  quite  a  dif- 
ferent answer  from  so  great  a  teacher.  But  when  a  man  does 
that  which  he  is  not  bound  to  do,  he  is  admired  ;  as  we  esteem 
him  more  highly  who  gives  what  he  does  not  owe,  than  him 
who  simply  makes  punctual  payment  of  what  he  does  owe. 
Besides,  it  seems  an  act  of  a  great  and  extraordinary  love  to 
God,  to  subject  that  very  thing  to  him  which  he  has  left  free 
to  us.  The  fear  of  the  lash  often  compels  a  slave  to  do  all  that 
his  master  has  commanded  him  ;  but  it  seems  that  nothing  but 
love  can  induce  him  to  do  more.  Again,  this  very  boldness 
of  daring  to  establish  a  certain  sort  of  worship  in  the  service 
of  God  has  a  kind  of  I  know  not  what  grandeur  in  it  ;  because 


432  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXI. 

common  sense,  dictating  to  us  that  to  ordain  service  for  him 
is  properly  the  act  of  a  divine  authorit}^  we  immediately  take 
them  for  divine  men  who  undertake  such  a  work.  The  char- 
acter of  the  human  mind  also,  which  appears  in  these  voluntary 
services,  may  likewise  cause  them  to  be  the  more  esteemed  by 
men  ;  every  one  naturally  loving  his  own  productions,  and 
favouring  his  own  works. 

Whether  it  is  for  these  reasons  or  for  others,  certain  it  is, 
that  voluntary  services  are  ordinarily  esteemed  and  admired 
by  men.  And  you  see  it  clearly  by  what  is  done  in  the  com- 
munion of  Rome.  For  though,  considering  things  thoroughly, 
no  man  can  doubt  that  innocence,  charity,  and  justice  are  much 
more  excellent  than  those  voluntary  observances  which  are 
practised  among  them;  yet  it  is  evident  that  the  latter  are 
much  more  esteemed  than  the  former.  For  the  one  they  call 
simply  good  works  ;  but  the  others  exceed  it.  They  are  works 
of  supererogation.  They  were  obliged  to  forge  this  new  word, 
our  common  languages  having  none  lofty  enough  to  express 
the  extraordinary  altitude  of  their  merit.  Hence  the  monks, 
if  you  believe  them,  are  angels  and  demi-gods.  They  are 
looked  upon  as  so  many  heavenly  jewels,  so  many  stars  and 
luminaries  :  as  the  only  ornaments  of  the  earth  and  of  their 
church.  But  they  esteem  thus  highly  none  of  those  who  with- 
out a  frock,  or  little  band,  or  particular  rule,  lead  an  hon- 
est and  irrépréhensible  life  in  a  secular  habit.  The  reason  of 
this  difference  is,  that  the  former  exercise  themselves  in  such 
voluntary  services  as  Francis,  and  Dominick,  and  Bruno,  and 
Loyola  have  prescribed  them,  whereas  the  latter  addict  them- 
selves to  that  which  God  has  commanded  them  ;  though  indeed 
no  man  can  deny  that  to  oblige  men,  to  vindicate  the  oppressed, 
to  succour  the  needy,  and  to  assist  the  widow  and  the  father- 
less,— the  things  which  God  has  commanded, — are  incompara- 
bly better,  and  more  excellent,  than  to  put  on  a  capouche,  or 
to  go  with  bare  feet  and  shaven  crown,  or  scourge  oneself 
twice  or  thrice  a  week,  which  are  things  that  men  ordain.  You 
see,  also,  that  in  that  communion  none  are  usually  canonized 
(which  is  the  highest  honour  they  confer  on  piety)  but  such 
as  have  regularly  fasted  and  disciplined  themselves,  and  lived 
in  celibacy,  and,  as  they  say,  done  miracles  ;  things  which  God 
has  not  at  all  commanded  in  his  word.  As  for  those  who  con- 
tent themselves  with  the  religion  and  piety  which  God  has  or- 
dained, and  do  not  affect  voluntary  services;  they  must  not 
pretend  to  be  ranked  among  the  saints  of  Rome.  But  I  think 
there  is  yet  another  secret  reason,  which  has  as  much  or  more 
efficacy  than  all  the  rest,  in  causing  voluntary  services  to  be  so 
well  received  by  men,  namely,  that  great  aversion  which  they 
naturally  have  against  those  things  which  are  commanded  of 
God  ;  from  the  obligation  of  which  they  hope  to  redeem  them- 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  433 

selves,  either  in  whole,  or,  at  least  in  part,  by  means  of  human 
services.  For  however  they  may  pretend  that  they  find  it 
very  easy  to  render  obedience  to  God's  commands,  yet  in  re- 
ality there  is  nothing  to  which  they  submit  so  unwillingly^ 
and  with  greater  pain  ;  so  that  all  the  austerity  of  voluntary 
service  is  pleasant  in  comparison  with  it.  Entertaining  then 
this  false  prejudice,  that  by  abstaining  from  what  God  permits^ 
or  by  submitting  to  that  which  he  does  not  command,  they 
shall  in  reason  oblige  him  to  dispense  with  that  which  he  does 
command,  upon  the  hope  of  this  exchange,  they  gladly  embrace 
voluntary  service,  which  indeed,  as  you  are  aware,  they  hold  to 
be  satisfactions  ;  that  is,  a  kind  of  ransom,  at  the  price  of  which; 
they  are  delivered  from  the  punishment  which  they  have  in- 
curred for  not  having  served  God  as  he  has  commanded.  Thus 
you  see,  dear  brethren,  that  voluntary  service  gives  a  lustre 
and  a  vain  show  of  wisdom  to  human  doctrines  and  traditions, 
II.  The  second  thing  which  contributes  to  this  effect,  and 
which  renders  these  doctrines  highly  commendable,  is  hu- 
mility of  spirit.  The  apostle  has  already  noticed  the  affecta- 
tion and  show  of  this  pretended  humility  in  one  of  the  doc- 
trines of  these  seducers  particularly,  namely,  their  teaching 
the  worship  of  angels  ;  which  they  did  under  the  pretence 
that,  by  putting  the  faithful  in  subjection  to  those  blessed 
spirits,  they  would  thereby  be  humbled.  Here  he  speaks  of  it 
more  generally.  For  not  only  is  the  outside  of  false  teachers 
commonly  painted  over  with  the  colours  of  a  great  and  deep 
humility,  their  discourse  and  all  their  procedure  being  full  of 
submissions,  and  of  a  high  profession  of  renouncing  the  ad- 
vantages of  vain-glory  ;  but  their  institutions  and  discipline 
also  promise  humility,  and  seem  to  be  so  many  exercises  of  it. 
And  this  is  the  thing,  in  my  opinion,  which  the  apostle  par- 
ticularly considers  in  this  place.  Look  back,  I  pray,  on  the  in- 
structions of  those  seducers  whom  he  opposes  ;  I  mean  on  those 
abstinences  from  certain  meats,  and  the  observations  of  certain 
days  ;  does  it  not  seem  that  this  was  exercising  men  in  hu- 
mility, since  it  abridged  their  liberty,  and  degraded  them  from 
the  power  which  they  possessed  of  disposing  of  these  three 
things  at  their  pleasure  ?  To  this  we  may  add,  that,  in  gen- 
eral, whoever  subjects  a  man  to  his  own  law,  humbles  and 
abases  him,  putting  a  new  yoke  upon  his  neck,  whatever  may 
be  the  thing  which  he  commands.  The  same  mark  of  humility 
appears  in  the  greatest  part  of  the  voluntary  devotions  which 
are  in  vogue,  whether  among  pagans,  Turks,  or  christians 
themselves.  For  they  all,  in  a  manner,  reduce  the  habit  and 
diet  of  their  devotees  to  a  low  and  abject  state,  and  such  as  is 
of  small  esteem  among  men,  and  oblige  them  to  things  which 
seem  to  vilify  and,  in  some  degree,  disgrace  our  nature.  For 
the  most  part,  they  gave  them  filth  for  trimming,  as  the  most 
55 


434  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SEKM.  XXXI. 

ancient  of  the  heathen  poets  says  expressly  of  certain  very 
devout  priests,  called  Selli,  or  Sellians,  that  they  always  had 
foul  feet  and  slept  on  the  bare  ground*  They  cast  down  their 
countenances,  and  make  them  of  a  sad  look  ;  as  our  Saviour 
says  expressly  of  the  hypocrites  of  his  time,  that  they  dis- 
figured their  faces,  Matt.  vi.  16.  And  as  for  habits,  who  can 
recount  all  the  diversities  of  them  ?  It  may  suffice  to  observe 
in  general  respecting  their  materials,  and  form,  and  fashion, 
that  these  zealots  have  always  adopted  those  which  are  not 
only  coarse,  and  little  esteemed,  but  such  also  as  have  some- 
thing unusual  and  ridiculous  in  them.  Their  food  wears  the 
same  livery  ;  and  you  know  there  is  at  this  day  an  infinite 
number  who,  to  descend  to  the  lowest  degree  of  meanness, 
bind  themselves  by  an  express  vow  to  mendicity  or  beggary, 
though  God  by  express  order  forbade  his  people  so  to  do; 
these  men  desiring  rather  to  violate  his  command  than  to  de- 
prive themselves  of  so  rare  a  humility.  It  is  sufficient  for  their 
design  that  this  strikes  the  eye.  For  there  being  nothing  more 
natural  to  man  than  the  desire  of  honour,  and  the  passion  for 
glory  and  distinction,  and  of  showing  every  way,  in  person, 
in  clothing,  and  in  diet,  the  marks  of  some  superiority  and 
advantage  over  others  ;  one  can  hardly  look  without  admira- 
tion upon  people  who  seem  to  renounce  all  this  ;  especially 
when  they  are  persons  born  and  bred  in  such  conditions  as 
afforded  them  the  means  of  possessing  all  these  advantages  at 
their  desire.  This  without  doubt  creates  a  great  prejudice  for 
their  doctrine,  and  causes  it  to  be  favourably  received  ;  it  ap- 
pearing impossible  either  that  persons  who  so  voluntarily  di- 
vest themselves  of  that  which  others  most  earnestly  seek, 
should  not  be  influenced  by  a  good  spirit,  or  that  doctrines 
which  tend  to  humble  our  haughty  and  proud  nature  should 
be  otherwise  than  holy  and  salutary. 

Ill,  There  remains  for  us  to  notice  the  last  and  strongest 
of  those  three  colours  which  compose  the  paint  of  human  doc- 
trines, and  which  gives  them  the  greatest  gloss,  namely,  ne- 
glecting the  body.  The  apostle  says  that  they  "  have  a  show 
of  wisdom  in  neglecting  of  the  body  ;  not  in  any  honour  to 
the  satisfying  of  the  flesh."  It  is  clear,  and  confessed  on  all 
hands,  that  he  speaks  of  the  austerity  and  rigour  which  these 
seducers  assumed,  both  in  their  lives  and  doctrine,  beating 
down  their  bodies,  and  giving  them  hard  usage,  without  having 
any  great  care  to  satisfy  their  desires.  All  agree  that  this,  in 
substance,  is  the  apostle's  scope  and  sense,  as  indeed  his  words 
necessarily  and  clearly  signify.  But  when  we  consider  the  ar- 
rangement of  these  words,  and  the  meaning  of  each  of  them 
in  particular,  there  appears  some  difficulty,  which  has  caused  a 

*  Homer,  Iliad,  n  .  v.  235. 


CHAP.  II.J  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  435 

diversity  of  opinions  among  expositors.  The  difficulty  pre- 
cisely respects  the  latter  clause  alone,  "  not  in  any  honour  to 
the  satisfying  of  the  flesh  ;"  which  is  word  for  word  the  mean- 
ing of  the  original.  Some  good  and  eminent  servants  of  God, 
however,  sever  the  word  honour  from  the  rest, 'interpreting  the 
apostle  thus,  "  They  do  not  at  all  spare  the  body  in  that  which 
is  for  the  satisfying  of  the  flesh."  The  honour  of  the  body, 
in  the  apostle's  language,  is  its  purity  and  honesty,  as  he 
plainly  teaches  elsewhere,  saying.  The  will  of  God,  even  our 
sanctification,  is,  "  that  every  one  should  know  how  to  pos- 
sess his  vessel  in  sanctification  and  honour,"  1  Thess,  iv.  3,  4. 
And  to  this  honour  he  opposes,  in  another  place,  Rom.  i.  26, 
all  the  filth  and  impurities  of  luxury,  which  he  calls  passions 
of  dishonour,  or  "  vile  affections,"  as  our  Bible  has  translated 
it.  Consequently,  he  styles  marriage,  which  was  instituted  of 
God  for  the  conservation  of  this  honour  of  our  bodies,  "hon- 
ourable in  all,"  Heb.  xiii.  4.  The  apostle,  then,  according  to 
the  sentiment  of  these  interpreters,  opposes  this  honour  to  the 
seducers'  pretended  mortifications.  To  preserve  this  honour, 
it  is  true  we  ought  to  spare  our  bodies,  but  religiously  abstain 
from  all  that  is  contrary  to  it,  denying  our  flesh  all  the  plea- 
sures of  impurity.  It  is  for  this  end  alone  that  we  are  per- 
mitted to  mortify  our  bodies  ;  whereas  the  abstinences  of  these 
seducers  were  of  another  nature.  For  the  rigour  they  used 
towards  their  bodies  was  to  abstain,  not  from  pleasures  incom- 
patible with  sobriety,  temperance,  and  chastity,  but  from  cer- 
tain sorts  of  meat,  the  use  of  which  in  no  way  defiles  the  body, 
nor  violates,  in  any  manner,  the  holiness  in  which  it  ought  to 
be  kept.  This  exposition,  you  see,  is  good  and  scriptural, 
and  suits  well  with  the  apostle's  terms. 

The  French  Bible  has  followed  another  interpretation,  no 
less  pertinent,  in  taking  the  Greek  word,  which  properly  sig- 
nifies honour  or  respect,  for  "  having  regard," — they  do  not 
at  all  spare  the  body,  and  have  not  any  respect,  or  any  regard, 
for  satisfying  of  the  flesh.  For  a  man  regards  what  he  hon- 
ours ;  consequently  to  honour  is  often  put  in  Scripture  for 
having  a  care  of;  as  when  Paul  commands  Timothy  to  have  a 
care  of  widows,  he  says  to  him,  "  Honour  widows  that  are 
widows  indeed,"  1  Tim.  v.  3  ;  and  this  frequently  occurs  in 
other  places.  In  the  same  manner  therefore  he  says  in  this 
place,  that  these  teachers  did  not  at  all  spare  the  body,  and 
took  no  care  of  it,  not  valuing  at  all  the  things  which  are  re- 
quisite for  feeding  and  satisfying  the  flesh.  I  think  we  may 
retain  this  exposition,  as  the  simplest  and  easiest  ;  and  indeed 
it  is  the  most  common,  and  has  been  most  generally  followed. 
These  false  teachers  then  made  this  their  contempt  of  the  body, 
and  the  small  care  they  took  to  nourish  it  according  to  its  ap- 
petites, to  be  proclaimed  aloud  ;  referring  thereto  those  absti- 


436  AN   EXPOSITION  OF  [SE*EM.   XXXI. 

nences  whicli  tbey  enjoined  from  some  kind  of  meats,  de- 
claring that  this  was  to  mortify  their  flesh,  and  to  keep  it  in 
a  wholesome  discipline.  What  could  be  said  more  plausible  ? 
For  as  nothing  is  more  unworthy  the  high  designs  of  piety 
than  adhering  to  the  things  of  the  carcass  and  the  kitchen  ;  so 
it  seems  that  there  is  nothing  more  worthy  of  the  things  of 
heaven  than  contempt  of  this  base  and  wretched  nature.  And 
the  more  passionate  ordinary  men  are  for  their  flesh,  even  to 
the  making  it  their  god  ;  so  much  the  more  do  they  admire 
those  who  beat  it  down,  instead  of  adoring  it,  as  do  they  them- 
selves. Accordingly,  it  is  evident  that  most  seducers  have 
abused  this  colour  to  paint  over  their  inventions  and  impos- 
tures. We  read  how  the  old  idol  priests  "  cut  themselves 
with  knives  and  lancets,"  1  Kings  xviii.  28,  and  other  pagans 
rend  their  children  and  nobles  with  stripes  before  the  altar  of 
their  feigned  deity  ;  nor  can  one  think,  without  horror,  upon 
the  cruelties  and  barbarities  which  most  of  their  priests  and 
votaries  exercised,  and  still  to  this  day  exercise,  on  their  own 
persons  in  places  where  paganism  bears  sway.  Their  absti- 
nences also  were  extreme  ;  and  there  were  sects,  yea,  whole 
nations,  which  scrupled  to  eat  of  anything  that  had  had  sense. 
The  fastings  and  austerities  of  the  Encratites,  the  Montanists, 
and  Eustathians,  ancient  heretics  of  the  christian  profession,  are 
famous  in  the  writings  of  antiquity.  Even  the  Mahometans, 
the  most  sensual  and  carnal  of  all  infidels,  make  a  show  of 
not  sparing  their  bodies.  I  pass  by  the  prodigious  and  in- 
credible austerities  of  their  votaries,  of  whom  some  go  almost 
naked,  and  so  little  spare  their  flesh,  that  they  wound  and  gash 
it,  both  with  incisions  and  burnings  ;  others  eat  and  drink  but 
very  seldom.  Even  all  Mahometans  in  general  most  devoutly 
observe  every  year  a  kind  of  Lent,  which  they  call  Eamadan, 
fasting  daily  a  whole  month  from  morning  till  night  without 
taking  anything  till  the  stars  appear.  Every  one  knows 
also  how  scrupulously  they  all  abstain  from  wine,  one  of  the 
most  pleasing  and  esteemed  refreshments  of  the  body. 

But  it  is  no  wonder,  beloved  brethren,  that  these  people, 
who  are  without  any  knowledge  of  the  apostle's  authority, 
should  suffer  themselves  to  be  seduced  by  such  vain  shows. 
Our  amazement  and  grief  is  on  account  of  our  adversaries  of 
the  Koman  communion,  that  this  false  lustre,  so  loudly  decried 
here  by  an  apostle  whom  they  profess  to  acknowledge  and  re- 
verence, should  be  sufficient  to  recommend  to  them  doctrines 
purely  human,  and  cause  them  to  receive  them  for  divine. 
For  I  may  truly  say  that  almost  all  their  errors  have  been 
introduced  under  the  three  false  colours  which  the  apostle 
here  so  unceremoniously  rejects,  namely,  voluntary  service, 
humility,  and  mortifying  the  body.  And  they  are  not  ashamed 
to  recommend  them  still  by  these  very  things  ;  alleging  for 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  487 

the  defence  of  their  doctrines  those  shows  with  which  pagans, 
heretics,  and  infidels  have  formerly  painted  over  their  impie- 
ties and  superstitions,  and  the  abuse  of  which  the  apostle 
expressly  noticed  and  condemned.  It  is  by  this  that  they 
defend  the  worship  of  images,  the  invocation  of  saints,  the 
abject  submission  in  which  they  live  to  the  prelates,  and 
particularly  to  the  bishop  of  Rome,  the  celebration  of  so  many 
festivals,  and  a  multitude  of  other  abuses.  Not  being  able 
to  found  them  on  the  Scriptures  of  God,  they  plead  that  they 
are  voluntary  services,  which  are  performed  with  a  good  inten- 
tion, and  tend  to  humble  the  spirit.  Their  fastings  and  absti- 
nences, their  watchings  and  pilgrimages,  their  whippings  and 
discipline,  and  all  the  odd  exercises  of  their  monks,  are  not 
in  the  least  commanded  of  God.  But  what  of  that  ?  The 
more  voluntary  they  are,  say  they,  the  more  meritorious  ;  and 
then,  on  the  other  hand,  they  mortify  the  body,  which  they 
spare  not  at  all,  having  no  regard  to  the  satisfying  of  its  de- 
sires. There  is  nothing  which  they  might  not  pass  as  good 
and  scriptural  with  this  specious  pigment.  I  might  justly 
plead  against  these  vain  pretexts,  that  God's  will  ought  to  be 
the  rule  of  ours,  and  that  it  is  dangerous  to  trust  our  intentions 
in  matters  of  religion,  since  it  often  happens  that  God  holds 
that  in  abomination  which  most  pleases  our  thoughts  ;  and 
also  that  it  is  a  proud  and  extravagant  humility  to  give  men 
a  power  over  our  consciences,  which  it  is  the  prerogative  of 
God  alone  to  have  ;  and  that  if  the  neglecting  of  or  not  sparing 
the  body  serves  to  mortify  it,  it  follows  not  that  we  must  place 
divine  service  therein.  I  might  allege  these,  and  many  other 
things,  and  establish  them  by  Scripture,  to  demonstrate  the 
vanity  of  their  pretexts  ;  but  at  present  I  content  myself  with 
the  apostle's  example  and  authority.  He  acknowledges  that 
the  doctrines  of  those  seducers  whom  he  opposes  had  these 
three  ver}'-  colours,  and  that  the  same  gave  them  a  show  of 
wisdom.  And  yet  for  all  this  he  does  not  hesitate  to  reject 
them  ;  paying  so  little  regard  to  this  their  show,  that  he 
vouchsafes  not  to  spend  one  word  upon  its  refutation.  How- 
ever specious  may  be  their  doctrines,  it  is  enough  for  their 
rejection  that  they  were  instituted  and  taught  by  men,  and  not 
by  the  Lord;  clearly  presupposing  by  this  procedure  that  all 
christians  should  hold  it  for  an  undoubted  maxim  that  religious 
service  must  be  measured  by  the  will  of  God,  and  not  by  ours  ; 
by  his  order,  and  not  our  fancy  ;  and  that  the  foundation  of 
our  humility  is  the  respect  we  owe  him,  not  to  submit  our 
consciences  to  any  besides  him.  Let,  then,  the  traditions  of 
Rome,  in  other  respects,  be  of  what  quality  you  please  ;  let 
them  have  all  the  colours  of  wisdom  ;  let  them  be  voluntary 
and  humble,  and  meet  to  mortify  the  flesh.  You  will  do  much 
by  setting  all  this  pompous  show  in  view.     You  will  gain 


438  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXL 

much  by  displaying  it  before  my  eyes,  and  declaiming  upon 
the  advantages  of  those  things.  I  cannot  receive  them  except 
you  show  me  that  God  has  instituted  them,  and  not  man.  The 
apostle  has  taught  me  to  pay  so  little  regard  to  these  reasons, 
that  I  should  not  even  vouchsafe  to  amuse  myself  with  con- 
sidering them.  After  having  heard  you,  it  is  sufficient  for 
me  to  tell  you,  as  he  says  here  to  the  seducers  of  his  time, 
that  if  your  doctrines  have  this  show  of  wisdom  which  you 
attribute  to  them,  they  are,  in  conclusion,  but  human  things, 
since  God  has  not  at  all  commanded  them  in  his  word. 

Yet,  upon  thorough  examination,  it  will  be  found,  my  breth- 
ren, that  the  most  of  their  inventions  want  not  the  reality 
alone,  but  the  colour  and  the  very  show  of  wisdom.  For,  I 
beseech  you,  what  shadow  of  wisdom  is  there  in  this  Lent, 
for  instance,  which  they  began  the  other  day  after  the  ordi- 
nary preface  of  their  carnival?  What  reason  or  common 
sense  is  there,  if  it  be  free,  that  can  affirm  that  it  is  wisdom, 
after  licence  taken  for  all  kind  of  debauches  and  fooleries,  to 
imagine  that  a  handful  of  ashes  will  efface  it  all — that  it  is 
wisdom  to  believe  that  the  eating  of  fish  is  fasting — that  it  is 
wisdom  to  think  that  the  eating  of  herbs,  or  salmon,  or  green- 
fish  is  a  sanctifying  oneself — and  that  to  taste  but  a  bit  of 
beef  or  mutton,  during  these  forty  days,  is  to  defile  one's  soul 
with  a  deadly  sin,  meriting  eternal  fire?  As  if  the  whole  na- 
ture of  things  were  changed  in  a  moment,  and  the  living 
creatures  of  the  earth,  from  being  good  and  wholesome,  as 
they  were  but  four  days  since,  became  contagious  and  deadly. 
Is  it  wisdom  to  confine  Christianity  to  an  observance,  which 
has  in  it  so  little  reason,  and  to  say,  as  they  do,  that  those 
who  eat  any  flesh  within  this  time  are  not  christians  ?  There 
is  no  understanding,  however  ordinary,  that  may  not  easily 
perceive  that  all  this  has  no  show  of  wisdom  in  it,  to  say  no 
worse.  And  it  is  to  no  purpose  to  tell  us  that  it  is  not  the 
nature  of  the  things  themselves,  but  the  commandment  of 
their  church,  which  causes  them  to  be  of  this  opinion.  For 
if  these  things  are  not  true  in  themselves,  their  church  does 
wrong  to  authorize  them  ;  and  besides  contravening  the  rules 
of  wisdom,  it  evidently  violates  those  of  charity,  as  it  straitens 
the  way  to  heaven,  augments  the  difficulty  of  entering  there, 
and  damns  men  for  things  which,  without  its  commandment, 
would  be  free  and  indifferent. 

Let  us  lay  aside  then,  I  beseech  you,  my  brethren,  all  these 
human  commandments,  which  are  so  far  from  being  just  and 
necessary,  that  they  have  not,  for  the  greater  part,  so  much  as 
that  vain  show  of  wisdom  which  the  apostle  granted  that  the 
doctrines  of  the  seducers  had  in  his  time.  Let  us  hold  to 
the  sacred  and  saving  institutions  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  which 
are  all  just,  all  reasonable,  full  of  deep  and  truly  divine  wis- 


.  CHAP.  II.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  439 

dom.  Let  us  believe,  as  he  has  taught  us,  that  it  is  "  not  that 
which  goeth  into  the  mouth  defileth  a  man,  but  that  which 
Cometh  forth  from  the  heart,"  Matt.  xv.  11,  18  ;  and  that  "  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink  ;  but  righteousness, 
and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,"  Rom.  xiv.  17.  Let 
us  serve  him  according  to  his  own  rule,  and  not  according  to 
the  imaginations  of  men.  Let  our  will  be  bound  up  in  his  ; 
let  it  count  itself  happ}--  in  following  his  directions,  and  not 
presume  to  guide  itself.  Let  it  learn  of  him  what  it  owes 
him,  not  be  so  arrogant  as  to  define  it  according  to  its  own 
fancy.  The  task  he  has  given  us  is  great  enough  for  the 
employment  of  all  our  time  and  strength,  without  diverting  it 
to  any  other  object.  It  is  in  this  that  true  humility  consists, 
even  in  submitting  absolutely  to  Jesus  Christ,  in  refusing  no 
service  which  he  commands,  in  attempting  nothing  beyond 
his  orders.  He,  it  is  clear,  directs  us  to  love  God  with  all  our 
heart,  and  our  neighbour  as  ourselves  ;  and  that,  denying 
ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts,  we  should  live  soberly,  right- 
eously, and  godly  in  the  present  world,  looking  for  his  glo- 
rious appearance.  This,  beloved  brethren,  is  the  rule  of  the 
Israel  of  God,  which  was  delivered  by  Jesus  Christ,  preached 
by  his  apostles,  confirmed  by  their  miracles,  and  by  the 
conversion  of  the  world.  Peace  and  mercy  be  to  all  that  shall 
follow  it.     Amen. 


440  AN  EXPOSITION  Or  [SERM  XXXII. 


SERMON    XXXII. 
CHAPTER  III. 

VERSES   1,  2. 

If  ye  then  he  risen  ivith  Christ,  seelc  those  things  which  are  above, 
where  Christ  siiteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God.  Set  your  affec- 
tion on  things  above,  not  on  things  on  the  earth. 

Dear  brethren,  if  the  study  and  practice  of  true  holiness, 
which  consists  in  the  love  of  God  and  of  our  neighbour,  had 
filled,  as  it  ought,  the  hearts  and  lives  of  christians,  they  would 
never  have  amused  themselves  with  those  inferior  devotions 
and  carnal  ceremonies,  wherewith  superstition  has  always  fed, 
and  to  this  day  feeds,  the  world.  This  second  sort  of  services 
was  invented  and  introduced  into  religion  to  supply  the  ab- 
sence of  the  other  :  for  man  well  knowing  that  the  majesty  and 
beneficence  of  God  oblige  us  to  serve  him,  and  that  the  charms 
and  temptations  of  earth  turn  away  his  heart  from  the  legiti- 
mate service  of  true  and  real  sanctity,  which  we  owe  him,  that 
he  may  not  appear  empty  in  the  presence  of  this  sovereign 
Deity,  ])resents,  instead  of  that  which  he  requires  of  us,  certain 
corporeal,  childish,  and  spurious  devotions,  which,  as  they  are 
our  own  invention,  naturally  please  us.  Accordingly,  they  are 
commonly  called  satisfactions,  because  they  are  performed  to 
satisfy  God  for  the  omission  of  what  was  due  to  him  ;  an  evi- 
dent sign  that  if  men  had  fulfilled  their  duty,  there  would  have 
been  no  need  to  employ  themselves  in  these  other  exercises. 
Hence  arose  at  the  beginning  those  abstinences  from  certain 
meats,  and  those  distinctions  of  days,  and  that  worshipping  of 
angels,  which  some  seducers  would  have  established  among 
christians  in  the  very  days  of  the  apostles.  Afterward  from 
the  same  source  also  issued  the  stations,  the  xerophagies,  and 
other  extravagancies  of  the  Montanists,  and  of  various  heretics 
who  disturbed  the  ancient  church.  In  fine,  from  this  very 
original  have  sprung  the  observances  and  voluntary  services  of 
Rome;  those  orders  and  rules  of  the  many  monks  who  now  fill 
the  world  ;  quadragesimal  rites,  fasts  and  vigils,  auricular  con- 
fessions, pilgrimages,  whippings,  festivals,  jubilees,  chaplets, 
and  fraternities,  with  a  multitude  of  similar  devotions  which 
have  obscured  the  christian  religion.     We  may  confidently 


CHAP.  III.]  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  441 

say,  there  would  never  have  been  recourse  to  such  things  if 
mortification  of  the  old  man,  if  true  piety  towards  God,  and 
true  charity  towards  their  neighbour,  had  exercised  and  con- 
tinually absorbed  the  affections  and  lives  of  christians.  Their 
greatest  zealots  confess  that  their  rules  and  discipline  have  no 
place  in  heaven,  where  holiness  is  perfected  ;  and  never  had 
less  on  earth,  than  among  christians  of  the  first  age,  who  were 
the  best  and  most  holy  ;  all  these  human  devotions  having  evi- 
dently sprung  from  the  lax  piety  of  christians,  and  the  corrup- 
tion of  their  manners. 

Therefore  the  apostle  Paul,  having  refuted  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  as  you  have  heard,  the  pretended  services  and  mortifi- 
cations of  the  false  teachers  of  his  time,  that  the  faithful  to 
whom  he  writes  might  utterly  be  disgusted  with  and  turned 
away  from  them,  now  lays  before  them  the  just  duties  and  legi- 
timate exercises  of  christian  piety  ;  the  body  of  holiness,  instead 
of  shadows  ;  the  solid  doctrine  of  the  Lord  Jesus  instead  of  the 
vain  and  childish  lessons  of  superstition  ;  the  true  mortifying 
of  the  flesh,  instead  of  the  seducers'  unprofitable  macerations  ; 
and  an  abstinence  from  sin  and  the  lusts  thereof,  instead  of  ab- 
stinence from  certain  meats  ;  in  fine,  heaven,  instead  of  earth. 
As  a  prudent  gardener,  who,  after  he  has  plucked  up  the 
weeds  or  unprofitable  herbs  of  his  garden,  and  well  cleansed 
the  ground,  casts  in  good  seeds,  which  are  worthy  to  occupy 
the  earth,  and  capable  of  yielding  fruits  useful  for  the  food  of 
men.  By  this  means  the  apostle  prevents  an  objection  that 
superstition  usually  makes.  For,  being  not  able  to  maintain 
its  petty  services  as  holy  and  necessary  in  themselves,  it  has 
been  wont  to  allege,  that,  whatever  they  are,  it  is  better  for 
christians  to  use  them  than  to  be  idle.  The  apostle  takes  from 
it  this  vain  pretence,  showing  the  faithful  that  they  have 
another  task,  which  is  much  more  worthy,  and  much  more 
noble,  namely,  the  study  and  practice  of  true  holiness  ;  so  that 
superstition  is  guilty  not  only  of  a  superfluous  diligence,  but 
of  a  pernicious  temerity,  in  diverting  christians  from  their 
legitimate  and  necessary  work  by  those  voluntary  exercises 
wherewith  it  pretends  to  charge  them.  Let  us  then,  dearly 
beloved  brethren,  keep  off  from  the  vain  institutions  of  super- 
stitions, whether  ancient  or  modern,  and  keep  to  the  discipline 
of  Paul.  Let  us  meditate,  study,  and  practise  what  he  enjoins 
us,  and  assure  ourselves  that,  in  observing  and  following  his 
rule  exactly,  we  shall  have  neither  time,  nor  will,  nor  need  to 
follow  the  rules  of  men.  He  employs  all  the  remainder  of  this 
Epistle  in  these  divine  documents  ;  and  in  the  beginning  of 
this  chapter,  after  he  has  raised  our  hearts  to  heaven,  he 
represents  to  us  the  general  duties  of  sanctification  which  are 
necessary  for  all  christians  ;  thence  passing  to  particulars,  he 
instructs  married  persons,  children,  fathers,  and  masters  ia 
56 


442  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXII. 

what  they  owe  to  one  another,  as  you  shall  hear,  if  God  please, 
in  the  sequel  of  these  discourses.  For  the  present,  to  explain 
the  exhortation  which  he  placed  at  the  head  of  this  excellent 
chapter  which  we  have  read  to  you,  we  will  consider,  by  the 
grace  and  assistance  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  first,  the  precept  it 
contains,  that  we  seek  the  things  which  are  above.  Secondly, 
the  two  reasons  upon  which  he  founds  it  ;  one  taken  from  our 
being  risen  with  Christ,  and  the  other  from  Jesus  Christ's  sit- 
ting on  high  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  We  shall  observe 
upon  each  particular  as  briefly  as  possible  the  instructions  they 
afford  us,  either  for  our  edification  and  consolation  in  general, 
or  particularly  for  our  preparation  for  that  holy  and  mystical 
repast  unto  which  the  Lord  Jesus  invites  us  against  the  next 
Lord's  day. 

I,  The  ancient  Greeks  ascribed  to  their  most  esteemed  phil- 
osopher the  glory  of  having  brought  down  wisdom  from 
heaven  to  earth,  because  he  was  the  first  that  fixed  the  minds 
of  his  scholars  on  the  investigation  of  their  own  nature,  and 
what  we  owe  either  to  ourselves  or  to  other  men  ;  whereas 
the  sages  who  lived  before  him  employed  themselves  only  in 
the  contemplation  of  the  heavens,  and  their  motions,  and  the 
things  dependent  on  them.  But  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  true 
Prince  of  wisdom  and  verity,  instructs  us  in  a  better  manner 
than  he,  who  verily  was  but  a  blind  leader  of  the  blind.  For 
all  the  philosophy  of  Jesus  Christ  is  to  loosen  us  from  the 
earth  and  lift  us  up  to  heaven,  and  so  to  fix  our  minds  and 
affections  there,  that  we  may  dwell,  and  converse,  and  have  our 
souls  incessantly  there,  even  now,  however  distant  our  bodies 
are  from  that  happy  habitation.  It  is  very  true,  as  that  poor 
pagan  judged,  that  contemplating  the  sun,  and  the  planets, 
and  the  stars,  and  searching  out  their  motions,  and  admiring 
their  beauty,  their  light,  their  greatness,  and  other  qualities, 
(which  was  all  the  employment  of  the  first  heathen  philoso- 
phers,) does  not  much  conduce  to  the  perfection  of  our  manners 
and  the  felicity  of  our  lives.  But  it  is  not  that  on  which 
Jesus  Christ  fixes  us.  He  has  discovered  to  us  things  on  high 
within  that  nobler  part  of  the  world,  which  are  infinitely 
more  excellent  and  more  necessary  ;  and  such  as,  if  that  pagan 
had  seen,  he  would  have  made  no  difiiculty  to  confess  that 
true  wisdom  consists  not  in  staying  oneself  here  below  on 
the  earth,  but  in  ascending  up  to  heaven,  and  in  viewing, 
loving,  and  admiring  them  continually. 

For,  first,  he  has  revealed  to  us  there  a  holy  and  glorious 
city,  seated  above  nature  and  all  its  elements  ;  a  city,  not 
mutable,  and  subject  to  perish,  as  inferior  things,  but  settled, 
permanent,  and  eternal;  the  sanctuary  of  life  and  immortality, 
which  God  has  built,  and  in  which  he  has  displayed  all  the 
wonders  of  his  power  and  wisdom  ;  the  dwelling-place  which 


CHAP.    III.]      THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  443 

he  has  prepared  for  such  among  men  as,  embracing  his  pro- 
mises by  faith,  shall  live  here  in  his  fear,  and  obey  his  com- 
mandments ;  and  where  he  has  already  gathered  and  conse- 
crated in  his  rest  the  spirits  of  such  of  the  faithful  as  he  has 
fetched  out  of  the  present  world.  Christ  has  made  us  see  that 
there  those  blessed  ones  dwell  with  the  armies  of  holy  angels, 
and  that  thither  he  went  himself  when  he  had  finished  the 
work  of  our  redemption  upon  earth.  In  this  mystical  paradise 
the  true  tree  of  life  grows.  There  the  rivers  of  pleasure  run. 
There  shines  the  true  Sun  that  never  sets.  There  are  kept 
those  divine  flowers  which  can  neither  soil  nor  fade,  with 
which  the  piety  and  patience  of  saints  shall  be  one  day 
crowned.  There  God  manifests  himself  to  his  servants,  and 
shows  them  the  beauties  of  his  countenance  unveiled  ;  and 
feeds  them,  and  fills  them  with  joy,  and  transforms  them 
by  this  vision,  into  so  many  living  images  of  his  eternal 
and  blessed  nature.  There  are  true  glory  and  real  pleasure, 
honour,  felicity,  and  magnificence,  the  idea  of  which  never 
entered  either  into  our  senses  or  into  the  very  thoughts  of  our 
heart  ;  in  comparison  of  which  all  the  pomp  of  the  earth,  and 
the  glory  of  this  heaven,  in  which  we  see  the  sun  and  the  stars 
go  their  rounds,  is  but  a  shadow  and  a  vapour.  Again,  as  the 
creatures  there  possess  true  glory,  so  they  exercise  true  sanctity. 
All  that  is  seen  of  it  here  below,  is  but  a  little  spark  of  the 
perfection  of  those  blessed  inhabitants  of  that  celestial  city. 
The  love  they  bear  to  the  Lord  is  there  perfect,  as  well  as  the 
knowledge  they  have  of  him.  Charity  towards  our  neighbour, 
concord,  union,  truth,  there  reign  absolute.  Their  souls 
have  neither  affections  nor  desires  but  which  are  conformed  to 
the  will  of  God.  The  light  of  his  face  governs  all  their  motions  ; 
and  shedding  itself  abroad  continually  upon  them,  maintains 
them  in  an  eternal  holiness,  peace,  and  blessedness.  The  Lord 
Jesus  has  discovered  to  us  all  these  wonders  above  the  heavens, 
having  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  by  the  gospel. 
But  further,  he  has  certified  us  that  these  are  things  which 
concern  us,  and  pertain  to  us  ;  and  that  he  has  opened  by 
his  cross  and  resurrection  the  way  that  will  most  assuredly 
bring  us  to  them.  If  we  have  the  courage  to  follow  him,  of 
whatever  condition  or  quality  we  may  be,  he  will  congregate 
us  to  this  holy  company  of  his  servants  ;  receiving  our  souls 
into  his  bosom  upon  their  departure  from  this  earth,  and  rais- 
ing up  our  poor  bodies  themselves  one  day  reinvested  with  his 
immortality  and  glory. 

These  are,  dear  brethren,  the  things  which  are  above,  which 
the  apostle  exhorts  us  to  seek  in  the  same  sense  that  our  Sa- 
viour commands  us  in  the  gospel  to  "seek  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  his  righteousness,"  Matt.  vi.  33  ;  signifying  by  that 
term,  first,  that  we  propose  heaven  and  eternity  to  ourselves 


444  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SKRM.  XXXII. 

for  the  chief  end  of  our  life,  and  place  our  supreme  happiness 
in  this  rich  possession  ;  that  we  make  it  our  grand  and  only 
design.  And,  secondly,  that  we  employ  in  this  noble  pursuit 
all  the  might  we  have  ;  seriously  using  all  the  means  which 
the  word  of  God  prescribes,  faith,  prayer,  piety,  holiness  ;  and 
flee,  as  a  mortal  pest,  everything  that  keeps  us  off  or  turns  us 
aside  from  this  mark.  The  slothful,  who  does  nothing  all  day 
but  desire,  and  sets  not  his  hand  to  the  work,  has  no  part  in 
those  heavenly  things.  His  desire  kills  him,  saith  the  wise 
man,  Prov.  xxi.  25  ;  as  one  that  feeds  on  nothing  but  wind. 
There  must  be  knocking  ;  there  must  be  seeking  ;  there  must 
be  working  out  our  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling.  This 
treasure  is  not  for  cold  and  languid  wills,  that  evaporate  alto- 
gether in  vain  wishings.  It  shall  be  that  man's  prize  who  shall 
take  it  with  an  ardent  and  a  generous  courage,  and,  impelled 
with  a  violent  affection,  spare  neither  pain,  nor  watching,  nor 
labour  to  obtain  it. 

That  which  the  apostle  commands  us  in  the  following  verse, 
namely,  to  mind  the  things  which  are  above,  amounts  to  nearly 
the  same  sense.  For  the  word  he  uses  comprehends  the  two 
actions  of  our  souls  towards  objects  we  love  ;  the  one  consider- 
ing and  thinking  on  them,  the  other  desiring  and  embracing 
them  in  our  affections.  So  you  see  he  obliges  us,  first,  to  lift 
up  our  hearts  to  heaven,  where  the  Lord  Jesus  is,  and  to  have 
that  blessed  kingdom  continually  before  our  eyes,  which  God 
has  there  prepared  for  us,  together  with  all  those  great  eternal 
good  things  in  which  it  consists.  He  requires  that  this  thought 
fill  our  souls  day  and  night  ;  that  it  be  the  thought  that  has 
superiority  in  them,  that  governs  all  their  motions  ;  the 
thought  that  regulates  our  resolutions,  and  decides  all  our 
doubts;  that  in  all  things  which  present  themselves  we  reflect, 
to  see  how  they  refer  to  it,  and  whether  they  are  compatible 
with  it.  Such  was  the  practice  of  the  father  of  the  faithful. 
He  looked,  says  the  apostle,  for  a  city  that  hath  foundations. 
And  Moses,  the  grand  legislator  of  the  Jews,  had  respect,  says 
the  same  apostle,  unto  the  recompense  ;  that  is,  as  he  explains 
himself  in  the  text,  they  minded  the  things  which  are  above. 
And  this  thought  (as  you  see)  is  also  necessarily  joined  with 
affection,  with  an  ardent  desire  of  possessing  such  amiable  and 
excellent  things,  and  with  a  steadfast  hope  of  enjoying  them  at 
length. 

This  is  then,  my  brethren,  the  first  of  those  two  duties  which 
the  apostle  requires  of  us,  namely,  that  we  seek  the  things 
which  are  above.  Now  to  it  he  annexes  a  prohibition,  which 
follows  necessarily  from  it,  namely,  that  we  seek  not  the  things 
which  are  upon  the  earth  ;  heaven  and  earth  being  so  opposite, 
that  it  is  not  possible  but  that  they  who  seek  the  things  of  the  one 
must  renounce  the  things  of  the  other.     The  things  of  the  earth 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  445 

are,  as  you  know,  the  goods  of  the  world,  riches,  gold,  silver, 
honours,  pleasures,  and  the  like  ;  all  that  which  earthly  men, 
the  children  of  this  generation,  esteem  and  passionately  love. 
He  does  not  mean  that  we  should  have  no  care  at  all  about  the 
necessaries  of  the  present  life;  for  those  good  things  being 
gifts  of  God,  without  which  we  cannot  live,  we  may  both  ac- 
quire and  enjoy  with  thanksgiving,  yet  not  cleave  to  them  ; 
and  use  them,  yet  not  abuse  them.  The  apostle,  you  know, 
elsewhere  commands  us  to  care  for  our  families,  and  to  attend 
every  one  to  his  own  business,  and  to  labour  with  our  hands, 
that  we  may  walk  honestly  towards  them  that  are  without,  and 
that  we  may  have  lack  of  nothing.  But  he  forbids  us  to  seek 
the  things  of  the  earth  in  the  same  sense  that  he  commands  us 
to  seek  those  of  heaven  ;  that  is,  to  place  our  chief  good  in  them, 
and  to  desire  them  with  choicest  affection,  and  to  prefer  thera 
before  any  other  consideration.  Thus  those  men  sought  the 
things  of  the  earth,  of  whom  the  apostle  declares  their  belly 
was  their  god,  and  that  they  gloried  in  their  shame,  Phil.  iii. 
19  ;  and  those  in  the  gospel  parable,  Luke  xiv.,  who  preferred 
the  care  of  their  fields,  and  of  their  oxen,  and  the  love  of  their 
wives,  before  the  call  of  heaven.  Such  a  one,  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, was  Esau,  who  chose  a  little  pottage  of  lentils  rather 
than  his  birthright.  Such,  in  the  New,  were  those  sordid 
Gadarenes,  who  would  have  the  Son  of  God  depart,  because  he 
had  occasioned  the  loss  of  their  swine  ;  and  those  who  love 
their  fathers,  or  mothers,  or  brethren,  or  other  alliances,  or 
worldly  possessions,  more  than  the  Lord  Jesus,  or  that  prefer 
the  praise  of  men  before  the  praise  of  God.  Such  a  one  also 
was  that  foolish  rich  man,  who  thought  himself  happy  enough 
because  he  had  goods  laid  up  for  many  years,  and  dreamt  of 
nothing  but  enjoying  them. 

II.  Now,  though  the  bare  dignity  of  heavenly  things,  and 
the  mere  meanness  and  unprofitableness  of  earthly  tilings, 
should  be  sufficient  to  recommend  the  former,  and  to  disgust 
us  with  the  latter;  yet  the  apostle,  to  urge  us  to  duties  so  just 
as  these,  sets  before  us  two  excellent  reasons.  The  first  is 
drawn  from  our  resurrection  with  our  Saviour.  He  had 
touched  it  already  in  the  12th  verse  of  the  preceding  chapter  ; 
and  from  thence  he  resumes  it,  and  reminds  us  of  it  here,  say- 
ing, "If  ye  then  be  risen  with  Christ;"  that  is  to  say.  Since 
you  are  risen  with  the  Lord,  as  I  have  showed  before.  For 
the  particle  "  if  is  used  here,  as  it  often  is  elsewhere,  for  illa- 
tion and  conclusion,  not  to  express  doubting  ;  and  imports  as 
much  as  if  the  apostle  had  said,  Since  that,  or  seeing  that.  For 
the  rest,  you  plainly  see  that  the  resurrection  of  which  he 
speaks  is  not  that  of  our  bodies,  which  shall  not  be  till  the  last 
day;  but  another  mystical  and  spiritual  one,  already  accom- 
plished in  us,  by  virtue  of  our  Lord's  resurrection,  and  the 


446  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXII. 

efficacy  of  his  Spirit.  He  speaks  of  it  also  in  Ephesians,  chap. 
ii.  5,  6,  that  God  "  hath  quickened  ns  together  with  Christ,  and 
raised  us  up  together,  and  made  us  sit  together  in  heavenly 
places  in  him."  He  explains  to  us  the  mystery  of  it  elsewhere 
in  these  words,  "  We  are  buried  with  him  by  baptism  into 
death;  that  like  as  Christ  was  j-aised  from  the  dead  by  the 
glory  of  the  Father,  so  we  also  should  walk  in  newness  of  life," 
Eom.  vi.  4.  Every  resurrection  presupposes  a  death  preceding. 
For  to  rise  again  is  nothing  else  but  for  one  to  be  restored  to 
life  who  before  was  dead.  Now  the  state  of  men  under  the 
dominion  of  sin  the  Scripture  calls  death,  because  they  have 
no  more  sense  or  motion  towards  piety  and  holiness  than  the 
dead  who  rest  in  the  grave  have  for  the  actions  of  this  life. 
Ye  were  "  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,"  says  the  apostle  to  the 
Ephesians,  chap.  ii.  1,  speaking  of  the  time  of  their  ignorance. 
Whence  arises  that  which  our  Saviour  says  in  the  gospel,  "  Let 
the  dead  bury  their  dead  ;"  and  that  which  Paul  says.  The  widow 
"that  liveth  in  pleasure  is  dead  while  she  liveth,"  1  Tim.  v.  6. 
When  therefore,  by  the  efficacy  of  the  vocation  of  the  Spirit 
and  gospel  of  the  Lord,  a  man  passes  out  of  this  miserable  con- 
dition into  the  state  of  grace  ;  receiving  the  light  of  faith  into 
his  understanding,  and  love  and  sanctification  into  his  heart; 
the  Scripture,  to  express  this  wonderful  change,  says  he  is  risen 
again.  This  is  precisely  the  resurrection  that  Paul  intends  in 
this  place. 

He  says  that  we  are  risen  with  Christ,  first,  because  this 
blessed  change  which  is  accomplished  in  us  by  his  grace  is 
like  that  change  which  took  place  in  him  when  he  arose  from 
the  grave,  where  he  lay  for  the  space  of  three  days.  He  was 
raised  to  life  by  power  from  on  high.  For  as  he  then  received 
the  faculties  of  motion  and  sensation,  of  which  he  was  de- 
prived in  the  sepulchre  ;  so  we,  in  our  regeneration,  receive  a 
spirit  and  a  principle  of  life  which  we  had  not  before.  Again, 
as  the  Lord  was  restored  to  life  by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  as 
the  apostle  speaks,  that  is,  by  virtue  of  the  exceeding  great 
and  glorious  power  of  God  ;  in  like  manner  are  we  renewed, 
and  put  into  the  state  of  grace,  by  the  efficacy  of  the  might 
of  God,  and  not  by  the  arm  of  man,  or  the  operation  of  flesh 
and  blood.  Indeed,  as  the  Lord,  upon  his  rising  again,  recov- 
ered not  simply  that  life  which  he  laid  down  in  his  dying,  but 
a  much  more  excellent,  glorious,  spiritual,  celestial,  and  im- 
mortal life;  so  we  resume  in  our  regeneration,  not  the  life  of 
the  first  Adam  before  sin,  from  which  we  were  fallen,  and 
which,  however  excellent,  was  nevertheless  animal  and  mortal, 
that  is,  capable  of  being  lost,  as  appeared  by  the  issue  ;  but 
another  much  more  exquisite  and  perfect,  a  life  eternal,  immu- 
table, and  like  that  which  the  blessed  angels  live.  Thus  you 
see  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord  Christ  is  the  idea  and  pattern 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  447 

of  ours.  But  I  add,  in  tbe  second  place,  that  we  are  said  to 
be  risen  with  Christ,  because  it  is  in  him,  and  from  him,  that 
we  have  this  grace  ;  it  being  evident  that  faith,  which  is  the 
first  faculty  of  the  new  life,  ingrafts  and  incorporates  us  into 
Jesus  Christ  ;  and  as  the  vine  branch  does  not  live  but  in 
its  stock,  so  man  cannot  live  that  divine  life  but  in  his  Sa- 
viour. 

I  may  add,  we  are  risen  again  with  Christ,  because  his  re- 
surrection is  the  cause  of  ours  ;  as,  if  he  had  not  risen  from 
the  dead,  we  should  have  remained  in  the  darkness  of  our 
spiritual  death.  Christ  coming  forth  out  of  his  grave  has 
opened  and  enlightened  ours,  and  administered,  out  of  his  own 
store,  all  things  necessary  to  deliver  us  from  our  miserable 
state  of  death,  and  to  put  us  in  possession  of  the  life  of  heaven. 
His  resurrection  has  confirmed  our  faith,  showing  us  clearly 
that  he  is  the  Son  of  God,  and  that  his  gospel  is  true.  His 
resurrection  has  assured  our  souls,  giving  us  full  proof  that 
his  death  fully  satisfied  the  Judge  of  the  world.  It  has  strength- 
ened our  hopes,  making  us  see,  by  the  example  of  our  Head, 
that  death,  the  most  terrible  of  our  enemies,  cannot  impede 
our  happiness.  Hence  it  has  kindled  love  to  God,  and  the  de- 
sire of  such  great  glory  in  our  hearts  ;  and,  finally,  produced 
in  them  the  principles,  habits,  and  dispositions  of  the  new 
nature,  which  are  necessary  for  our  attaining  to  blissful  im- 
mortality. Since,  therefore,  Jesus  Christ  in  rising  again 
thereby  raised  up  our  life,  which  had  been  ingulfed  in  hell  and 
the  curse,  and  brought  to  light  the  causes  of  faith,  hope,  and 
charity,  the  principal  faculties  of  that  new  life  we  now  possess, 
it  is  evident  that  we  are  risen  in  him  and  with  him.  From 
whence  that  which  the  apostle  infers  no  less  clearly  follows, 
that  we  ought  to  mind  henceforth  the  things  which  are  on 
high,  and  seek  them  with  all  our  affection.  For  the  life  to 
which  we  are  raised  up  with  our  Lord  is  heavenly,  and  not 
earthly  ;  divine,  and  not  natural  ;  eternal,  and  not  corruptible. 
Since,  therefore,  every  creature  employs  all  its  sense  and  af- 
fection about  things  suitable  to  its  life,  who  sees  not  that  the 
faithful  are  obliged,  by  the  dignity  they  possess  in  being  risen 
with  the  Lord,  neither  to  breathe  after  nor  embrace  other  things, 
but  those  that  are  on  high,  in  which  their  new  life  properly  con- 
sists ?  And  such  is  the  example  he  has  given  us.  For  being 
risen,  he  abode  but  a  very  little  time  here  below,  only  as  long 
as  the  work  of  our  salvation  required,  and  then  ascended  to 
heaven,  to  draw  up  our  thoughts  and  affections  thither,  until 
our  bodies  also  follow  one  day,  being  raised  up  thither,  as  his 
was,  unto  highest  glory. 

And  this  is  the  second  consideration  which  the  apostle 
here  lays  before  us  to  persuade  us  to  so  just  a  duty  ;  ''  Seek 
those  things  which   are  above,  where   Christ   sitteth    at  the 


448  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SEBM.  XXXII. 

right  hand  of  God."  For  if,  as  our  Lord  said,  "  where  your 
treasure  is,  there  will  be  your  heart  also,"  where  should  our 
souls  be  but  in  heaven,  since  in  that  blessed  dwelling-place 
their  treasure  resides — Jesus,  their  good,  their  life,  and  their 
joy,  in  whom  is  hid  all  our  felicity?  Under  the  Mosaic  law, 
the  faithful  always  turned  their  eyes  and  thoughts  towards  the 
temple  at  Jerusalem,  because  it  was  the  resting-place  of  the 
pledges  of  God's  covenant  with  them,  and  of  the  most  pre- 
cious symbols  of  his  presence  and  glory.  Judge  what  our 
affection  and  earnestness  should  be  for  heaven,  which  contains 
the  true  ark  of  God,  where  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead 
dwells,  not  in  shadow  and  figure,  but  really  and  bodily  ?  Yea, 
more  ;  Jesus  Christ  is  our  Head,  and  we  his  members.  How 
can  we  preserve  this  honour,  but  in  keeping  close  to  him,  and 
following  him  faithfully,  without  ever  separating  from  him,  or 
withdrawing  from  that  sanctuary  where  he  dwells  ?  And  in- 
deed he  expressly  assures  us  in  the  gospel  that  he  willeth  we 
should  be  where  he  is  ;  and  that  where  the  dead  body  is,  there 
also  the  eagles  gather  together  ;  so  if  we  are  truly  of  the  num- 
ber of  his  eagles,  it  is  not  possible  but  we  should  take  our 
flight  to  heaven,  since  this  divine  body  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
is  there. 

And  hereby  you  see,  dear  brethren,  how  distant  the  doctrine 
of  Paul  is  from  that  of  Rome.  For  whereas  the  apostle  ele- 
vates our  hearts  from  earth  to  heaven,  Rome  brings  them  down, 
as  much  as  she  can,  from  heaven  to  earth  ;  fastening  the  hearts 
of  her  zealots  on  her  material  altars  and  ciloria,  in  which  she 
pretends  the  Lord  is  enclosed,  against  the  suffrage  of  the  whole 
church,  who  have  constantly  applied  these  words  of  the  apos- 
tle particularly  to  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist,  exhorting 
the  faithful,  when  they  celebrate  it,  to  have  their  hearts  above. 
Sarely  if  Jesus  Christ  is  here  below,  as  Rome  would  have  it, 
the  apostle  does  wrong  to  command  us  to  mind  the  things 
which  are  above  ;  and  worse  again  in  urging,  for  a  reason  of 
it,  that  Jesus  Christ  resides  above.  If  the  Lord  is  in  heaven, 
we  ought,  according  to  the  apostle's  instruction,  not  to  seek 
anything  on  earth  ;  how  much  less,  I  beseech  you,  ought  we 
to  seek  the  Lord  himself  there  !  I  do  not  inform  you  that 
this  is  to  be  understood  of  the  presence  of  the  human  nature 
of  Jesus  Christ,  for  you  know  that  he  is  everywhere  as  to  the 
essence  and  providence  of  his  divinity.  And  as  to  the  grace 
of  his  Spirit,  and  the  efficacy  of  his  will  and  institutions, 
we  readily  confess  that  it  is  not  confined  to  the  heavens  ;  but 
extends  and  shows  itself  wherever  he  pleases,  according  to  his 
promise  to  be  in  the  midst  of  us,  when  we  are  assembled  in 
his  name. 

But  the  apostle  does  not  merely  say  that  Jesus  is  in  heaven. 
He  adds,  that  he  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  God.     Many 


GHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  449 

learned  men  have  laboured  much  to  explain  these  words  ;  and 
some  have  strangely  disguised  them,  as  if  they  signified  that 
our  Lord's  human  nature  had  been  invested  with  all  the  prop- 
erties of  the  Divinit}^,  which  implies  that  it  was  transformed 
into  a  divine  nature;  a  fancy  which  all  true  christians  abhor, 
confessing  that  the  two  natures  remain  each  of  them  in  its  in- 
tegrity, having  been  united  in  Jesus  Christ,  but  not  blended 
together  nor  confused.  The  apostle,  if  we  please  to  hear  him, 
will  tell  us  in  two  words  what  it  is  to  sit  at  the  right  hand  of 
God,  For  in  1  Cor.  xv.,  speaking  of  the  state  to  which  Jesus 
Christ  has  been  exalted  in  the  heavens,  and  in  which  he  shall 
remain  to  the  end,  instead  of  saying  as  the  prophet  in  Psal. 
ex.,  from  whom  the  expression  was  taken,  that  the  Lord  should 
sit  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  ;  he  says  simply,  that  he 
shall  reign  till  he  has  put  all  his  enemies  under  his  feet;  an 
evident  sign  that  this  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  is 
nothing  but  that  supreme  dominion  which  has  been  given  him 
over  all  things,  and  which  he  does  and  shall  exercise  to  the 
end  of  all  ages,  inasmuch  as  God  has  made  him  "  both  Lord 
and  Christ,"  as  Peter  speaks.  Acts  ii.  36.  And  this  considera- 
tion again  mightily  strengthens  the  holy  apostle's  exhortation. 
For  since  heaven  is  the  throne  on  which  the  Prince  of  the 
universe  sits,  and  from  which  he  dispenses  and  governs  all 
things  at  his  will  ;  there  is  great  reason  we  should  turn  our 
eyes  thither,  and  have  this  royal  court  of  our  Sovereign  in 
mind  night  and  day,  to  comfort  ourselves  under  the  trouble, 
which  either  the  iniquity  of  men  and  devils,  or  the  intemper- 
ance of  other  creatures,  gives  us,  and  to  form  our  manners, 
and  all  the  parts  of  our  life,  after  the  will  and  by  the  exam- 
ple of  so  great  and  so  holy  a  Monarch. 

Behold  the  lesson,  beloved  brethren,  which  the  apostle  gives 
us  at  this  time,  that  we  seek  not  low,  but  high  things  ;  not 
those  of  the  earth,  but  the  things  of  heaven  ;  since  we  are  risen 
up  with  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  set  down  on  high  in  heaven  at 
the  right  hand  of  God.  Who  in  all  the  world  would  be  more 
happy  than  we,  if  we  maintained  a  good  and  firm  resolution 
to  obey  him,  and  practise  the  thing  which  he  enjoins  us? 
These  fears,  and  these  desires,  and  so  many  other  vain  passions 
which  trouble  our  whole  life,  would  have  no  more  place  in  us. 
Elevated  far  above  that  which  men  unprofitably  covet,  or  pos- 
sess, or  apprehend,  we  should,  with  angels,  enjoy  a  divine  con- 
tentment. From  that  glorious  heaven,  where  we  should  reside, 
we  should  despise  the  vanities  and  variations  of  the  earth,  and 
see  its  seasons  revolve,  and  its  elements  rage,  and  its  idols 
perish,  and  its  pleasures  fleet  away,  without  any  perturbation, 
being  secure  that  none  of  its  storms  can  ever  reach  that  high  and 
inaccessible  region  where  our  hearts  and  lives  are.  We  should 
look  upon  death  without  terror,  knowing  that  it  could  not  take 
57 


450  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XXXII. 

any  of  those  things  from  us  which  we  possess  on  high.  We 
should  suffer  all  the  accidents  of  this  life  without  emotion,  be- 
cause they  can  change  no  part  of  the  things  we  have  in  heaven. 
The  charms  also  and  illusions  of  the  world  would  affect  us  as 
little  as  its  menaces  and  raging,  because  the  fruition  of  a  greater 
good  would  render  us  insensible  to  lesser  ones,  as  the  presence 
of  the  sun  extinguishes  the  shining  of  the  stars.  Being  con- 
tent with  heaven  and  its  eternity,  we  should  covet  nothing 
more  ;  and  satisfied  with  so  rich  a  portion,  we  could  not  envy 
any  of  the  creatures  the  perfections  and  happiness  they  enjoy. 
Our  whole  life  would  be  a  perpetual  festival,  in  which,  free 
from  the  ti'avail  and  turmoil  of  worldlings,  contemplating  in 
spirit  the  glory  of  the  palace  of  our  Lord,  meditating  on  his 
promises,  breathing  after  his  benefits,  and  enjoying  them  for 
the  present  by  faith  and  hope,  we  should  in  repose  wait  for  the 
blessed  day  of  our  glorious  triumph. 

But,  alas  !  how  far  are  we  from  such  a  felicity  !  Tliis 
wretched  and  perishing  earth  is  the  sole  object  of  our  minds. 
Our  souls  are  no  less  fastened  to  it  than  our  bodies.  It  swal- 
lows up  all  our  thoughts  ;  it  possesses  our  affections  ;  it  engages 
our  cares  and  labours,  and  has  the  use  of  all  our  time.  We 
have  no  desires  and  love,  but  for  the  false  goods  which  it  shows 
us;  nor  fear  and  horror,  but  for  the  evils  with  which  it 
threatens  us.  As  for  heaven,  and  the  things  it  comprehends, 
we  are  so  far  from  seeking  them,  that  we  do  not  so  much  as 
think  of  them,  except  it  be  dreamingly,  or  as  an  amusement, 
when  we  are  told  of  them  in  this  place  ;  looking  on  the  stately 
representations  which  Jesus  Christ  has  drawn  of  them  as  an 
empty  picture,  beautiful  indeed,  and  pleasing,  but  good  for 
nought,  save  to  feed  our  eyes  with  a  short  and  profitless  plea- 
sure ;  not  attracting  nor  engaging  our  desires.  This  is  the 
cause  why  our  whole  life  is  miserable,  full  of  griefs  and  fears, 
of  weaknesses,  regrets,  and  infelicities.  The  lightest  strokes 
overturn  us  ;  the  least  losses  and  slightest  afflictions  bear  us 
down  ;  because  not  being  fastened  to  heaven,  the  only  firm  and 
sure  place  of  the  world,  we  fluctuate,  exposed  to  the  mercy  of 
all  that  comes  against  us.  And  as  children  cannot  be  appeased 
when  their  dolls  are  taken  from  them,  because  they  have  set  all 
their  affection  on  them;  so  trouble  seizes  us  when  we  lose  some 
of  these  toys  of  earth.  There  is  no  way  to  comfort  us,  because 
we  have  fastened  our  hearts  to  them.  And,  to  say  the  truth, 
our  condition  is  worse  than  that  of  other  men  ;  they  are  subject 
only  to  the  evils  which  either  the  infirmity  of  nature,  or  (as 
they  call  it)  the  inconstancy  of  fortune,  brings  with  it; 
whereas,  besides  these,  the  bad  christian,  who  is  a  christian 
but  in  name,  is  exposed  to  the  persecution  of  the  world  ;  so 
that,  to  speak  plainly,  no  man  is  more  foolish  or  wretched  than 
he  who  has  part  in  the  temporal  sufferings  and  hardships  of 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  451 

true  believers,  and  none  in  their  consolation  or  blessedness, 
inasmuch  as  his  profession  exposes  him  to  the  hatred  of  the 
world,  and  his  vice  excludes  him  from  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Awake,  then,  ye  that  are  worldly,  and  come  at  once  out  of 
so  dangerous  an  error.  Let  not  the  trumpet  of  heaven,  the 
voice  of  our  great  apostle,  have  sounded  now  in  your  ears  in 
vain.  Add  not  this  contempt  to  your  other  crimes.  He  has 
informed  you  of  your  duty.  He  has  declared  the  reasons  which 
oblige  you  to  perform  it.  Take  heed,  lest  if  you  shut  your 
ears  against  Jesus  Christ,  who  speaks  by  his  mouth,  you  perish 
with  this  earth,  and  the  things  you  seek  on  it.  Do  you  not 
perceive  that  you  shall  never  find  there  the  happiness  you  seek  ? 
Has  not  the  experience  of  so  many  millions  of  persons,  who 
daily  spend  themselves  in  this  vain  labour,  taught  you  that  the 
things  of  earth  are  all  of  them  but  vanities  and  illusions,  trans- 
ient images,  which  promise  pleasure,  honour,  and  contentment, 
but  afford  none — which  cure  the  maladies  neither  of  the  body 
nor  the  soul — which  infinitely  weary  those  that  seek  them,  and 
never  fill  the  hearts  of  those  that  possess  them;  multiplying 
their  desires  and  their  fears,  inflaming  and  envenoming  their 
passions  instead  of  extinguishing  them — which  are  subject  to 
infinite  mutations — of  which  men  and  elements  may  bereave 
you  every  moment — and  which,  considering  the  short  and  un- 
certain duration  of  the  life  we  lead  below,  you  can  enjoy  but  a 
very  little  time,  supposing  that  nothing  deprives  you  of  them 
before  death  ?  At  that  time,  what  will  it  profit  a  man  to  have 
gained  the  whole  world,  and  lost  his  own  soul  ?  Matt.  xvi. 
26.  Surely  it  is  an  incredible  blindness,  not  only  that  a 
christian  who  has  hopes  of  the  world  to  come,  but  that  even 
any  reasonable  man,  should  adhere  with  such  ardent  and  obsti- 
nate eagerness  to  such  wretched  and  fruitless  things.  We 
perceive  it,  and  confess  it,  and  make  the  most  excellent  dis- 
courses in  the  world  upon  it  ;  and  after  all,  the  false  lustre 
which  we  behold  in  these  things  has  such  a  faculty  to  bewitch 
our  senses,  that  there  is  not  a  person  who  does  not  suffer  him- 
self to  be  caught  thereby.  But  the  worst  is,  that  besides  error 
and  vanity,  it  tends  to  eternal  damnation.  For  men  must  not 
flatter  themselves.  None  can  serve  two  masters,  nor  look  on 
heaven  and  earth  together.  He  that  seeks  the  one  must  of 
necessity  renounce  the  other;  it  being  no  more  possible  to  seek 
than  it  is  to  find,  at  once  the  things  beneath  and  those  which 
are  above. 

Faithful  brethren,  choose  you,  and  take  the  better  part. 
Leaving  worldly  men  to  labour  in  vain  after  the  things  of 
earth,  and  to  seek  in  them  what  they  shall  never  find  ;  turn 
you  your  hearts  and  eyes  towards  heaven,  as  the  apostle  ex- 
horts you.  There,  christian,  is  the  felicity  you  desire.  There 
dwell  rest,  and  joy,  and  immortality,  and    the  perfection  of 


^^  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXII. 

hoih  soul  and  body.  These  are  the  only  things  truly  worthy 
of  your  prayers  and  your  pains.  Seek  them,  and  mind  them 
night  and  day.  Give  yourselves  no  rest  till  you  have  found 
them,  and  feel  the  first-fruits  and  beginnings  of  them  in  your 
hearts.  Let  these  thoughts  sweeten  your  sufferings,  and  con- 
sole you  under  your  losses:  In  vain  ye  threaten  me,  ye  people 
of  the  world.  Ye  cannot  deprive  me  of  what  I  possess,  nor 
hinder  me  from  finding  what  I  seek  ;  since  upon  the  things  of 
heaven  ye  have  no  power.  Of  whatever  ye  bereave  me,  the 
best  part  of  my  treasure,  and  the  only  part  which  deserves  that 
appellation,  will  still  remain  entire  to  me.  Let  the  same 
thought  arm  us  against  all  temptations.  Thou,  tempter,  pro- 
misest  me  the  things  of  the  earth;  but  I  seek  those  of  heaven, 
of  which  thou  canst  not  dispose.  Though  I  should  lose  all  I 
have  here  below,  even  to  this  flesh  itself,  yet  shall  I  find  it 
again  with  a  thousandfold  increase  in  heaven.  Let  this  thought 
again  keep  us  continually  employed  in  the  good  and  honour- 
able actions  of  piety,  charity,  and  honesty.  Let  our  manners 
resemble  those  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  divine  city  which  we 
seek.  Let  the  light  of  their  knowledge,  the  ardour  of  their 
love,  the  purity  of  their  affections,  shine  forth  now  in  our 
lives.  To  that  heavenly  life  the  new  nature  which  Jesus 
Christ  has  given  us,  in  raising  us  again  with  himself,  obliges 
us.  The  thoughts  and  works  of  heaven  are  necessary  produc- 
tions of  the  principles  and  faculties  of  that  life  to  which  we 
have  been  raised  up.  You  can  neither  be  christians,  without 
having  part  in  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord  ;  nor  have  part 
in  his  resurrection,  except  you  walk  with  him,  and  wear  that 
lightsome  robe  of  sanctity  with  which  he  clothes  all  the 
associates  of  his  resurrection.  He  himself  calls  us  hereto 
from  that  lofty  throne,  whereon  he  sits  at  the  right  hand  of 
God  :  Faithful  soul,  says  he  to  each  of  us,  look  unto  me,  and  I 
will  give  thee  light.  Fear  not  ;  for  I  govern  the  heavens  and 
the  earth.  Only  fix  thine  eyes,  thy  thoughts,  and  thy  heart  on 
me,  and  I  will  guide  thee  by  my  counsel,  and  receive  thee  one 
day  into  my  glory.  Dear  brethren,  this  he  promises  us,  and 
of  this  he  will  give  us  earnest  next  Lord's  day,  at  his  holy 
table.  Let  us  do  what  he  demands  of  us,  or,  to  say  better,  let 
us  pray  him  to  perform  it  in  us,  and  he  will  assuredly  accom- 
plish what  he  promises.  Unto  him,  unto  the  Father,  and  unto 
the  noly  Spirit,  the  true  and  only  God,  blessed  for  ever,  be 
honour,  praise,  and  glory,  to  ages  of  ages.     Amen. 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  458 

SERMON    XXXIII. 

VERSES   3,  4. 

For  ye  are  dead,  and  your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  When 
Christ,  who  is  our  life,  shall  appear,  then  shall  ye  also  appear 
loith  him  in  ghry. 

Dear  brethren,  the  Lord  Jesus  being  not  only  the  author 
and  cause,  but  also  the  pattern  and  example,  of  that  great  sal- 
vation which  God  of  his  infinite  mercy  offers  to  mankind  in 
the  gospel,  we  cannot  have  part  in  it,  or  assuredly  enter  into 
this  rich  possession,  without  manifesting  a  resemblance  to  this 
sovereign  Lord,  and  being  so  many  copies  of  this  divine  origi- 
nal, where  all  his  features  and  lineaments  may  appear,  though 
in  a  form  and  measure  much  less  perfect  and  eminent  than  his. 
Of  this  the  apostle  expressly  informs  us  in  his  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  saying  that  those  whom  God  "  did  foreknow,"  that  is, 
love,  and  discriminate  from  the  rest  of  men,  according  to  his 
good  pleasure,  to  communicate  true  faith  and  eternal  salvation 
to  them,  "  he  also  did  predestinate  to  be  conformed  to  the  image 
of  his  Son,"  chap.  viii.  28.  For  this  cause  he  does  us  the  honour 
to  call  us  sometimes  his  "children,"  and  sometimes  his  "bre- 
thren," Heb.  ii.  12,  13,  because  of  the  resemblance  we  bear  to 
him  ;  the  nature,  condition,  quality,  and,  as  it  is  commonly 
termed,  the  fortune  of  children,  following  the  fathers  ;  and  of 
brethren,  being  like  their  elder  brothers.  Whence  the  apostle 
concludes  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  chap.  ii.  11,  that  "He 
who  sanctifieth,"  that  is,  the  Lord  Jesus,  "  and  they  who  are 
sanctified,"  that  is,  the  faithful,  "  are  all  of  one,"  that  is,  of  one 
and  the  same  mass,  of  one  and  the  same  form  and  nature.  And 
to  make  it  plain  to  us,  the  Scripture  compares  him,  sometimes 
to  a  vine,  John  xv.,  at  others  to  an  olive  tree,  Rom.  xi.,  of  each 
of  which  we  are  branches  ;  both  of  them  being  things  between 
which  there  is  by  nature  a  strict  communion,  both  having  the 
same  constitution  and  qualities.  And  hence  again  it  is  that 
Paul  calls  him  our  first-fruits.  When  speaking  of  our  death, 
and  the  resurrection  which  is  to  succeed  it,  he  says  that  Christ 
was  made  "the  first-fruits  of  them  that  sleep,"  1  Cor.  xv.  20; 
the  first-fruits,  as  you  know,  being  of  the  same  condition  and 
nature  with  the  rest  of  those  things  out  of  the  mass  of  which 
they  are  taken. 

Now  although  this  conformity  of  the  faithful  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  is  of  great  extent,  yet  it  principally  appears  in  two  heads, 
in  which  the  Scripture  particularly  considers  it;  namely,  in 
his  death,  and  in  his  resurrection  ;  the  happy  remembrance  of 


454  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXIII. 

■which  we  have  celebrated  this  morning.  For  the  death  of  Jesus 
Christ  has  produced  a  death  like  it  in  all  true  believers  ;  re- 
ducing them,  by  its  efficacy  and  virtue,  to  a  state  conformable 
to  his,  when  he  was  stretched  on  the  cross  and  lay  in  the  sepul- 
chre. In  like  manner,  his  resurrection  transmits  into  them  a 
life  like  that  which  he  resumed  when,  having  overcome  death, 
he  issued  out  of  his  grave.  His  death  is  not  only  the  cause, 
but  also  the  pattern,  of  ours;  and  likewise  his  life  is  both  the 
principle  and  example  of  ours.  Of  this  death  and  life,  dearly 
beloved  brethren,  which  are  the  effect  and  image  of  the  death 
and  resurrection  of  the  Lord,  we  intend  to  treat  in  this  sermon. 
For  after  having  celebrated  the  memory  of  the  death  and  resur- 
rection of  this  great  Saviour,  and  participated  of  both,  by  the 
virtue  of  his  Spirit  and  our  faith,  upon  what  can  we  more  per- 
tinently meditate,  than  the  precious  fruit  which  each  of  them 
produces  in  us,  and  the  images  of  these  mysteries,  which  this 
divine  dead  and  again  risen  person  draws  and  forms  in  us  ; 
inasmuch  as  he  changes  us  after  a  manner  into  himself,  by  an 
impression  of  his  omnipotent  influence  ;  so  that  if  we  have 
truly  received  him,  we  are  become  dead,  and  have  risen  with 
him  ?  Paul  teaches  us  this  excellent  and  saving  truth,  in  the 
series  of  our  ordinary  texts,  by  the  words  which  we  have  read 
for  the  subject  of  this  exercise.  In  those  which  preceded,  and 
which  we  expounded  eight  days  since,  this  great  apostle  drew 
us  from  the  earth,  that  he  might  elevate  us  to  heaven,  where 
Jesus  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  :  "  Set  your  affec- 
tion," says  he,  "on  things  above,  not  on  things  on  the  earth." 
But  because  he  knew  how  difficult  such  a  transportation  would 
be  for  persons  who  are  still  so  many  ways  fastened  to  the  earth, 
in  order  to  work  so  high  a  design  thoroughly  into  us,  besides 
the  reasons  already  represented,  which  were  taken  from  our 
resurrection  with  the  Lord,  and  from  his  presence  and  glorious 
sovereignty  in  the  place  to  which  he  would  elevate  us,  he  fur- 
ther proposes  two  more  for  that  end,  in  this  passage  :  the  one 
taken  from  our  death  ;  "  For  ye  are  dead  ;"  and  the  other  from 
that  new  life  which  we  have  received  ;  a  life  hidden,  it  is  true, 
for  the  present,  in  God,  but  such  as  will  be  plainly  and  fully 
discovered  one  day,  at  the  manifestation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  : 
"  your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God."  These  are  the  two  prin- 
cipal points  we  shall  expound  in  this  sermon,  the  grace  of  our 
Lord  assisting  ;  and  him  we  invoke,  praying  that  his  word  may 
effectually  work  in  us,  and  his  power  to  salvation  thoroughly 
change  us  into  the  similitude,  both  of  his  salutary  death,  and 
of  his  glorious  life;  that  being  dead  to  ourselves,  we  may  live 
henceforth  only  in  him,  to  his  honour,  and  the  edification  of 
our  brethren. 

I.  Be  not  alarmed,  christians,  at  the  apostle's  telling  you,  in 
the  entrance,  that  "ye  are  dead."     This  death  which  he  attri- 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  455 

butes  to  you  is  gain,  and  not  loss  ;  a  donative  from  God's  grace, 
and  not  an  effect  of  his  wrath,  or  an  execution  of  his  justice.  I 
grant,  that  every  death  is  the  privation  of  some  life  which  was 
possessed.  But  since  there  are  miserable  and  execrable  lives, 
it  must  be  confessed  that  every  death  is  not  a  calamity.  For 
to  be  rid  of  a  thing  that  harms  us  is  not  a  calamity  but  a  com- 
fort. It  is  an  advantage,  and  not  a  damage,  to  be  deprived  of 
a  poison  and  freed  from  an  accursed  state.  The  death  of  which 
the  apostle  speaks  is  not  the  destruction  of  that  happy  life 
which  the  Creator  gave  us  at  the  beginning,  when  man  enjoyed 
within  Paradise  a  continual  exercise  of  the  original  rectitude 
of  his  nature,  and  the  sweet  and  innocent  fruition  of  the  goods 
of  the  first  world.  The  first  Adam,  and  not  the  second,  de- 
prived us  of  this  life  ;  and  as  we  received  it  in  his  person,  so 
we  have  lost  it  by  his  crime,  being  heirs  of  his  misery  as  well 
as  of  his  sin.  The  life  which  is  extinguished  in  us  by  the  death 
here  intended  by  the  apostle,  is  that  corrupted  and  sin-infected 
life  which  we  have  received  from  our  first  parents  by  carnal 
generation  ;  a  life  contrary  to  the  will  of  God,  meriting  his 
wrath,  and  obnoxious  to  his  curse;  the  operation  of  a  poisoned 
nature,  and  the  acting  of  a  blind  understanding,  a  perverse  will, 
and  an  irregular  affection,  the  continual  flux  of  an  abominable 
pest,  which,  in  the  course  of  nature,  could  end  in  nothing  but 
eternal  death.  It  is  that  which  Scripture  calls  the  life  of  the 
old  man,  that  is,  of  this  altogether  depraved  and  corrupt  na- 
ture which  we  derive  from  Adam  ;  and  which,  through  error 
in  its  false  wisdom,  placing  its  felicity  in  the  enjoyment  of 
earthly  things,  adheres  to  them  with  inordinate  desire,  and  nei* 
ther  acts  nor  labours  but  to  acquire  them  ;  pursuing  them  with 
such  a  violent  ardour,  that  everything  holy,  just,  and  honest  it 
violates  to  attain  its  end.  This  is  the  life  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
destroys  in  all  his  true  members,  and  to  which  his  holy  apos- 
tle says  and  means  here  that  we  are  dead.  The  death  of  which 
he  speaks  is  nothing  but  the  privation  of  this  pernicious  and 
accursed  life;  the  abolition  of  its  principles,  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  habits  on  which  it  depends.  We  are  dead,  because, 
entering  into  the  communion  of  Jesus  Christ,  we  have  put  off 
this  first  life,  which  was  natural,  carnal,  and  earthly,  and  con- 
sisted in  a  perverse  and  vicious  search  and  fruition  of  the  per- 
ishing things  of  this  old  world,  which  advances  to  perdition. 
This  he  teaches  us  again  in  many  other  places,  as  when  he  says, 
that  "old  things  are  passed  away;"  that  Christ  having  "died 
for  all,  then  were  all  dead  ;"  that  they  "should  not  henceforth 
live  unto  themselves,"  2  Cor.  v.  14,  15,  17:  that  we  are  "dead 
with  Christ,"  "  buried  with  him  by  baptism  into  his  death  ;" 
made  one  and  the  same  plant  with  him,  by  "  the  likeness  of  his 
death;"  that  "our  old  man  was  crucified  with  him,  that  the 
body  of  sin  might  be  destroyed,"  Eom.  vi.  :  that  "  they  that  are 


456  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXIII. 

Christ's  Lave  crucified  the  flesh  with  the  affections  and  lusts," 
Gal,  V.  24.  And  it  is  the  same  which  he  called  "  the  circum- 
cision of  Christ,"  and  the  "putting  oft'  the  body  of  the  sins  of 
the  flesh,"  Col.  ii,  11:  the  same  which  he  represents  in  his  own 
person,  that  he  is  "  crucified  with  Christ  ;"  and  that  it  is  no 
more  himself  that  liveth,  but  Christ  who  liveth  in  him;  and 
that  the  world  is  crucified  unto  him,  and  he  unto  the  world, 
Gal.  ii.  20  ;  vi.  14.  And  it  is  the  same  also  that  Peter  under- 
stands, when  he  says  we  have  suffered  with  Christ  in  the  flesh, 
that  we  should  not  live  the  rest  of  our  time  in  the  flesh,  after 
the  lusts  of  men,  1  Pet.  iv.  1,  2. 

Behold  that  penitent  woman,  whose  history  you  have  in  the 
gospel.  Before  she  had  seen  the  Lord,  she  was  a  harlot,  who 
lived  in  nothing  but  uncleanness,  and  had  neither  action  nor 
thought  but  for  the  lusts  of  the  flesh.  But  after  she  had  heard 
the  word  of  Jesus,  and  felt  the  efficacy  of  his  Spirit,  she  soon 
cast  away  all  her  former  life.  She  has  now  no  longer  that 
wanton  and  wicked  heart,  those  unchaste  looks,  those  impure 
desires.  In  vain  you  seek  in  her  that  debauched  person  who 
lived  in  infamy  before.  That  person  is  no  more  there,  but  is 
dead.  The  sharpened  arrows  of  the  King  of  glory  have  pene- 
trated her  heart,  and  slain  her,  Psal.  xlv.  5.  Behold  Paul  be- 
fore his  conversion.  He  was  a  furious  wild  boar,  inflamed  to 
threatenings  and  slaughter  ;  breathing  out  nothing  but  blood 
and  destruction.  Acts  ix.  1  ;  a  murderer  animated  by  pride  and 
cruelty.  Jesus  spake  to  him  on  the  way  to  Damascus.  His 
word,  like  a  two  edged  sword,  pierced  this  fierce  and  unruly 
persecutor.  He  struck  him  dead,  or,  to  say  better,  destroyed 
and  consumed  him  in  a  moment.  Seek  not  Saul  in  him  any 
longer,  that  fierce  and  cruel  man  ;  he  is  no  more  there.  He  is 
dead,  and  so  thoroughly  dead,  that  you  shall  not  find  in  him 
any  semblance  of  what  he  was  before.  Again,  take  a  view  of 
those  pagans  of  Colosse,  of  Ephesus,  of  Athens,  and  of  other 
places,  who  were  converted  by  his  ministry.  Before  they  were 
idolaters,  committing  all  kinds  of  vices  ;  their  life  was  nothing 
but  a  continual  practice  of  superstition  and  impiety,  of  avarice 
and  ambition,  of  envy,  cruelty,  and  injustice.  Now,  when  they 
have  passed  through  the  victorious  hand  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
you  see  no  more  any  such  thing  in  them.  He  has  extinguished 
in  them  all  this  kind  of  life.  Those  idolaters  and  ungodly 
wretches,  those  epicures  and  robbers,  who  lived  in  their  per- 
sons before,  are  all  dead.  They  are  new  men  of  another  quality, 
in  whom  none  of  that  which  they  were  before  remains  any 
longer.  There  is  not  one  of  the  truly  faithful  and  living  mem- 
bers of  Jesus  Christ  but  has  undergone  this  death  ;  the  flesh 
has  been  slain  in  him,  and  the  old  man  pierced,  nailed,  and 
crucified  upon  the  cross  of  the  Son  of  God. 

I  acknowledge,  that  as  long  as  they  are  on  earth,  they  re- 


CHAP.  III.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  457 

sist  the  efforts  and  attempts  of  this  old  man,  and  hence  that 
combat  of  the  flesh  lusting  against  the  spirit,  of  which  the 
apostle  elsewhere  speaks,  Gal.  v.  17.  Yet  I  affirm,  that  true 
believers  may  be  said  even  for  the  present  to  be  dead  with 
respect  to  the  flesh,  and  the  flesh  dead  in  them.  First,  be- 
cause sentence  against  it  is  given  in  the  judgment  of  God,  who 
has  in  his  eternal  counsel  determined  to  extinguish  and  abol- 
ish, in  all  the  members  of  his  Son,  that  first  life  which  they 
inherited  from  old  Adam.  Secondly,  because  the  execution 
of  this  decree  of  God  is  begun  and  advanced  in  them  for  the 
present.  The  mortal  blow  the  flesh  receives  in  this  life,  from 
the  hand  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  cannot  possibly  recover  again. 
Then,  in  the  third  place,  because  this  execution  already  be- 
gun in  them  will  not  be  long  completing  ;  natural  death, 
which,  considering  the  few  days  we  spend  here  below,  is  not 
far  from  either  of  them,  divesting  first  their  souls  of  all  earthly 
and  carnal  relics,  and  then  the  resurrection  finally  refining 
their  bodies  also  at  the  last  day,  when  earthly  life  shall  be 
entirely  destroyed  and  utterly  dissolved.  For  these  three 
reasons  the  apostle  says  here  and  elsewhere  that  the  faithful 
are  dead,  with  respect  to  the  life  of  sin  and  of  the  flesh  ;  not 
because  they  have  not  in  themselves  some  remains  of  them, 
but  because  this  death  is  ordained  by  the  decree  of  God,  and 
already  begun  in  them,  and  will  soon  be  infallibly  finished. 
Even  as  we  reckon  among  the  dead  a  malefactor  whom  a  su- 
preme court  has  condemned  to  die,  and  a  sick  person  whom 
a  prudent  and  able  physician  has  pronounced  incurable;  we 
do  not  hesitate  to  say,  he  is  dead,  because  his  death  is  inevita- 
ble, and  all  the  life  that  remains  for  him  is  as  nothing  :  so 
when  a  man  has  been  mortally  wounded,  we  immediately  rank 
him  with  the  dead,  because  a  vital  part  is  struck,  and  all  the 
motions  and  perceptions  he  still  has  are  but  his  last  gaspings, 
and  the  final  struggle  which  his  life  makes  before  it  expires. 
It  is  the  same  with  true  believers.  The  flesh  in  them  is 
wounded  to  death  ;  and  if  it  stirs,  if  it  struggles,  if  it  gives 
them  any  blow,  at  most  it  is  a  small  matter  in  comparison 
with  that  life  it  formerly  exercised  in  them.  At  that  time  it 
reigned  in  them.  Now,  if  it  fight,  yet  it  no  longer  rules.  It 
finds  a  spirit  in  them  which  resists  it,  which  makes  head 
against  it  ;  and  in  this,  to  it,  fatal  conflict,  it  loses  by  little 
and  little  all  the  blood  and  life  it  has  yet  left.  Wherefore  the 
Lord  Jesus,  whose  death,  as  we  have  said,  is  both  the  cause 
and  the  pattern  of  ours,  did  not  die  in  an  instant,  but  by  a 
lingering  death,  having  continued  five  or  six  hours  in  an 
agony  before  he  gave  up  the  ghost.  It  is  thus  that  the  old 
man  dies  in  the  faithful.  He  is  already  pierced  with  the  nails 
of  our  Saviour,  fastened  to  his  cross  in  a  dying  state,  and 
without  hope  of  recovery.  Nevertheless  he  struggles  still, 
58 


458  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXIII. 

and  will  be  some  time  in  this  state,  losing  blood,  and 
strength,  and  motion,  and  life,  not  all  at  once,  but  by  little 
and  little. 

This  is  the  condition  of  true  believers.  Whence  appears 
the  pernicious  error  of  those  men  who,  having  the  old  man, 
not  bound,  nor  pierced,  nor  wounded  to  death  in  them,  but 
living  and  reigning  at  full  liberty,  and  with  his  whole  vigour, 
yet  imagine  that  they  belong  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  are  of  the 
number  of  his  true  members.  It  is  a  fatal  mistake,  Jesus 
owns  none  for  his  but  such  as  are  dead  with  him  ;  whose  flesh 
is  either  already  laid  down  and  destroyed  in  the  grave,  as 
theirs  who  live  in  heaven  ;  or  at  least  nailed  to  his  cross,  as 
theirs  who  yet  fight  on  earth.  I  confess  the  presumption  of 
those  who  boast  that  they  sin  no  more,  and  feel  no  longer  in 
themselves  any  motion  or  opposition  of  the  flesh,  is  extremely 
vain.  But  your  error,  worldling,  is  not  a  whit  less,  who, 
having  sin  reigning,  and  the  flesh  living  in  you,  forbear  not  to 
persuade  yourself  that  you  are  a  true  christian.  If  the  flesh 
still  breathes  in  a  true  christian,  if  it  has  still  some  motion 
and  feeling  in  him,  yet  it  has  dominion  in  him  no  longer.  It 
lives  in  him  no  more,  it  languishes  in  him,  and  is  so  v/eak, 
that  it  plainly  appears  to  be  in  the  pangs  of  death.  Put  it  into 
this  state,  if  you  will  be  truly  a  christian.  Fasten  it  to  the 
cross  of  Jesus.  Pierce  it  through  with  his  nails  and  with  his 
thorns.  Make  it  drink  of  his  vinegar.  Take  from  it  its  plea- 
sures ;  draw  out  its  blood  and  strength. 

Since  this  is  our  condition,  since  we  by  the  beneficence  of 
our  Saviour  are  dead,  in  such  a  manner  as  we  have  now  ex- 
plained ;  you  clearly  see,  christian,  that  the  conclusion  of  the 
apostle  evidently  and  necessarily  flows  from  it,  namely,  that 
we  should  not  seek  any  more  the  things  which  are  on  earth. 
For  since  we  have  in  Jesus  Christ  put  off  that  carnal  and 
vicious  life,  for  the  maintaining  and  welfare  of  which  earthly 
things  are  subordinate,  who  does  not  comprehend  that  it 
would  be  an  insufferable  folly  for  us  to  amuse  ourselves  still 
with  them  ?  It  would  be  an  error  as  ridiculous  as  if  one  went 
hunting  after  game,  or  buying  precious  stones  and  garments, 
for  a  person  either  already  dead,  or  at  least  in  the  agony  of 
death.  Such  a  person  has  no  more  need  of  those  things,  they 
being  good  only  to  feed  or  decorate  that  life  which  he  no 
longer  possesses.  Just  so,  christian,  do  you  act,  who  labour 
so  ardently  in  seeking  after  and  acquiring  riches  and  honours, 
and  other  goods  of  the  present  world.  All  this  is  the  equip- 
age of  a  life  which  you  no  longer  have.  The  flesh,  for  whose 
delight  and  adornment  those  goods  serve,  is  dead,  or  at  least 
death-struck  in  you.  It  is  crucified  with  the  Lord  ;  and  a 
crucified  one  has  nothing  to  do  with  meat,  or  jewels,  or  other 
things  of  the  earth,     "  Thou  fool,"  said  our  Saviour  to  the 


CHAP.  III.]        THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  459 

ricTi  worldling  in  the  gospel  parable,  "  this  night  thy  soul 
shall  be  required  of  thee  :  then  whose  shall  those  things  be 
which  thou  hast  provided  ?"  Luke  xii,  20.  As  if  he  had 
said,  being  dead,  he  could  no  more  enjoy  them.  Christian, 
how  is  it  that  you  do  not  consider,  not  only  your  dying  be- 
fore long,  but  that  you  are,  to  speak  correctly,  dead  already — 
that  there  is  no  carnal  life  for  you  any  longer — so  as  to  con- 
clude that  you  have  therefore  no  need  of  all  this  earthly  pelf, 
which  with  so  much  pain  you  scrape  together  ?  I  confess 
that  while  we  are  on  earth  we  cannot  altogether  be  without 
it.  But  neither  can  you  deny,  that  for  living  as  a  christian 
here  we  need  but  little  of  it,  and  for  a  little  time,  because  we 
have  little  left  us  of  that  life  for  which  it  is  necessary.  Let  us 
proportionably  have  little  aftection  and  adherence  to  it.  Let 
us  use  it,  but  for  necessity,  and  not  for  delight.  Let  us  look 
upon  the  world  with  the  eyes  of  pilgrims,  taking  only  so 
much  of  it  as  is  requisite  for  our  passing  on.  Let  us  set  be- 
fore us  the  example  of  the  life  which  our  Lord  led  on  earth, 
during  the  days  of  his  flesh  ;  for  indeed  it  is  the  pattern  of 
that  life  we  should  live  here  below  after  our  regeneration. 
He  sought  neither  the  glory,  nor  the  pleasures,  nor  the  riches, 
of  the  world.  He  adhered  not  to  any  one  of  those  things, 
but  used  what  was  necessary  for  his  food  and  raiment  with 
great  sobriety  and  frugality  ;  not  tasting  the  fruition  of  it, 
and  so  little  fearing  to  be  deprived  of  it,  that  instead  of  the 
glory  of  the  world,  he  voluntarily  suffered  extreme  ignominy  ; 
poverty  and  nakedness,  instead  of  riches  ;  torments  and  the 
cross,  instead  of  pleasures.  And  so  you  see,  my  brethren, 
how  the  consideration  of  our  being  dead  in  Christ  Jesus 
should  turn  us  aside  from'  coveting  and  seeking  earthly 
things. 

II.  But  the  life  we  also  have  in  him  should  no  less  set  us 
at  a  distance  from  them  ;  and  this  the  apostle  sets  before  us, 
in  the  second  place  :  "  Ye  are  dead,  and  your  life  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God.  When  Christ,  who  is  our  life,  shall  appear, 
then  shall  ye  also  appear  with  him  in  glory."  It  seems  that 
the  first  words  tend  to  prevent  an  objection,  which  might  be 
made  to  the  apostle,  upon  his  saying  that  we  are  dead.  For 
how  does  this  consist  with  that  which  he  asserted  before, 
namely,  that  we  are  risen  with  Christ  ?  If  we  are  risen,  we  live  ; 
and  if  we  live,  it  is  not  true  that  we  are  dead.  But  this  diffi- 
culty is  easily  resolved.  For,  first,  the  life  to  which  we  are 
dead  is  the  life  of  sin  and  of  the  flesh,  as  we  have  explained 
it  ;  whereas  the  life  to  which  we  are  risen  in  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  life  of  Christ  and  of  his  Spirit.  The  one  is  the  life  of  the 
old  Adam,  and  the  other  of  the  new.  Now  it  is  not  incompatible 
that  one  and  the  same  person  is  deprived  of  the  former,  and 
possessed  of  the  latter.    Nay,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  not  pos- 


460  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SE  RM.  XXXIII. 

sible  that  sucli  as  live  in  the  former  manner  should  also  live 
in  the  latter  ;  and  as  in  nature  the  generation  of  one  thing 
naturally  presupposes  the  corruption  of  another,  so  in  grace 
the  life  of  the  second  Adam  necessarily  infers  the  death  of 
the  first:  so  that  from  our  being  risen  with  Christ,  it  is  so  far 
from  following  we  are  not  dead  to  the  flesh,  that,  on  the 
contrary,  it  thence  necessarily  follows  we  are  dead  to  the  flesh  ; 
it  not  being  possible  to  affirm  the  former  without  supposing 
the  latter,  nor  to  place  the  life  of  Christ  in  us  otherwise  than 
by  the  death  of  Adam  in  us.  An  inevitable  necessity  requires 
the  one  to  die  that  the  other  may  live  in  us. 

As  for  that  life  which  we  acquire  by  our  resurrection  with 
Jesus  Christ,  the  apostle  grants  that  it  belongs  to  us,  and  that 
in  this  sense  it  may  be  said  of  us  that  we  live,  as  he  sa3''S 
frequently  both  of  other  believers  in  general,  and  of  himself 
in  particular.  Yet,  notwithstanding,  he  shows  us  again  that 
this  life  of  Christ  is  not  manifested  and  completed  in  us  ;  that 
it  is  for  the  present  hidden  in  God  with  Jesus  Christ  :  so  that 
in  this  respect  it  might  be  said  of  us,  while  we  are  on  earth, 
that  we  live  not  ;  and  that  we  have  not  yet  the  life  to  which 
Christ  has  raised  us  ;  after  the  same  manner  as  he  shrinks  not 
to  say  elsewhere,  that  our  being  saved  is  in  hope,  and  we  yet 
wait  for  the  adoption,  Rom.  viii.  23,  24  ;  as  if  we  had  not 
hitherto  received  the  salvation  and  adoption  of  God.  For 
the  right  understanding  of  this  mystery,  we  must  consider 
briefly  what  the  apostle  here  says  of  it  ;  and,  first,  what  that 
life  is  which  he  calls  ours  ;  secondly,  how  it  is  hid  in  God 
with  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  then,  lastly,  what  shall  be  that  mani- 
festation of  this  life  which  he  promises  to  us  at  the  appearing 
of  Christ. 

The  life  of  the  faithful  is  that  which  Jesus  Christ  gives 
them  when  he  receives  them  into  his  communion,  instead  of 
the  life  he  takes  from  them.  That  which  he  takes  away  was 
impure  and  vicious  ;  this  is  pure  and  holy.  That  was  natural 
and  earthly  ;  this  is  spiritual  and  heavenly.  The  principle 
of  the  former  was  a  carnal  mind,  and  an  irregular  concupi- 
scence  ;  the  principle  of  the  latter  is  a  divine  faith,  and  a  just 
and  reasonable  love.  The  one  consisted  in  a  vicious  enjoy- 
ment of  the  flesh  and  of  the  earth  ;  the  other  is  a  sweet  and  a 
legitimate  possession  of  the  Spirit  and  of  heaven.  And  as 
the  former  was  mortal  and  perishing,  no  less  than  the  flesh 
and  the  earth,  from  which  it  drew  its  nutriment  ;  so  the  other 
is  incorruptiisle  and  eternal,  according  to  the  nature  of  the 
Spirit  who  quickens  it,  and  of  heaven  that  maintains  it.  The 
fruits  of  the  former  were  sin,  shame,  and  damnation.  The 
fruits  of  the  latter  are  righteousness,  honour,  joy,  and  immor- 
tality. That  first  life,  therefore,  was  rather  death  than  life, 
being  such  as  after  a  short  and  feverish  agitation  could  not 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  461 

terminate  but  in  eternal  sufferings.  And  this,  on  the  contrary, 
is  alone  truly  worthy  of  the  name  of  life,  which  name  also  the 
Scripture  ofttimes  purely  and  absolutely  gives  it  ;  as  when  it 
says,  "  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life  ;  and  he  that  hath  not  the 
Son  of  God  hath  not  life,"  1  John  v.  12  ;  and  that  he  that 
believeth  in  the  Son  is  passed  from  death  unto  life. 

But  then,  you  will  say,  since  we  do  believe,  how  is  it  that 
the  apostle  says  our  "life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God,"  as  if  it 
were  not  in  ourselves?  Dear  brethren,  I  answer,  it  is  very 
certain  that  the  Lord  Jesus  even  at  present  gives  all  his  true 
members  the  seeds  and  principles  of  this  blessed  life,  which  he 
casts  into  their  hearts  by  his  gospel  ;  and  preserves,  augments, 
and  fortifies  them  there  gradually  by  the  power  of  his  Spirit, 
and  the  use  of  his  word,  his  sacraments,  and  his  discipline,  to 
make  them  bring  forth  the  excellent  fruits  of  love  and  holiness. 
By  reason  of  these  beginnings,  and  of  the  sure  title  they  give 
them  to  the  plenitude  and  perfection  of  that  life,  they  are  said 
in  Scripture  to  live,  and  to  have  eternal  life  at  present;  as 
we  attribute  to  a  plant  the  name  and  life  of  its  species  when 
it  has  taken  root,  and  put  forth  some  bud  and  verdure,  though 
it  has  not  yet  attained  its  full  growth  and  perfection.  Yet  it 
must  be  acknowledged,  that  the  complete  form  of  this  life, 
which  consists  in  perfect  holiness,  robed  with  glorious  im- 
mortality, resembling  that  which  Jesus  Christ,  our  elder 
Brother,  brought  up  out  of  his  sepulchre  at  his  resurrection,* 
and  carried  with  him  into  heaven  forty  days  after,  will  not 
be  communicated  to  us  but  in  the  world  to  come.  For  here, 
as  you  know,  both  our  knowledge  is  imperfect,  and  our 
sanctity  weak  ;  as  the  apostle  says,  "  Now  we  see  through  a 
glass,  darkly,"  1  Cor.  xiii.  12.  We  have  not  yet  apprehended, 
nor  are  already  perfect,  Phil.  iii.  12,  By  reason  of  this  he 
compares  our  condition  here  to  childhood,  during  which  there 
is  imperfection  in  our  thoughts,  words,  and  judgments  ;  where- 
as in  that  other  blessed  world  we  shall  see  face  to  face,  and 
know  as  we  are  known,  1  Cor.  xiii.  12  ;  and  all  that  is  in  part 
being  done  away,  we  shall  be  at  the  highest  pitch  of  perfection, 
and  in  the  full  vigour  of  a  truly  mature  age.  Besides,  this 
body,  which  makes  up  a  part  of  our  being,  is  yet  subject  to 
the  laws  of  natural  life,  nor  can  it  be  sustained  but  by  the  use 
of  earthly  and  corruptible  elements,  and  by  the  low  functions 
of  eating,  drinking,  and  sleeping:  whereas  that  divine  life 
which  we  have  in  Jesus  Christ  is  freed  from  ali  these  infirmi- 
ties, requiring  a  celestial,  and  in  some  degree  a  spiritual  body  ; 
which  is  preserved  by  the  sole  virtue  of  the  quickening  Spirit, 
without  needing  the  assistance  of  any  earthly  and  perishing 
things.  Whence  it  appears  that,  to  speak  properly  and  ex- 
actly, we  shall  not  have  this  blessed  life  till  after  the  last 
resurrection.     We  now  have  but  a  title  to  it,  and  the  first  bud- 


462  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  XXXIII. 

dings,  rudiments,  and  initials  of  it  ;  which  the  apostle  excel- 
lently signifies,  when  speaking  of  himself  and  of  all  the  faithful, 
he  says  we  "  have  the  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit,"  Eom.  viii.  22  ; 
that  is,  to  use  Peter's  words,  as  it  were  the  first  lineaments  of 
this  divine  and  spiritual  nature,  of  which  the  Lord  has  made 
us  partakers,  2  Pet.  i.  4. 

Wherefore  Paul  here  at  once  very  truly  and  admirably  says 
that  "  our  life,"  that  is,  the  life  we  have  by  Jesus  Christ,  "  is," 
for  the  present,  "  hid  with  Christ  in  God  ;"  because  the  Father 
yet  keeps  it  in  his  hand,  reserving  the  full  display  of  it  in  us 
until  the  time  he  has  foreordained  in  his  counsel.  Until  then 
it  does  not  appear,  but  abides  hid  in  God,  as  a  sure  and  cer- 
tain effect  in  its  true  and  immutable  cause.  The  world  sees  it 
not  in  us;  and  its  first-fruits  which  we  now  have  are  so  un- 
known to  it,  that,  far  from  believing  we  have  any  life  more 
excellent  than  its  own,  it  accounts  us,  on  the  contrary,  the 
most  miserable  and  despicable  creatures  on  earth,  and  thinks 
our  life  to  be  foolishness,  and  mere  frenzy,  and  judges  that  its 
end  will  be  without  honour,  as  the  author  of  the  Book  of 
Wisdom  well  expresses  it,  chap.  v.  3.  Indeed,  God  most  fre- 
quently puts  this  heavenly  treasure  into  earthen  vessels,  and 
chooses  for  this  blessed  life  persons  weak  and  contemptible, 
and  such  as  are  of  no  consideration  among  the  men  of  the 
world  ;  as  Paul  expressly  observes,  1  Cor.  i.  26 — 28  :  neither 
is  there  in  them,  more  than  was  formerly  in  their  Head,  either 
form,  comeliness,  or  anything  that  should  induce  those  who 
see  them  to  desire  them,  Isa.  liii.  2,  To  which  may  be  added 
the  afflictions  which  extremely  disfigure  them,  and  darken 
the  little  lustre  which  they  have.  Amidst  such  inferiority 
and  infirmities,  it  is  hard  to  discern  a  single  ray  of  that  glory 
to  which  they  are  destined.  In  times  of  great  temptation 
they  themselves  entertain  doubts  of  it.  And  notwithstanding 
the  Spirit  who  quickens  them,  most  clearly,  and  with  the 
strongest  evidences,  reveals  for  their  consolation  the  perfec- 
tions and  wonders  of  their  future  life  ;  yet  they  see  and  taste 
so  small  a  portion  of  it,  in  comparison  of  what  they  shall 
have  in  the  end,  that  it  might  well  be  said  their  life  is  hid  in 
reference  to  themselves.  And  thus  John  informs  us  :  "  Be- 
loved, now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  ap- 
pear what  we  shall  be,"  1  John  iii.  2. 

But  we  must  not  forget  what  the  apostle  here  adds,  namely, 
that  our  "  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God  ;"  whereby  he  signi- 
fies two  things  :  first,  that  Christ  is  yet  to  a  certain  degree 
and  in  some  sense  hidden,  with  respect  to  the  glory  of  his 
person.  For  though  his  salvation  and  dominion  have  been 
discovered  by  his  gospel  to  every  creature,  both  Jews  and 
Gentiles  ;  yet  having  withdrawn  his  raised  and  glorified 
human  nature  into  the  heavenly  sanctuary,  and  from  thence 


CHAP,  m.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  ANS.  463 

governing  his  kingdom  by  the  secret  operations  of  his  Spirit, 
his  person  remains  concealed  from  the  eyes  of  the  world. 
The  great  veil  of  the  heavens,  which  environs  the  sanctuary 
into  which  he  is  entered,  hinders  us  from  seeing  his  glory, 
how  sparkling  and  radiant  soever  it  be.  Secondly,  the  apos- 
tle signifies  by  these  words  that  our  life  is  properly  and  di- 
rectly in  Christ  ;  that  he  is  its  source  and  its  cause  ;  and  that 
in  a  twofold  sense  :  the  one,  because  he  merited  it  for  us  by 
his  sufferings  ;  the  other,  because  he  produced  and  formed  it 
in  us  by  his  Spirit  ;  by  reason  of  which  he  is  called  the  Au- 
thor and  "  the  Prince  of  life,"  Acts  iii.  15  ;  and  John  says 
that  life  is  in  him,  John  i.  -i.  Then,  again,  our  life  is  in 
Christ,  as  in  its  original  pattern,  wherein  at  present  exists  the 
true  and  perfect  form  of  that  sanctity,  glory,  perfection,  and 
immortality,  in  which  the  life  wherewith  we  shall  be  invested 
consists.  Wherefore  he  is  termed  our  elder  brother,  our  prin- 
ciple or  beginning,  and  our  first-fruits,  as  we  have  said  at  the 
commencement  of  this  discourse.  Whence  a  great  and  a  firm 
consolation  is  provided  for  us  against  all  the  tempests  of  the 
present  world,  when  we  consider  that,  however  sad  and  fright- 
ful at  times  our  desolation  is,  yet  we  live  in  God,  and  in  his 
Christ.  Christ  is  the  sacred  and  inviolable  stock  that  bears 
us,  in  which  the  sap  of  our  life  is  perfectly  safe,  above  the 
rigours  of  winter  and  heat  of  summer,  and  all  other  perils 
which  threaten  us.  God  is  faithful,  and  Christ  is  living  ;  and 
it  is  not  possible  that  either  the  one  should  deny  himself,  or 
the  other  die.  Since  then  the  Father  is  the  depositary,  and 
the  Son  the  stock  of  our  life,  let  us  assure  ourselves,  that 
though  we  feel  it  but  feebly  and  faintly  in  ourselves,  yet  we 
possess  it,  and  shall  eternally  have  it,  so  as  nothing  shall  be 
ever  able  to  extinguish  it.  Let  this  sweet  hope  sustain  us, 
and  cause  us  to  wait  patiently  for  the  term  of  that  full  and  en- 
tire manifestation  which  the  apostle  in  the  sequel  promises  us  : 
"When  Christ,  who  is  our  life,  shall  appear,  then  shall  ye 
also  appear  with  him  in  glory." 

His  calling  Christ  our  life  is  a  noble  expression,  full  of 
force  and  emphasis  ;  similar  to  that  which  Jeremiah  uses, 
when,  speaking  of  the  Lord's  Anointed,  he  calls  him  "the 
breath  of  our  nostrils,"  Lam.  iv.  20,  to  signify  that  it  is  upon 
him  our  whole  life  depends,  and  that  (if  we  may  so  say)  it  is 
by  his  sacred  mouth  we  draw  our  breath.  Thus  the  apostle's 
assertion,  that  Christ  is  our  life,  does  not  simply  signify  that 
he  is  the  cause  and  author  of  our  life,  but  that  it  fully  and 
wholly  depends  upon  him  ;  that  without  him,  and  separate 
from  him,  we  have  not  a  drop  nor  spark  of  life  ;  and  that  it 
is  in  him  alone  we  have  all  the  being,  all  the  motion,  and  all 
the  feeling  which  indicates  the  life  of  heaven.  In  very  deed, 
it  is  he  who  has  merited  it  for  us  by  his  death.     It  is  he  who 


464  AN  EXPOSITION-  OF  [SERM.  XXXIII. 

has  brought  it  to  light  by  his  gospel.  It  is  he  who  has 
showed  us  a  most  accomplished  pattern  of  it  in  his  person,  at 
his  issuing  out  of  his  sepulchre.  It  is  he  who  has  given  us 
the  first-fruits  of  it  by  his  word  and  Spirit,  and  preserves  and 
increases  them  in  us  by  his  benediction.  It  is  he  who  keeps 
the  fulness  of  it  for  us  in  his  treasury  on  high,  as  being  the 
true  Father  of  eternity.  And,  lastly,  it  is  he  who,  taking  this 
glorious  life  out  of  his  heavenly  cabinet  one  day,  will  put  it 
on  us  with  his  own  hand.  Besides,  we  possess  neither  the 
beginning  nor  the  perfection  of  it  but  in  him,  and  by  the 
benefit  of  our  communion  with  him,  because  we  are  his  mem- 
bers and  branches,  which  cannot  live  but  as  united  to  their 
head,  and  incorporated  in  their  vine. 

The  apostle  therefore  says,  that  when  this  sovereign  and 
only  author  of  our  life  shall  appear,  "  then  shall  we  also  ap- 
pear in  glory,"  He  has  appeared  once  already,  but  in  the 
flesh,  as  the  apostle  says,  "  God  was  manifested  in  the  flesh," 
He  shall  appear  again  a  second  time,  but  in  glory.  This  sec- 
ond appearing  he  means  when  the  Lord  Jesus  descending  from 
heaven  with  the  host  of  his  angels,  and  seating  himself  on  a 
judicial  throne,  shall  openly  show  to  all  the  creatures  of  the 
world  his  glory  and  Godhead,  which  the  heavens  that  contain 
his  flesh  on  high,  and  the  weaknesses  that  cover  his  mystical 
body  here  below,  now  hide  from  the  earth.  "Then,"  says  the 
apostle,  "shall  ye  also  appear  with  him  in  glory."  When 
this  sweet  and  happy  season  arrives,  you,  as  plants  in  the 
spring,  shall  receive  your  life,  which,  from  that  sacred  stock 
in  which  it  is  now  preserved,  shall  be  diffused  into  you,  and 
into  all  other  branches  of  this  vine  of  God,  and  crown  you  in 
an  instant  with  its  eternal  verdure.  The  glory  of  which  he 
speaks  signifies  the  light,  the  perfections,  the  wonders,  and  the 
pomp  of  beatific  life  ;  perfect  knowledge  of  God,  love,  sanc- 
tity, and  joy  ;  the  immortality  of  our  bodies,  their  beauty, 
their  brightness,  their  strength,  and  impassibility  ;  and  indeed 
all  the  portions  of  that  infinite  good,  the  grandeur  and  excel- 
lency of  which  we  shall  never  distinctly  comprehend  till  we 
possess  it.  We  shall  then  appear  in  this  glory,  first,  because, 
in  addition  to  the  first-fruits  of  it,  which  we  have,  Jesus  Christ 
shall  give  us  the  fulness  of  it,  which  we  have  not.  Un- 
doubtedly the  greatest  and  most  illustrious  part  of  his  glory, 
which  now  remains  hidden  in  him,  he  then  shall  shed  abroad 
upon  us.  Secondly,  because  the  world,  which  now  despises 
and  treads  us  under  foot,  shall  then  see  us  in  this  glorious 
state.  As  Christ,  our  Head,  shall  be  seen  with  astonishment 
by  those  who  pierced  him  ;  so  they  who  now  outrage  his 
members  shall  then  see  them  in  their  glory,  and  be  constrained 
to  change  their  opinion,  and  to  acknowledge  those  for  children 
of  God  and  his  saints  whom,  in  the  present  world,  they  deride 
and  ridicule. 


CHAP.  III.]        THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  465 

Thus  you  see,  beloved  brethren,  what  kind  of  life  it  is 
which  Jesus  Christ  promises  and  communicates  to  his  faithful 
ones,  namely,  the  fruit  of  our  faith,  and  of  that  divine  food 
which  we  have  taken  this  morning;  the  life  of  angels;  the 
crown  of  saints  ;  a  pre-eminent  and  eternal  felicity  in  conjunc- 
tion with  a  pre-eminent  and  immortal  glory.  This  is  the  rich 
treasury,  the  living  and  inexhaustible  spring,  of  our  consola- 
tion and  sanctification.  Judge,  I  beseech  you,  what  manner 
of  persons  they  should  be  who  have  so  high  and  divine  a 
hope,  and  whether  it  is  not  reasonable  we  should  with- 
draw our  thoughts  and  our  affections  from  earth,  to  elevate 
them  to  heaven,  since  there  our  life  is,  and  thence  we  ex- 
pect our  chief  happiness.  Christian,  you  that  have  a  title 
for  heaven,  are  you  not  ashamed  to  long  for  earth — you  that 
are  destined  to  a  life  which  perishes  not,  to  labour  for  the 
meat  that  perisheth — you  that  in  Jesus  Christ  have  the  sub- 
stance of  true  and  solid  happiness,  to  run  after  shadows  ? 
How  much  more  generous  and  constant  are  the  children  of  this 
generation  in  their  vanity  !  Those  among  them  who  are  of 
noble  extraction,  and  especially  such  as  are  brought  up  in 
hope  of  a  crown,  would  not  labour  in  trade,  or  degrade  them- 
selves by  mean  conduct  ;  and  there  are  nations  who  totally 
refrain  from  commerce  with  other  men,  and  account  them- 
selves defiled  and  profaned  by  having  but  touched  a  plebeian. 
And  you  who  are  the  offspring  of  heaven,  a  child  of  the  Most 
High,  a  brother  of  his  angels,  and  an  heir  of  his  kingdom  ; 
you,  that  are  nourished  with  divine  manna  in  the  hope  of  a 
heavenly  life  and  an  immortal  crown  ;  how  have  you  the 
heart  to  grope  in  the  mud  and  heap  up  dung — to  intermix 
with  the  most  miserable  bondmen  of  the  earth,  and  the  pro- 
fanest  workers  of  iniquity  ?  A  king's  son  once  refused  to 
contend  in  the  public  games  because  he  saw  no  kings  do  it. 
Christian,  remember  the  dignity  of  your  name;  separate  your- 
self from  the  exercises  and  diversions  of  the  people  of  the 
world.  Leave  them  the  earth,  out  of  which  they  came,  and 
to  which  they  shall  return.  Enter  not  into  so  ignoble  and 
sordid  a  race,  the  race  of  mammon,  in  which  you  see  none 
run  but  children  of  the  earth,  and  the  brood  of  vipers  and 
serpents.  Purify  your  minds  and  your  bodies;  never  defile 
them  with  base  and  earthly  thoughts  or  actions.  Say  not, 
"  What  shall  we  eat  ?  what  shall  we  drink  ?  wherewithal 
shall  we  be  clothed  ?"  These  are  the  thoughts  and  cares 
of  bondmen.  These  are  the  discourses  of  pagans.  This 
is  all  they  seek.  You,  who  are  christians,  and  whose  life  is 
hid  in  Jesus  Christ,  seek  his  kingdom  and  his  righteousness. 
Let  this  be  your  ambition,  and  all  the  desire  of  your  souls. 
Let  this  divine  life,  and  the  glory  with  which  it  will  one  day 
crown  you  in  the  sight  of  heaven  and  earth,  be  night  and  day 


466  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXIV. 

the  object  of  your  thoughts.  Possess  yourselves  of  it  now 
with  a  holy  impatience.  Begin  betimes  to  live  as  you  shall 
live  eternally.  Let  the  contemplation  of  God,  let  the  love  of 
his  beauties,  let  the  meditation  of  his  mysteries,  let  considering 
of  and  conversing  with  his  Christ,  be  your  employment  and 
refreshment  in  the  present  world.  Sanctify  this  earth  during 
the  time  you  tarry  on  it,  and  change  it  as  much  as  possible 
into  heaven,  adorning  it  with  an  angelic  life  and  conversation. 
This  is  the  way  to  make  sure  your  crown  ;  for  it  will  not  be 
given  in  heaven  but  to  those  who  have  desired  and  sought  it 
in  the  time  of  their  abode  on  earth.  None  shall  reap  eternal 
life  but  they  who  have  sowed  to  the  Spirit.  No  man  shall 
have  fruition  above  but  he  who  has  hoped  below  ;  and  no  man 
hopes  here  below  but  he  that  cleanses  himself  from  the  filth 
of  vice.  He  that  hath  this  hope  in  Jesus  Christ  purifieth 
himself,  says  John.  Represent  incessantly  to  yourselves  this 
glorious  coming  of  the  Son  of  God.  Consider  that  he  will  not 
long  delay.  "  Yet  a  little  while,  and  he  that  shall  come  will 
come."  Consider  that  he  will  come  suddenly,  as  lightning, 
which  in  an  instant  shines  out  from  the  clouds  ;  and  as  the 
thief,  who  comes  at  the  moment  he  was  least  expected.  How 
great  will  our  confusion  be,  if  he  should  surprise  us  in  the 
disorder  of  our  worldly  affections  and  occupations  !  But  God 
forbid  that  this  should  befall  us.  He  has  waited  sufficiently 
for  us.  Let  us  employ  that  little  time  which  is  left  us  with  so 
much  the  more  care,  the  less  care  we  have  shown  for  that 
which  is  past.  Let  us  watch,  let  us  pray  let  us  be  doing. 
Let  us  work  out  our  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling.  Let  us 
lead  lives  worthy  of  the  name  of  christians,  which  we  bear  ; 
worthy  of  the  Master  whom  we  serve,  of  the  food  he  has  given 
us,  of  the  love  he  has  borne  us,  and  of  the  glory  he  reserves  for 
us  ;  cleansing  ourselves  from  all  filthiness  of  flesh  and  spirit, 
and  waiting  with  a  holy  joy  and  settled  patience  for  the  re- 
velation of  this  great  God  and  Saviour,  to  his  glory  and  our 
salvation.    Amen. 


SERMON    XXXIY. 

VERSE    5. 

Mortify  therefore  your  memhers  which  are  upon  the  earth  ;  forni- 
cation^ uncleanness,  inordinate  affection,  evil  concupiscence,  and 
covetousness,  which  is  idolatry. 

Dear  brethren,  in  all  the  designs  of  our  lives,  the  end  is 
the  principle  which  moves  us  to  act,  and  the  rule  of  our  ac- 


CHAP.    III.]      THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  467, 

tions.  The  fair  aspect  it  presents  inflames  our  hearts,  and 
kindles  in  them  the  desire  of  possessing  it  ;  which  thereby 
awakens  the  powers  of  our  souls,  and  causes  each  of  them  to 
employ  its  ability  and  industry  in  the  pursuit;  the  understand- 
ing gives  its  light  to  discover  and  make  a  due  choice  of  means 
fit  to  conduct  us  to  it  ;  the  will,  and  affections,  and  other  facul- 
ties of  our  nature  which  depend  upon  them,  use  their  operations 
to  gain  these  means  and  set  them  in  motion.  All  this  is  done, 
as  you  know  and  experience  daily,  only  to  attain  the  end  we 
have  proposed  to  ourselves.  The  ends  at  which  men  aim  are 
infinitely  different,  and  often  contrary  to  each  other,  and  con- 
sequently their  courses  also  are  very  dissimilar;  as  if  some 
went  east  and  others  west  ;  or  some  took  their  way  southward, 
and  others  their  march  northward.  Yet  notwithstanding  such 
various  intentions  and  endeavours,  they  are  all  incited  and 
led  on  in  the  same  manner  ;  not  one  of  them  but  the  desire 
of  some  end  which  he  loves  has  seized  and  swayed  to  action, 
and  at  length  induced  to  take  the  course  he  steers,  according 
to  his  zeal  for  its  attainment,  and  the  judgment  which  his 
understanding  makes  of  means  proper  to  bring  him  to  it.  The 
end  therefore  being  the  first  spring  that  sets  us  going,  the 
principle  of  our  motions,  and,  as  it  were,  the  north  star  of  our 
course,  the  guide  and  measure  of  our  actions  ;  you  see,  my 
brethren,  that  it  infinitely  concerns  us  to  take  it  right;  and 
having  once  taken  it,  to  have  it  continually  before  our  eyes, 
in  order  to  refer  and  address  all  our  labours  to  the  same. 
Wherefore  our  Lord  condemns  those  as  unadvised  and  injudi- 
cious persons  who  enterprise  a  design  without  having  first  duly 
considered  it;  without  having  sat  down,  and  taken  their 
counters  in  hand,  and  exactly  calculated  the  cost  ;  that  is, 
without  having  maturely  and  composedly  examined  what  the 
thing  is  which  they  desire,  and  what  abilities  they  have  to 
attain  it;  as  that  ridiculous  builder  who  laid  the  foundation  of 
a  tower,  and  was  then  constrained  to  relinquish  it,  not  having 
wherewith  to  finish  it.  For  this  reason  also  the  professors  of 
moral  philosophy,  that  they  might  rightly  instruct  their 
scholars,  have  been  wont  to  set  before  their  eyes  the  felicity  of 
man,  that  is,  his  end,  to  enkindle  a  love  and  desire  for  it  in  their 
hearts  ;  and  then  they  proposed  to  them  the  means  to  be  used 
to  obtain  it. 

Such  is  the  method  which  the  holy  apostle  has  followed 
in  this  part  of  his  divine  discourse  which  we  are  expounding. 
He  showed  us  at  the  entrance  heaven,  and  Jesus  Christ,  who 
reigns  there,  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  his  Father  ;  together 
with  that  life,  and  immortality,  and  glory  which  he  keeps  for 
and  promises  to  his  faithful  ones.  This  is  the  end  to  which  we 
should  tend.  "  Set  your  affections  on  things  above,"  said  he  ; 
and  I  persuade  myself  there  is  not  a  man  so  stupid  and  barba- 


468  AN   EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XXXIV. 

rous,  upon  whom  an  object  so  good  and  desirable  does  not 
make  impression,  and  possess  with  love  and  a  secret  desire  to 
obtain  it.  Now,  though  the  splendour  of  so  noble  and  so  sub- 
lime a  happiness  should,  as  soon  as  it  appears,  extinguish  all 
that  fallacious  appearance  of  earthly  things  in  which  the  children 
of  this  world  vainly  seek  their  good,  and  which  they  foolishly 
take  for  the  end  of  their  lives  ;  yet  the  apostle,  to  preserve  us 
from  this  error,  and  fully  inform  us  of  our  true  end,  has  further 
expressly  advised  us  not  to  place  it  in  things  here  below. 
Mind  not  the  things,  says  he,  which  are  upon  the  earth.  Hav- 
ing therefore  each  of  you  settled  this  divine  end  of  your  lives 
in  his  heart,  according  to  the  apostle's  doctrine,  look  at  it  con- 
tinually. Let  it  be  night  and  day  before  your  eyes.  This 
thought  alone  is  sufficient  to  direct  all  your  steps  ;  to  govern 
all  your  actions  ;  to  purify  your  souls  ;  to  render  you  invinci- 
ble against  all  your  enemies  ;  to  preserve  the  peace  and  joy 
of  God,  and  maintain  his  consolations  in  you  amid  the  greatest 
storms.  Yet  this  does  not  satisfy  our  apostle.  Not  content 
with  having  marked  out  our  aim  to  us,  and  showed  in  general 
what  we  ought  to  decline,  he  details  minutely  the  means  we 
are  to  use  for  arriving  one  day  at  that  blessed  heaven  whither 
he  had  elevated  our  hearts.  He  discovers  and  declares  to  us, 
one  by  one,  the  rocks  and  dangerous  passages  of  our  course, 
and,  finally,  goes  over  the  most  part  of  our  duties  in  conduct- 
ing this  grand  design.  He  begins  with  vices  of  the  flesh  and 
of  the  earth,  the  two  most  pernicious  pests,  and  most  contrary 
to  the  design  on  which,  by  the  grace  of  God,  we  have  entered. 
The  apostle  therefore  commands  us  to  commence  an  extermi- 
native  war,  to  fight,  to  weaken,  to  kill,  and  to  destroy  without 
pity,  all  that  we  perceive  in  ourselves  to  bear  any  affection  or 
inclination  to  them  :  "  Mortify  therefore  your  members  which 
are  upon  the  earth."  The  Lord  be  pleased  to  bless  now  the 
voice  of  his  apostle,  and  sink  these  words,  which  himself 
formerly  inspired,  so  deep  into  our  souls,  that  they  may  be  at 
this  time  effectual  to  our  sanctification  ;  eradicating  those  ac- 
cursed passions  out  of  our  hearts,  which  cannot  live  nor  fruc- 
tify there  without  dishonouring  the  gospel,  and  depriving  us 
of  that  heavenly  life  to  which  we  aspire. 

The  exhortation,  you  perceive,  contains  two  parts  :  the  first 
of  which  commands  us,  in  general,  to  "mortify  our  members 
which  are  upon  the  earth."  The  other  represents  to  us,  in  par- 
ticular, some  of  these  members  of  our  old  man  which  we  are  to 
mortify;  namely,  "fornication,  uncleanness,  inordinate  affec- 
tion, evil  concupiscence,  and  covetousness,  which  is  idolatry." 
These  are  the  two  heads  which,  the  grace  of  God  assisting,  we 
will  consider  in  this  discourse  :  first,  the  apostle's  general  ex- 
hortation ;  and  then,  in  the  second  place,  the  vices  which  by 
name  and  expressly  he  commands  us  to  mortify. 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  469 

I.  As  to  the  general  exhortation,  it  is  expressed  in  these 
words,  "  Mortify  therefore  your  members  which  are  upon  the 
earth;"  and  to  comprehend  it  aright,  we  must  consider  its 
meaning  and  coherence.  An  understanding  of  its  meaning 
depends  on  that  clause,  "your  members  which  are  upon  the 
earth."  For  every  one  sees  that  the  term  members  cannot  sig- 
nify here,  as  it  ordinarily  does,  the  parts  of  Avhich  our  body  is 
composed,  the  hands,  the  arms,  the  feet,  and  the  like;  and  as 
Paul  uses  it  elsewhere,  when  he  says,  "  Neither  yield  ye  your 
members  as  instruments  of  unrighteousness  unto  sin,"  Rom. 
vi.  13.  If  this  had  been  his  intention  here,  there  would  have 
been  no  need  to  add,  as  he  does,  that  these  members  are  upon 
the  earth,  every  one  plainly  seeing  it.  Besides,  what  he  says 
in  the  sequel  necessarily  excludes  this  sense.  For  he  puts  un- 
cleanness  and  covetousness  in  the  rank  of  those  members 
which  he  commands  us  to  mortify  ;  things  which  are  not  parts 
of  our  bodies,  neither  the  being  nor  name  in  any  way  comports 
with  them  ;  but,  indeed,  vices  of  our  souls,  in  which  they  pro- 
perly reside,  and  whence  they  spread  themselves  over  our 
whole  nature,  defiling  and  dishonouring  it  various  ways.  This 
addition  leaves  us  no  doubt  but  that  these  vices,  and  others 
like  them,  together  with  all  filthy  and  shameful  habits,  from 
whence  bad  actions  proceed,  which  he  elsewhere  calls  the  deeds 
of  the  body,  and  works  of  the  flesh,  are  directly  and  precisely 
those  members  to  mortify  which  he  commands  us. 

But,  you  will  say,  how  and  why  does  he  call  them  our  mem- 
bers, seeing  they  are  not  the  parts  of  our  nature,  which  are  all 
good  and  created  of  God,  but  rather  the  maladies,  leprosies, 
and  pests  of  our  nature;  supervening  from  without  by  the 
venomous  breath  of  the  old  serpent,  and  his  contagious  inter- 
course— things  that  deprave,  blast,  eat  out,  and  consume  our 
being,  so  far  are  they  from  accommodating  it,  or  adorning  it, 
or  affording  it  either  the  benefit  or  the  beauty  which  the  body 
derives  from  the  diversity  ol  members  with  which  it  is  so  admi- 
rably furnished?  I  answer,  that  this  is  very  true,  and  that 
vices  being  the  poison  and  ruin  of  our  true  being,  cannot  be 
properly  called  members  of  it;  it  being  evident  that  a  disease 
is  nothing  less  than  one  of  the  members  of  the  body  which  it 
afflicts.  Yet,  granting  that,  the  apostle  might,  upon  some 
other  account,  use  this  similitude,  and  compare  the  vices  of 
human  nature,  in  its  present  state,  to  the  various  members 
which  constitute  our  body.  Rightly  to  understand  it,  you 
will  please  to  remember  that  it  is  a  form  of  speaking  very  com- 
mon in  all  languages,  to  compare  those  things  to  a  body  which 
are  made  up  of  an  accumulation  or  collection  of  many  parts, 
different  indeed,  but  nevertheless  united  in  order,  some  having 
a  sequel  and  dependence  upon  the  rest  ;  hence  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  say,  the  body  of  an  estate,  of  an  army,  of  a  town,  of 


470  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM,  ZXXIV. 

a  family,  A  whole  in  which  there  is  no  distinction  of  parts, 
is  called  a  mass  ;  one  in  which  some  distinction  is  to  be  ob- 
served is  termed  a  body.  Hence  it  arises  that  the  apostle  com- 
pares that  heap  of  vices  and  evil  inclinations  which  exist  in 
all  men  from  their  birth,  and  grows  and  gathers  strength  with 
age,  he  compares  it,  I  say,  to  and  gives  it  the  name  of  a  body. 
You  may  remember,  in  the  former  chapter  he  says  that  by  our 
regeneration  in  Jesus  Christ  we  have  put  ofî'  the  body  of  the 
sins  of  the  flesh.  This  same  body  of  our  vices  is  also  often 
compared  to  an  entire  person,  and  called,  as  you  know,  the 
old  man,  or  the  old  Adam.  For,  first,  it  is  not  one  vice  alone  ; 
it  is  a  vast  multitude  of  them  ;  a  mass  of  horrors  ;  a  hydra  of 
evils;  a  mixture  of  many  poisons;  a  heap  of  an  infinity  of 
orders  ;  a  complication  of  many  maladies,  which  all  at  once 
make  spoil  of  one  and  the  same  creature,  and  leave  nothing 
sound  or  whole  in  it,  from  the  sole  of  the  foot  to  the  crown  of 
the  head,  to  speak  as  the  prophet,  but  cover  it  all  over  with 
wounds  and  bruises,  with  putrefied  and  inveterate  sores.  Then 
again,  these  maladies,  though  all  pernicious  and  mortal,  are 
different  among  themselves  ;  there  are  infidelity,  superstition, 
distrust,  hatred,  or  contempt  both  of  God  and  our  neighbour, 
love  of  the  flesh  and  the  earth,  pride,  cruelty,  sloth,  luxury, 
intemperance,  avarice,  and  a  thousand  such  others.  For  who 
can  so  much  as  name  them  all  ?  And  though  the  confusion 
which  always  necessarily  accompanies  error  and  vice  is  truly 
very  great  among  them,  nevertheless  there  is  some  kind  of 
order  and  sequence  to  be  observed  in  them.  For  as  knowledge 
should  move  and  guide  our  nature,  here  ignorance  governs 
this  troop  of  monsters.  Blindness  is  their  guide,  and  error 
their  director.  And  as  in  the  right  constitution  of  man  the  will 
follows  the  light  of  the  understanding  ;  here  the  will  follows 
its  darkness,  and  embraces  those  phantoms  which  the  frenzy 
of  its  leader  takes  for  solid  realities.  And  as  in  the  various 
diseases  of  the  body  a  certain  order  and  regularity  is  seen  in 
their  beginnings,  their  progress,  and  increase,  nothing  happen- 
ing in  them  without  cause  ;  so  in  the  sicknesses  of  the  soul,  they 
have  their  accesses,  their  inflammations,  their  returns,  and  their 
periods  ;  that  though  there  is  nothing  but  a  perpetual  disorder, 
which  displaces  everything,  and  overturns  all,  yet  all  has  its 
certain  causes.  Therefore,  with  much  reason  and  elegance,  the 
apostle  compares  this  strange  convention  of  numerous  evils, 
which,  though  various,  work  with  union  and  dependence,  to 
a  body  ;  and  each  of  those  vices  of  which  it  is  composed,  as 
covetousness,  fornication,  and  the  like,  to  the  members  of  a 
body. 

He  calls  them  our  members,  because  the  old  man,  which  is 
made  up  of  them,  is  wholly  ours,  and  invests  all  the  principles 
of  our  life  from  their  root  ;  it  envelopes  them,  and  mingles  so 


CHAP.   III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  471 

deeply  with  them,  that,  so  to  speak,  it  is  nothing  but  corrup- 
tion and  malady.  This  venom  infects  all  the  actions  and  im- 
pulses of  our  nature,  its  understanding,  its  affections  and  pas- 
sions, together  with  the  thoughts,  words,  and  actions  which 
flow  from  them  ;  so  that  as  our  animal  and  natural  life  consists 
in  the  exercise  of  our  members,  and  in  their  actions,  in  the  same 
manner  our  moral  life  is  nothing  but  a  continual  exercise  of 
these  vices,  and  of  the  sins  they  produce.  This  is  clearly  seen, 
if  you  consider  the  lives  of  profane  and  unregenerate  persons; 
they  are  nothing  but  a  continual  exercise  of  vices,  of  ambition, 
of  vanity,  of  covetousness,  of  luxury,  and  of  sensuality,  as  they 
are  addicted  more  or  less  to  the  one  or  the  other  of  these  sins; 
the  perpetual  flowing  of  a  foul  and  muddy  stream,  which  a  cor- 
rupted spring  daily  sends  forth,  so  that  you  cannot  observe  so 
much  as  one  of  its  swellings  or  rollings  exempt  from  its  filthi- 
ness.  And  this  may  suffice  for  comprehending  the  reason 
why  the  apostle  calls  these  parts  of  the  old  man  our  members. 
I  do  not  agree  with  that  interpretation  which  some  propose, 
namely,  that  the  members  of  our  bodies,  having  been  created 
of  God,  are  ours  only  in  respect  of  use,  and  not  in  respect  of 
tbeir  original  ;  whereas  the  members  of  the  old  man  are  ours, 
all  manner  of  ways,  having  been  made  and  formed  in  us  by  our 
own  fault  and  naughtiness,  and  not  by  the  hand  of  God,  who 
created  man  upright  and  pure  ;  man  distorting  and  depraving 
himself.  This  idea  seems  to  me  more  subtle  than  solid.  For 
though  the  substance  of  it  is  true,  yet  it  is  so  wide  from  the 
apostle's  design  in  this  place,  that  there  is  little  likelihood  he 
thought  of  it,  when  he  here  called  the  vices  of  our  corrupt  na- 
ture our  members.  Without  doubt  he  does  so  only  because  it 
is  in  the  exercising  and  acting  of  these  vices  that  the  carnal  life 
of  men  consists. 

For  the  remainder,  if  you  remember  what  we  said  upon  the 
preceding  verses  of  the  death  of  the  old  man  in  us,  you  will 
not  think  it  strange  that  the  apostle,  after  having  said  that  we 
are  dead,  does  not  forbear  to  exhort  us  to  mortify  the  members 
of  this  same  life,  which  we  have  put  off  in  Jesus  Christ.  For 
our  being  dead  in  this  respect  does  not  imply  that  the  life  of 
the  flesh  is  entirely  and  absolutely  extinct  in  us;  (this  will  not 
be  effected  until  we  shall  quit  it  at  our  leaving  of  the  earth, 
and  put  on  celestial  bodies  at  the  day  of  the  resurrection  ;)  but 
the  Scripture  thus  speaks,  first,  because  Jesus  Christ  has  by  his 
death,  resurrection,  and  ascension  into  heaven  destroyed  and 
abolished  all  the  causes  that  gave  nutriment  and  sustenance  to 
the  life  of  the  old  man  ;  and,  secondly,  because  the  old  man  has 
received  his  death-wound  in  each  of  us  by  the  faith  that  in- 
grafted and  incorporated  us  into  Jesus  Christ  ;  so  that  if  we 
persevere,  it  is  no't  possible  that  he  should  recover.  But  this 
death  of  his,  as  we  said,  is  not  immediate.     It  is  executed  by 


472  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXIV. 

little  and  little  ;  and  the  exercise  of  a  believer,  during  his  stay 
here  below,  is  to  employ  himself  incessantly  about  it,  daily  to 
weaken  and  wound  that  flesh  of  his,  which  is  already  nailed 
to  the  cross  of  his  Lord;  to  extinguish  by  little  and  little 
all  the  remains  of  its  life  ;  that  is,  to  mortify  his  members,  as 
the  apostle  here  speaks.  In  this  sense,  you  see,  these  two 
ideas  are  so  far  from  having  anything  contrary  or  incompatible 
in  them,  that,  on  the  contrary,  the  one  evidently  and  necessarily 
follows  from  the  other.  For  since  we  are  dead  in  Jesus  Christ, 
since  the  arrest  for  the  death  of  our  old  man  is  past,  since  Jesus 
Christ  has  done  on  his  part  all  that  was  necessary  to  execute 
it,  since  this  flesh  condemned  is  already  fastened  to  his  cross, 
it  is  evident  that  it  ought  to  live  no  longer  ;  and  that,  conse- 
quently, each  of  us  should  incessantly  bestir  ourselves  to  put 
it  to  death,  by  mortifying  its  members,  beating  down  and  weak- 
ening their  vigour,  driving  deep  into  them  our  Saviour's  nails 
and  thorns,  until  they  are  effectually  reduced  to  that  state  of 
death  to  which  they  were  condemned,  having  no  more  motion 
or  sentiment,  or  force,  or  life  at  all  in  us.  Behold,  my  bre- 
thren, the  thing  the  apostle  means  by  these  words,  "  mortify 
your  members."  To  utter  it  in  a  word,  he  would  have  us 
weaken  and  extinguish  the  vices  of  our  old  man,  and  put  them 
in  such  a  state  of  death,  that  they  shall  have  no  more  strength, 
nor  vigour,  nor  motion. 

But  as  this  holy  man's  whole  language  is  full  of  profound 
wisdom,  I  am  of  opinion  he  thus  speaks  to  give  a  further  blow 
to  those  seducers  whose  error  he  refuted  in  the  foregoing  chap- 
ter. These  men,  to  recommend  their  discipline,  declared  that 
they  did  not  spare  the  body  ;  that  they  had  no  regard  to  the 
satiating  of  the  flesh  ;  that  they  opposed  its  pleasures,  and  hum- 
bled and  mortified  it.  And  you  know  that,  at  this  very  day, 
this  is  the  language  of  those  votaries  who  make  Christianity  to 
consist  in  such  exercises.  They  speak  of  nothing  but  their 
mortifications.  Paul  therefore  here  corrects  the  vain  conceits 
of  this  error,  and  shows  us  what  true  mortification  is,  and  that 
it  is  worthy  of  the  study  and  exercise  of  the  faithful.  The 
members  of  the  old  man  he  instructs  us  to  mortify,  and  not 
those  of  the  body.  Its  vices,  its  fornication,  and  covetousness, 
and  pride,  we  must  quell  and  kill  with  blows,  not  our  body. 
And  as  one  of  the  prophets  said  to  the  superstitious  of  his  age, 
who  fasted,  and  afflicted  themselves,  and  rent  their  clothes, 
"Eend  your  heart,  and  not  your  garments,"  Joel  ii.  13  ;  in  the 
same  manner,  the  apostle  here  opposes  the  internal  mortifica- 
tion of  sins,  as  only  necessary  and  truly  worthy  of  a  christian, 
to  the  external  mortification  of  the  body,  to  which  error  did 
and  still  does  confine  itself.  For,  indeed,  to  what  purpose  is  it 
to  beat  a  man's  breast,  and  rend  his  back,  while  sin  in  the  mean 
time  reigns  in  his  heart?     To  what  purpose  is  it  to  afflict  the 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  473 

members  of  the  body,  while  the  members  of  the  old  man  are  left 
sound  and  whole — to  stretch  out  the  one  upon  the  ground,  and 
lie  in  ashes,  while  the  others  are  in  pleasure?  It  is  not  by  a 
haircloth  or  a  whip  that  vices  are  subdued.  These  things  in- 
convenience the  body,  but  surely  do  not  improve  the  soul. 
They  humble  the  outside  ;  they  hurt  not  within,  but  leave  the 
old  man  there  at  full  liberty,  with  his  thoughts  and  lusts.  And 
it  is  not  without  reason  the  apostle  informs  us  elsewhere,  that 
"  bodily  exercise  profiteth  little,"  1  Tim.  iv.  8.  Experience  has 
justified  his  words  ;  the  lives  of  those  who  addict  themselves 
to  such  exercises  being  no  better,  yea,  sometimes  worse,  than 
the  lives  of  others.  And  it  is  not  long  ago  since  truth  drew 
this  confession  from  the  pen  of  one  of  our  greatest  adversaries,* 
that  such  exercises  many  times  injure  men's  spiritual  advance- 
ment, because  of  a  secret  opinionativeness  and  pride  which  they 
beget  and  feed  in  some  spirits,  who  become  arrogant  and  haugh- 
ty, and  take  occasion  from  them  to  despise  those  who  lead  a 
more  moderate  life.  The  apostle  therefore  would  have  us,  in- 
stead of  these  childish  and  profitless  exercises,  to  lay  out  our 
labour  upon  the  mortifying  of  the  members  of  the  old  man, 
that  is,  our  vices. 

To  the  same  intent  I  refer  what  he  adds,  that  these  members 
"  are  upon  the  earth  ;"  which  is  worthy  of  observation,  what- 
ever way  you  consider  it.  For,  first,  these  vices  are  all  upon 
the  earth,  if  you  respect  either  their  rise,  or  their  business,  or, 
lastly,  their  end  and  desires.  It  is  clear  they  all  spring  out  of 
the  earth,  from  admiration  and  connection  with  earthly  things  ; 
they  all  creep  on  the  earth,  in  its  excrements  or  in  its  fruits, 
and  rise  no  higher  than  its  fumes  and  vapours  ;  wretchedly 
cleaving  to  these  sordid  vanities,  which  they  feel  to  fleet  away 
and  perish  in  their  hands  while  they  grasp  them  and  are  enjoy- 
ing them.  Where  is  covetousness  ?  Where  is  luxury  ?  Where 
is  gluttony  and  ambition  ?  For  what  do  they  seek  ?  What 
do  they  desire  ?  For  what  do  they  toil  themselves  ?  Surely 
you  plainly  see  that  the  earth  is  their  only  element;  that  the 
metal  which  the  one  desires,  and  the  flesh  which  the  other  longs 
for,  and  the  messes  which  the  third  breathes  after,  and  the  vani- 
ties which  are  the  passion  of  the  latter;  I  say,  you  plainly  see 
that  all  these  are  but  earth,  or  fruits  and  productions  of  the 
earth.  These  members  then  of  the  old  man  fasten  us  to  the  earth, 
and  not  the  members  of  this  body  ;  it  is  sin,  and  not  simply 
this  flesh.  For  as  to  our  body,  it  needs  but  little  for  its  preser- 
vation during  the  little  time  we  pass  here  below,  whereas  the  de- 
sires of  vice  are  infinite.  Whence  it  follows,  according  to  the 
apostle's  conception,  that  it  is  vice  we  are  to  mortify,  and  not  the 
body  ;  the  members  of  the  old  man,  and  not  those  of  the  body. 

*  The  Jesuit  Petavius,  1.  5.  c.  3,  De  la  Penit.  Publique. 


474  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXIV. 

Then  again,  if  you  consider  the  places  destined  to  be  the  abode 
of  both  natures,  you  will  further  see  that  the  members  of  the 
old  man,  that  is,  its  vices,  are  only  upon  the  earth.  There  they 
make  their  spoil  and  exercise  all  their  tyranny  ;  there  they  live, 
there  they  die,  there  they  rot,  unprofitably  consuming  them- 
selves in  their  own  wretched  filthiness.  They  have  no  place 
in  heaven,  where  enters  nothing  but  what  is  pure,  where  per- 
fect sanctity  lives  and  reigns  eternally,  crowned  with  immortal 
glory.  But  the  members  of  our  bodies,  which  superstition 
seizes  and  ridiculously  afSicts,  though  they  are  for  the  present 
on  the  earth,  and  have  need  of  its  elements,  yet  they  shall  not 
remain  there  always.  They  shall  be  one  day  lifted  up  into  the 
heavens,  and  enter  into  the  sanctuary  of  God,  and  live  on  his 
manna,  and  partake  of  the  fruits  of  the  celestial  tree  of  life. 

Knowing  now  the  meaning  of  this  exhortation  of  the  apostle, 
you  may  easily,  without  my  saying  any  thing  respecting  it, 
comprehend  the  connection  it  has  with  the  preceding  words, 
which  state  that  we  are  dead,  and  that  our  life  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God,  and  that  we  shall  one  day  appear  with  him  in 
glory.  For  since  we  are  dead  to  the  world,  and  called  to  the 
hope  and  the  fruition  of  a  heavenly  life,  which  is  hidden  on 
high  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  shall  be  one  day  manifested  and 
given  to  each  of  us  ;  who  sees  not  that  all  this  most  strictly 
obliges  us  to  draw  off  all  our  affections  from  the  earth,  and  to 
cut  all  the  ties  that  fasten  us  to  it  ?  that  is,  to  mortify  our 
members  which  are  on  the  earth,  all  the  vices  that  engage  us 
and  insnare  us  in  the  things  of  the  earth. 

It  remains  that  we  consider  the  vices  or  members,  of  the  old 
man,  which  the  apostle  particularly  names  and  expressly 
enjoins  us  to  mortify:  he  mentions  five  in  all  ;  "fornication, 
uncleanness,  inordinate  affection,  evil  concupiscence,  and  cov- 
etousness."  I  conceive  that  the  first  four  are  related  to  one 
and  the  same  head,  and  are  but  divers  branches  of  one  and  the 
same  stock,  namely,  luxury,  or  sensuality.  Fornication  is  the 
principal  species  of  them,  the  disorders  of  which  are  so  evident 
and  so  well  known,  that  no  one  can  be  ignorant  of  its  nature. 
Uncleanness  comprehends  all  the  filth  and  pollutions  which 
are  contrary  to  the  chastity  and  purity  of  our  bodies,  as  incests, 
violations,  and  those  other  abominable  furies  of  carnal  passions, 
which  transgress  even  the  laws  of  nature,  corrupt  as  it  is.  The 
word  which  we  have  translated  "inordinate  affection,"  signifies, 
literally,  perturbation,  or  passion,  in  the  original.  But  it  is 
frequently  used  to  express  the  passion  of  lubricity,  and  the 
filthy  disposition  of  a  voluptuous  and  effeminate  heart,  which 
easily  receives  the  impression  of  all  lascivious  objects,  and 
abandons  itself  to  this  kind  of  pleasures,  and  runs  after  and 
pours  forth  itself  in  a  manner  entirely  to  them.  Evil  concupi- 
scence, which  the  apostle  adds  in  the  fourth  place,  is  the  source 


CHAP.  III.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  475 

or  the  root  of  all  this  sort  of  vices.  For  though  concupiscence 
is  often  taken  in  general  for  all  irregular  appetites  and  desires, 
whatever  the  objects  are  to  which  they  are  unduly  carried  ;  yet 
it  sometimes  signifies  those  in  particular  which  respect  the 
pleasures  of  the  flesh,  and  we  often  use  the  word  concupiscence 
in  this  sense  in  common  language.  Nevertheless  I  grant  that 
in  this  place  it  may  be  taken  in  a  larger  extent,  as  importing 
inordinate  coveting  either  of  pleasures,  or  of  profits  and  riches; 
because  the  apostle  speaks  here  of  covetousness  also,  and  not 
of  sensuality  alone.  He  calls  this  evil  concupiscence  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  that  which,  keeping  within  its  just  bounds, 
desires  things  lawful  in  a  due  manner  and  measure. 

The  last  of  the  vices  here  touched  by  the  apostle  is  cove- 
tousness, a  vice  no  less  known  than  the  foregoing.  Only  the 
description  he  gives  it  is  remarkable,  in  saying,  "  covetous- 
ness, which  is  idolatry,"  This  title  surprises  us,  every  one 
well  knowing  that  idolatry  and  covetousness  are,  to  speak 
properly,  two  different  sins  :  the  first  directly  respecting  re- 
ligion and  the  service  of  the  Deity,  when  men  adore  a  thing 
which  is  not  the  true  God,  and  render  it  those  religious  hon- 
ours which  belong  to  none  but  God  ;  whereas  covetousness  is 
a  moral  sin,  which  consists  in  an  excessive  and  immoderate 
adhesion  to  the  goods  of  this  world,  makes  men  get  them  and 
possess  them  amiss,  and  contrary  to  the  laws  of  justice  and 
reason.  These  two  things  therefore  being  so  different,  why 
saith  Paul  that  covetousness  is  idolatry  ?  Dear  brethren,  I 
answer  that  he  was  in  no  wise  ignorant  of  this,  nor  did  he 
intend  in  this  place  to  confound  these  two  sins,  which  in  many 
other  places  he  most  expressly  discriminates  and  distinguishes  ; 
as  particularly  there,  where  making  a  list  of  the  principal 
sinners  who  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God,  he  sets 
down  the  idolater  and  the  covetous  severally,  and  each  of 
them  in  his  rank.  But  aiming  here,  in  passing,  to  brand  and 
blast  this  vice,  and  to  give  us  a  just  horror  of  it,  that  we 
might  not  account  it,  as  the  greater  part  of  men  do,  a  light 
matter,  and  a  lowness  and  weakness  of  spirit  rather  than  a 
crime  ;  he  qualifies  it  with  the  name  of  idolatry,  improperly, 
I  grant,  and  figuratively,  but  very  fitly  for  discovering  its 
venom  to  us.  And  it  is  not  here  alone  that  he  has  done  it. 
He  brands  this  vice  after  the  same  manner  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Ephesians,  chap.  v.  6,  where  speaking  of  the  covetous,  he 
adds  the  very  same  thing,  "  who  is  an  idolater."  "  Ye  know, 
that  no  whoremonger,  nor  unclean  person,  nor  covetous  man 
who  is  an  idolater,  hath  any  inheritance  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
and  of  God."  Now  this  proposition,  that  covetousness  is 
idolatry,  may  be  pertinently  explained  two  ways  :  first,  by 
taking  it  as  signifying  simply  that  it  is  an  abominable  thing. 
For  as  there  was  nothing  in  all  the  horrors  of  paganism  that 


176  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XXXIV* 

was  more  severely  prohibited  of  God,  or  more  hated  or  ab- 
horred among  the  Jews,  than  idolatry  ;  hence  they  gave  this 
name  to  everything  which  they  detested,  and  I  perceive  that 
even  to  this  day  this  form  of  expression  is  common  among 
them  ;  when  they  would  signify  that  a  thing  is  abominable, 
they  frequently  say  it  is  an  idol,  or  it  is  idolatry  ;  so  that  we 
need  not  wonder  if  Paul,  who  follows  the  idioms  and  terms 
of  the  Jews'  language,  has  said  here,  in  a  like  sense,  that  cove- 
tousness  is  idolatry,  to  signify  that  it  is  a  horrible  and  de- 
testable vice.  We  meet  with  a  similar  expression,  or  rather 
indeed  the  same,  1  Sam.  xv.  23,  when  the  prophet,  to  show 
Saul  how  great  the  iniquity  of  the  fault  he  had  committed 
was,  in  not  executing  punctually  that  which  God  had  com- 
manded him,  tells  him  that  "rebellion  is  as  the  sin  of  witch- 
craft, and  stubbornness  is  as  iniquity  and  idolatry."  There 
you  see,  by  the  names  of  the  most  abominable  sins,  v/itch- 
craft  and  idolatry,  he  signifies  the  heinousness  of  disobeying 
the  voice  of  God,  altogether  as  the  apostle  in  our  text  expres- 
ses the  atrociousness  of  avarice.  I  add  in  the  second  place, 
that  though  covetousness  be  not  properly  and  formally  idola- 
try, yet  it  has  so  much  resemblance  to  it,  that  there  is  scarcely 
any  other  sin  to  which  this  name  better  agrees.  The  idolater 
looks  on  his  idols  with  profound  veneration  ;  so  does  the 
covetous  on  his  goods  and  coin.  The  one  shuts  up  his  idols  ; 
so  the  other  does  his.  The  one  serves  an  image,  and  the 
other  gold  and  silver  ;  and  when  the  idol  is  of  either  of  these 
two  metals,  (as  they  frequently  are.)  they  both  serve  the  same 
thing,  with  this  difference  only,  that  the  idolater  serves  it  un- 
der one  form  and  one  way  figured,  the  covetous  under  another  ; 
the  one  offers  incense  and  sacrifices  to  his  idol,  the  other  im- 
molates his  heart  and  affections  to  his.  Add  hereto,  that  the 
covetous  bears  more  love  to  the  objects  of  his  passion,  and 
renders  them  more  service,  than  he  does  to  God  ;  he  puts  his 
hope  in  gold,  and  saith  to  fine  gold,  "  Thou  art  my  confi- 
dence." And  if  you  thoroughly  examine  his  life,  you  will  find 
that  he  serves  none  but  mammon.  Mammon  is  then  his  god  ; 
after  the  same  manner  as  the  apostle  says  elsewhere,  that  the 
belly  is  the  god  of  voluptuous  men  :  hence  it  follows  that  it 
cannot  be  denied  but  that  he  also  is  an  idolater. 

In  fine,  there  are  two  things  here  to  be  observed.  The  first 
is,  that  under  the  names  of  these  five  vices,  fornication,  un- 
clean ness,  inordinate  affection,  evil  concupiscence,  and  covet- 
ousness, the  apostle  signifies  not  merely  the  acts  of  these  sins, 
which  are  also  commonly  called  by  the  same  names,  but  pro- 
perly and  precisely  the  internal  habits  of  them,  as  seated  in 
the  soul.  For  the}"-  properly  are  the  members  of  the  old  man  ; 
the  acts  are  but  his  effects  and  operations.  His  meaning, 
therefore,  is,  that  we  cut  them  up  to  the  very  root  ;  that  we 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   C0L0SSIAN9.  477 

not  only  abstain  from  those  vile  actions  to  which  they  sway 
such  as  they  possess,  but  that  we  mortify  and  extinguish  them, 
to  the  end  that  these  accursed  sources  of  evil  being  once  dried 
up,  our  life  may  remain  pure  and  clean  from  all  their  filth. 
The  other  thing  is,  that  we  must  not  fancy  the  apostle  meant 
to  make  here  an  exact  enumeration  of  all  the  vices  of  the  old 
man.  He  gives  us  but  a  small  scantling  of  them,  intending 
we  should  likewise  mortify  all  the  rest,  as  gluttony,  drunken- 
ness, and  the  like.  For  it  would  be  no  benefit  to  us  to  have 
cut  off  one  of  his  members,  if  we  let  him  live  in  respect  of 
others.  His  life  is  our  death,  and  while  he  preserves  it  whole 
in  any  of  his  parts  we  cannot  be  in  safety.  Let  us  labour, 
therefore,  to  extinguish  it  all.  Eradicate  all  its  lusts  ;  repress 
all  its  stirrings  ;  and  smother  all  its  sentiments.  Let  us  make 
a  deadly  and  irreconcilable  war  upon  this  whole  brood  of  mon- 
sters. Spare  we  not  any  one  of  them.  Let  us  exterminate 
them  all  as  an  anathema.  Treating  them  as  the  ancient  Israel- 
ites sometimes  did  the  accursed  nations  of  Canaan,  and  as  the 
psalmist  would  have  the  little  children  of  Babylon  treated,  de- 
siring they  might  be  dashed  against  the  stones,  Psal,  cxxxvii. 
9.  It  is  in  this  case  only  that  cruelty  is  laudable,  and  that  a 
man  may  lay  aside  pity  without  blame.  He  that  hath  pity  on 
the  members  of  his  old  man  is  cruel  to  himself;  to  spare  them 
is  to  destroy  oneself,  and  to  preserve  them  is  to  betray  our  own 
salvation. 

This,  then,  my  brethren,  is  the  mortification  which  the  apos- 
tle requires  of  us.  Neither  he  nor  any  other  of  the  ministers 
of  Jesus  Christ  anywhere  enjoins  us  to  wear  haircloth,  or  to 
disfigure  our  countenances  with  a  multitude  of  fasts  and  watch- 
ings,  or  to  go  barefoot,  or  to  put  on  a  cowl,  or  renounce  the 
use  of  any  of  the  meats  which  God  has  created  for  our  ser- 
vice ;  much  less  to  cover  ourselves  with  filth,  or  to  gore  our- 
selves all  over  with  flagellations.  God  will  one  day  say  to 
those  that  amuse  themselves  in  such  mortifications,  "  Who 
hath  required  this  at  your  hands  ?"  Isa.  i.  12  ;  and,  why  have 
ye  suffered  so  much  in  vain?  Gal.  iii.  4.  The  only  mortifica- 
tion he  demands  of  us  is  that  of  the  old  man  ;  that  we  beat 
down  our  vices,  and  not  that  we  rend  our  bodies  ;  that  we  de- 
face our  passions  and  not  our  countenances  ;  that  we  renounce 
our  lusts,  and  not  his  gifts  ;  that  we  give  the  discipline  to  our 
manners,  and  not  to  our  shoulders.  As  for  ourselves,  my  bre- 
thren, I  acknowledge  that  we  have  renounced  the  mortification 
of  the  superstitious  ;  the  misery  is,  we  do  not  practise  that 
which  was  our  Saviour's,  though  without  it  no  man  can  have 
part  in  him  or  his  kingdom  ;  as  the  apostle  intimates  plainly 
enough  here,  where  he  does  not  own  any  person  for  a  member 
of  Christ  risen,  who  is  not  dead  ;  and  elsewhere  he  affirms  in 
express  terms,  that  "  they  that  are  Christ's  have  crucified  the 


47^  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XXXIV. 

flesh  with  the  affections  and  lusts,"  Gal.  v.  24.  We  amuse  not 
ourselves  in  bodily  exercise.  No  ;  but  do  we  more  heed  that 
of  the  Spirit  ?  We  spare  our  hearts  no  less  than  our  bodies, 
and  do  not  treat  the  vices  of  the  one  any  whit  more  roughly 
than  the  skin  of  the  other.  Men  see  sufficiently  by  the  actions 
of  our  lives  that  the  members  of  this  old  man,  whom  the  cross 
of  Christ  has  condemned  to  death,  remaining  very  far  from 
dead,  are  scarce  wounded  in  us  ;  that  they  are  not  so  much  as 
scratched  ;  that  they  live  in  us  in  their  full  strength  and  vi- 
gour, and  no  more  feel  our  Saviour's  nails  and  thorns  than  if 
he  had  not  died,  or  we  had  not  believed  in  him  at  all.  Our 
adversaries  seek  how  to  charge  it  home  upon  us,  and  it  is  the 
only  one  of  their  arguments  that  puts  us  to  confusion.  We 
easily  answer  all  their  other  reproaches.  There  are  none  but 
this  wherein  our  consciences  force  us  to  separate  the  cause  of 
Jesus  Christ  and  of  his  gospel  from  our  own.  For  if  his  truth 
were  to  be  judged  of  by  the  quality  of  our  deportment,  who 
could  defend  it,  seeing  the  horrible  disorder  that  generally  ap- 
pears in  our  lives  ?  Let  us  consider  only  the  two  articles  here 
touched  by  the  apostle,  unchastity  and  avarice.  In  conscience, 
is  the  one  and  the  other  of  these  two  passions  dead  among  us? 
Have  they  not  as  great  a  vogue  as  among  the  men  of  the 
world  ?  Are  the  modesty  of  youth,  the  honesty  of  marriage, 
chastity  and  temperance,  better  practised  here  than  elsewhere  ? 
Do  the  sordidness  and  eagerness  of  avarice  less  appear  ?  Ve- 
rily, (I  am  extremely  ashamed  to  say  it,)  all  is  alike,  except 
that  those  without  confess,  and  chastise  themselves,  and  mace- 
rate their  flesh  with  some  kind  of  fasts,  and  say  their  chaplet  ; 
whereby,  at  least,  they  show  some  sense  of  their  guilt,  though 
they  apply  ineffectual  and  ridiculous  remedies  to  it.  Whereas 
we,  after  committing  the  same  faults,  and  dabbling  in  the  same 
filth,  come  to  present  ourselves  impudently  here,  without  fear- 
ing God  or  having  shame  of  men.  And  if  the  voice  of  the 
Lord,  that  resounds  in  this  place,  draw  some  sigh  from  us  at 
our  going  hence,  we  return  every  one  to  our  vices  as  pleasant 
and  as  obstinate  as  ever. 

God  is  so  good  that  he  has  hitherto  waited  for  our  repent- 
ing. But  let  us  beware  lest  our  obdurateness  change  his  pa- 
tience into  fury,  and  constrain  him  in  the  end  to  punish  such 
a  refractory  contempt  of  his  word  and  his  favours,  and  avenge 
the  affront  we  show  his  gospel,  by  living  so  ill  in  such  clear 
and  divine  light.  Let  us  all  descend  into  ourselves.  Let  us 
examine  our  carriage  and  our  consciences.  Let  each  one  in- 
terrogate himself:  Come,  my  soul,  after  so  many  months  and 
years  that  Jesus  Christ  has  so  carefully  instructed  thee,  what 
pains  hast  thou  taken  to  conform  thyself  to  him,  and  to  im- 
print the  image  of  his  death  and  of  his  life  upon  thy  beha- 
viour?    Hast  thou  nailed  thine  old  man  to  his  cross  ?     Hast 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS,  479 

thou  mortified  his  members  ?  Hast  thou  deprived  them  of 
that  wretched  vigour  which  they  display  with  so  much  effi- 
cacy in  the  children  of  disobedience  ?  Do  they  leave  thee  at 
rest?  or,  when  they  begin  to  trouble  thee,  hast  thou  the  cou- 
rage to  resist  them  ?  Does  not  avarice  stretch  out  thine  hand 
upon  the  goods  of  others  ?  or  does  it  not  restrain  thee  from 
imparting  of  thine  own  to  the  poor  ?  Hast  thou  not  felt  its 
vain  solicitudes  and  fruitless  melancholies — its  insatiable  cu- 
pidity and  unbridled  eagerness — and  that  impudence  it  has  to 
despise  and  violate  honesty,  laws,  and  decency,  for  the  satisfy- 
ing its  inordinate  desires  ?  But  if  avarice  has  not  importuned 
thee,  tell  me,  my  soul,  has  not  the  lust  of  the  eyes  and  the 
vanity  of  the  flesh  at  one  time  or  other  insnared  thee?  Has 
not  this  traitorous  Delilah  lulled  thee  asleep  ?  Hast  thou 
guarded  the  glory  of  a  Nazarene  to  which  God  has  consecra- 
ted thee  from  her  ambushments?  Brethren,  let  us  catechize 
our  souls  daily,  and  about  our  other  duties  as  well  as  these. 
Let  us  not  pardon  them  anything.  Let  us  judge  them  right- 
eously, and  with  inexorable  severity;  chastise  them  for  all 
their  faults  ;  and,  bringing  them  down  at  the  feet  of  God,  make 
them  weep  and  groan  in  his  presence.  Let  us  reproach  them 
with  their  ingratitude,  and  set  before  their  eyes  the  benefits 
of  God,  and  the  offences  with  which  they  have  recompensed 
him.  Let  us  denounce  also  his  judgments  on  them,  and  the 
horror  of  his  dreadful  vengeance  ;  and  not  give  them  over  until 
they  have  taken  a  full  and  firm  resolution  to  return  no  more 
to  their  ingratitude.  Above  all,  dear  brethren,  let  us  make 
them  hate  and  detest  those  two  pests  which  the  apostle  has  to- 
day so  solemnly  condemned  to  die,  namely,  luxury  and  covet- 
ousness.  Let  us  execute  his  just  sentence  upon  these  two  pas- 
sions, and  cause  them  to  suffer  that  death  which  they  so  many 
ways  deserve.  For,  as  to  the  first,  it  impudently  profanes  a 
body  which  belongs  to  Jesus  Christ,  was  redeemed  by  his 
blood,  washed  with  his  heavenly  water,  fed  with  his  flesh,  and 
consecrated  by  his  Spirit  : — rends  it  from  the  communion  of 
that  divine  body,  of  which  it  is  become  a  member,  to  change 
it  into  one  of  the  members  of  Satan  : — bereaves  it  of  its  glory, 
and  despoils  it  of  its  greatest  honour  ;  and  drawing  it  out  of 
heaven,  whither  God  had  called  it,  drags  it  into  hell.  I  know 
well  that  men  of  the  world  flatter  themselves,  and  extenuate 
this  sin.  And  I  am  not  ignorant  that  there  are  persons  among 
ourselves  who  suffer  themselves  to  be  corrupted  by  these 
shameless  sayings  of  the  world.  But  why  do  we  call  ourselves 
christians,  if  we  prefer  the  sentiments  of  the  world,  or  of  our 
own  flesh,  before  the  judgment  of  God  ?  Paul,  besides  what 
he  says  of  it  here,  protests  aloud  elsewhere,  having  spoken  of 
adultery,  fornication,  and  uncleanness,  that  "  they  who  com- 
mit such  things  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God,"  Gal.  v. 


480  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXIV. 

21  ;  and  again,  more  formallv,  elsewhere,  "  Be  not  deceived  ; 
neither  fornicators,  nor  adulterers,  nor  the  effeminate,  shall  in- 
herit the  kingdom  of  God,"  1  Cor.  vi.  9,  10.  Eenounce  either 
Paul,  or  this  error  of  the  world.  If  you  persist  in  it,  the 
apostle  declares  to  you  that  you  deceive  yourselves  ;  that  is 
to  say,  instead  of  heaven,  which  you  in  vain  hope  for  while 
you  continue  in  this  evil  way,  you  shall  in  the  end  have  hell 
for  your  portion,  in  the  communion  of  devils,  whose  unclean- 
ness  you  love  more  than  the  purity  of  Jesus  Christ  and  of  his 
saints.  Neither  may  you  plead  to  us  the  furiousness  of  this 
passion.  God  has  provided  for  it,  giving  you  an  honest  and 
a  lawful  remedy  of  it,  namely,  marriage.  Why  do  ye  not 
use  it?  But  the  love  of  libertinism,  and  the  fear  of  an  ima- 
ginary yoke,  and  an  ambitious  humour,  withhold  most  men 
from  adopting  it  ;  who  would  willingly  say,  what  the  doctors 
of  Rome  have  not  been  ashamed  to  write  concerning  their 
priests,  that  marriage  is  a  greater  sin  for  them  than  fornica- 
tion ;  whereby  they  sufficiently  declare  what  opinion  they  have 
of  this  filth,  since  they  prefer  it  before  a  thing  which  they 
rank  among  the  sacraments.  But  the  Epicureans  among  pa- 
gans, and  monks  among  christians,  have  cried  down  marriage 
as  much  as  they  could,  through  a  marvellous  artifice  of  the 
enemy  of  our  salvation,  who  rightly  judged  that  by  this  per- 
nicious doctrine  he  should  involve  a  multitude  of  people 
in  the  villanies  of  luxury,  and  consequently  in  damnation. 
But  if  this  vice  be  pernicious,  the  other,  which  Paul  con- 
demns here,  is  no  less  so.  And  his  not  being  able  to  name 
it  without  giving  it  the  title  of  idolatry  evidently  shows  you 
what  indeed  it  is.  Ye  covetous,  let  this  thunderbolt  break 
the  charms  of  your  illusion.  Judge  what  a  vice  yours  is, 
since  the  apostle  calls  it  idolatry  ;  and  thereupon  conceiving 
a  just  horror  at  it,  renounce  it  for  ever,  and  all  those  low 
thoughts  in  which  it  occupies  you,  to  become  henceforth 
liberal,  charitable,  beneficent,  communicative,  rich  in  good 
works.  Instead  of  these  perishing  goods,  which  are  ex- 
posed to  the  hands  of  men  and  the  injuries  of  nature,  la- 
bour to  treasure  up  a  foundation  for  the  time  to  come,  and 
to  get  together  on  high  in  the  heavens  those  true  and  im- 
mortal riches  which  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of  eternity, 
there  keeps  for  us,  and  will  one  day  give  us,  to  enjoy  the 
same  for  ever  in  supreme  glory  with  himself  and  all  his 
saints.     So  be  it. 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  481 

SERMON  XXXV. 

VERSES   6,  7. 

For  which  things'  sake  the  ivrath  of  God  cometh  on  the  children  of 
disobedience  :  in  the  which  ye  also  walked  some  time,  when  ye 
lived  in  them. 

Dear  brethren,  if  men  had  as  great  a  measure  of  understand- 
ing and  generosity  as  virtue  has  of  beauty  and  attractiveness, 
nothing  more  would  be  required  to  induce  them  to  love  it  and 
embrace  it  than  exhibiting  to  them  its  image.  This  admirable 
object  would  quickly  ravish  their  hearts,  and  in  an  instant- 
kindle  in  them  a  sweet  and  everlasting  flame  of  love,  which 
would  govern  all  the  motives  and  sentiments  of  their  lives; 
and  consuming  in  a  short  time  the  vices  and  the  foolish  or  un- 
just passions  of  their  nature,  fill  their  deportment  with  piety, 
honesty,  and  charity.  One  of  those  ancient  sages  of  the  world, 
whom  they  call  philosophers,  rightly  acknowledged  this  truth, 
notwithstanding  the  darkness  of  his  paganism,  and  said  that 
if  we  could  see  virtue  naked,  that  is,  as  it  is  in  itself,  it  would 
inflame  our  souls  with  a  marvellous  love  to  it.  For,  indeed, 
what  is  there  fairer  and  more  amiable  than  virtue  ?  the  true 
and  lively  image  of  God,  the  supreme  beauty  of  all  beauties, 
the  resemblance  of  angels,  the  fairest  of  all  creatures,  the  only 
jewel  of  reasonable  nature,  the  light  of  our  souls,  the  ornament 
of  our  bodies,  the  advantage  of  our  being  above  that  of  animals, 
the  end  and  utmost  perfection  of  the  world,  its  just  and  legiti- 
mate governess,  this  vast  universe  having  not  been  made  and 
formed,  but  that  she  might  happily  possess  it,  governing  and 
keeping  it  under  her  holy  and  divine  laws!  She  sets  all  our 
affections  in  their  true  position,  bowing  them  under  the  Crea- 
tor, and  raising  them  above  the  creature.  She  reduces  all  the 
faculties  of  our  nature  to  their  just  symmetry,  subjecting  our 
passions  to  the  will,  and  our  will  to  reason.  Resting  content 
with  the  love  of  God,  and  the  hope  of  his  glory,  she  covers  no 
unjust  thing,  and  wrongs  no  person,  no,  not  in  desire  and 
thought;  but  loves  and  obliges  all  men  as  much  as  she  can, 
and  sheds  abroad  continually  upon  them  the  sweet  and  inno- 
cent rays  of  her  excellent  light  ;  remaining  always  holy,  just, 
and  honest  without,  always  calm,  peaceable,  and  happy  within. 

Who  could  look  upon  a  thing  so  beautiful  without  loving 
it  ?  Accordingly  you  may  observe,  that  where  there  appears 
at  any  height,  for  instance,  upon  the  throne  of  a  nation,  some 
image  of  it,  though  not  fully  to  the  life,  nor  complete,  and 
everywav  entire,  but  onl}»-  rudely  drawn,  and  in  many  respects 
61  " 


482  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXXV. 

imperfect,  yet  it  fails  not  immediately  to  attract  tbe  eyes  and 
hearts  of  the  world.  It  proves  the  love  and  joy  of  the  present 
generation,  and  the  admiration  of  all  posterity.  Men  bless  it; 
heaven  and  earth  delight  in  it  ;  and  the  age  that  produced  it  is 
glorious  by  it  ;  one  single  example  of  this  nature  being  suffi- 
cient to  adorn  a  whole  country,  and  render  the  time  in  which 
it  flourished  for  ever  illustrious.  What  then  would  our  delight 
be,  if  we  beheld  its  true  and  accomplished  image  in  all  its  lively 
colours,  without  defect,  and  without  imperfection  ?  It  is  true, 
God  has  portrayed  it  indeed  to  the  life  in  the  tables  of  his 
Scriptures  ;  but  the  eyes  of  our  souls  are  so  dim,  that  we  com- 
prehend it  only  very  imperfectly  ;  and  again,  our  sordidness 
and  wretchedness  are  so  extreme,  that  commonly  we  do  not 
love  things  according  to  their  inherent  beauty  and  honesty, 
but  according  to  the  profit  they  afford  us  ;  and  hate  things 
not  so  much  for  their  deformity  and  natural  odiousness,  as 
for  the  injury  they  may  inflict  upon  us.  This  ignorance  and 
mercenary  humour,  common  to  all  men,  is  a  cause  why  our 
Saviour  contents  not  himself  with  proposing  to  us  the  beauty 
pf  holiness,  and  the  deformity  and  disorder  of  sin,  which  is 
the  proper  mode  of  dealing  with  reasonable  creatures  ;  but 
accommodating  himself  to  our  infirmity,  he  incessantly  sets 
before  our  eyes  the  good  and  evil  which  will  redound  to  us 
from  holiness  and  from  sin,  as  we  shall  addict  ourselves  to 
the  one  or  the  other.  He  represents  to  us,  on  one  hand,  the 
happiness  to  which  the  saints  are  advanced  who  obey  his  will  ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  dreadful  torments  into  which  vice 
assuredly  precipitates  the  wicked.  And  though  his  Spirit  in 
part  cures  this  ignorance  and  sordid  disposition  in  as  many 
as  he  regenerates,  yet  while  we  are  on  earth  some  relics  of 
them  remain  in  us.  Hence  he  forbears  not  to  use  this  method 
even  with  the  faithful  themselves. 

You  have  a  remarkable  instance  of  it  in  the  lesson  of  the 
apostle  upon  which  we  are  now  commenting.  Having  exhor- 
ted us  to  mortify  our  members  which  are  upon  the  earth,  that 
is,  to  renounce  the  defilements  of  luxury  and  avarice,  to  in- 
cline us  to  so  just  a  duty,  he  represents  to  us  in  the  text  the 
judgments  of  God  upon  the  obstinate  slaves  of  these  vices  ; 
they  are  things,  says  he,  "  for  which  the  wrath  of  God  com- 
Mh  on  the  children  of  disobedience."  He  comprises  in  these 
few  words  the  fearful  and  inevitable,  but  just,  judgment  of 
Heaven  upon  all  those  who,  despising  its  goodness,  abandon 
themselves  to  the  one  or  the  other  of  these  vices.  And  then, 
in  the  following  verse,  he  sets  before  our  eyes,  for  the  same 
purpose,  the  misery  of  our  past  life,  which,  as  the  life  of  chil- 
dren of  rebellion,  was  sunk  in  the  turpitude  of  these  sins, 
and  what  infinite  kindness  God  has  shown  us  in  drawing  us 
from  them  ;  in  which  things,  says  he,  "  ye  also  walked  some 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  483 

time,  wben  ye  lived  in  them."  He  does  this  to  the  end,  that 
being  seized  with  a  just  horror  at  our  former  state,  and  rav- 
ished with  the  sense  of  our  present  happiness,  we  might 
heartily  renounce  the  service  of  our  former  masters,  and  Jive 
henceforth  in  that  purity,  honesty,  and  charity  to  which  this 
new  Lord  calls  us,  who  has  vouchsafed  to  take  us  to  himself, 
and  to  shed  into  us  a  new  life  and  nature,  as  distant  from  our 
former  one  as  heaven  is  from  the  earth.  Now,  as  these  are 
the  two  reasons  which  Paul  urges  for  withdrawing  us  from 
those  two  principal  vices  of  the  profane  ;  so  shall  they  be, 
by  the  will  of  God,  the  two  parts  of  this  sermon.  In  the  first, 
we  will  consider  the  judgments  of  God  upon  obstinate  adulter- 
ers and  covetous  persons  ;  and  in  the  second,  the  misery  of 
our  former  condition,  when  we  lived  in  these  vices,  and  could 
expect  nothing  in  the  sequel  but  the  same  effects  of  the  wrath 
of  God  upon  us.  The  Lord  Jesus  be  pleased  so  to  accompany 
our  words  with  the  virtue  of  his  blessing,  that  those  whom 
the  loathsomeness,  injustice,  and  horror  of  these  vices  have 
not  been  able  to  alarm,  may  now  at  least  be  plucked  from  them 
by  the  fear  and  terror  of  those  dreadful  judgments  of  Hea- 
ven, which  are  unavoidably  prepared  for  all  the  children  of 
rebellion. 

I.  The  first  part  is  expressed  in  these  words,  that  "  for  these 
things  the  wrath  of  God  cometh  on  the  children  of  disobe- 
dience." I  will  not  stay  to  inform  you  that,  to  speak  ac- 
curately, wrath  has  no  place  in  the  divine  nature.  For  who 
among  you  does  not  know  that  God  is  a  Spirit  most  pure, 
most  simple,  and  most  blessed,  enjoying  an  infinite  calm  and 
tranquillity  ;  whose  knowledge  can  never  be  surprised  nor 
felicity  disturbed,  as  we  learn  from  Scripture,  and  even  from 
reason  ?  Now  wrath,  and  such  passions,  consist  in  the  agita- 
tion and  emotion  of  the  blood  and  spirits  which  stir  them  ; 
being  variously  caused  in  us  by  our  imagination,  as  the  ob- 
jects which  it  conceives  are  troublesome  or  satisfactory,  present 
or  future  ;  the  one  producing  in  us  sorrow,  the  other  joy  ; 
some  fear,  and  others  hope  ;  those  of  one  sort  wrath,  those  of 
another  contentment  or  complacency.  None  of  this,  you 
perceive,  can  happen  but  where  there  is  some  mixture  of 
humours  and  spirits,  which,  as  they  do  not  exist  in  God 
whose  essence  is  most  simple,  it  is  impossible  that  any  of 
these  passions  should  agitate  him,  and  least  of  all  wrath,  which 
is  one  of  the  most  troubling  and  boiling  of  them  all.  But  the 
Scripture,  which  addresses  us  in  the  dialect  of  children,  often 
attributes  these  passions  to  God  figuratively,  to  represent  thus 
grossly  the  mysteries  of  his  nature  by  the  images  of  those 
things  which  are  familiar  with  us,  because  they  belong  prop- 
erly to  our  nature.  Thus  we  must  understand  that  which  it 
calls  the  wrath  of  God.     For  it  signifies  by  this  term,  not  the 


484  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SE  EM.  XXXV. 

perturbation  of  an  agitated  spirit,  which  cannot  be  in  God, 
because  of  the  sovereign  perfection  of  his  nature,  but  a  just 
and  reasonable  will  to  punish  the  person  that  deserves  it.  This 
it  terms  wrath,  by  reason  of  some  resemblance  that  appears 
between  these  two  things.  For  a  man  who  is  in  wrath  eagerly 
desires  to  avenge  himself  upon  the  person  who  troubles  him  ; 
and  if  it  be  in  his  power,  he  does  it  by  causing  him  displea- 
sure and  afflicting  him.  So  God  treats  those  who  violate  his 
laws  ;  he  makes  them  suffer  evil,  and  punishes  or  chastises 
them  according  to  their  deserts.  But  he  does  it  without  any 
perturbation,  with  a  calm  and  composed  will  ;  whereas  a  man 
in  wrath  does  it  with  emotion.  And  because  we  seldom  act 
otherwise,  there  being  few  that  avenge  themselves  without 
some  trouble  and  rising  of  anger,  it  seems  to  us  that  it  is  the 
same  with  the  Lord.  Wherefore  we  say  he  is  angry  when  he 
avenges  his  laws  and  punishes  the  crimes  of  his  creatures, 
though,  in  reality,  there  is  nothing  in  his  action  but  the  pur- 
pose and  effect  of  an  avengement,  and  not  the  disturbance  of 
any  passion.  Hence  it  happens  that  the  Scripture  also  speaks 
in  a  similar  manner,  frequently  attributing  wrath  in  this  sense 
to  God.  And  if  you  closely  regard  it,  you  will  find  that  it 
gives  this  name  either  to  the  will  which  God  has  to  punish 
men,  the  arrest  and  order  which  he  passes  for  it  ;  or  to  the  ef- 
fects themselves  that  follow  his  will,  that  is,  the  punishments 
he  makes  culpable  persons  suffer  by  his  order.  It  is  in  this 
second  sense  the  apostle  intends  it  here,  when  he  says  that 
"  the  wrath  of  God  cometh  on  the  children  of  disobedience  ;" 
the  wrath,  that  is,  the  judgments,  evils,  and  executions  of  God, 
with  which  he  punishes  their  rebellion  according  to  the  de- 
crees of  his  avenging  justice.  He  speaks  in  the  same  manner 
elsewhere,  when  he  says  that  "  the  wrath  of  God  is  revealed 
from  heaven  against  all  ungodliness  and  unrighteousness  of 
men,  who  hold  the  truth  in  unrighteousness,"  Rom.  i.  18. 

The  expression,  "  the  wrath  of  God  cometh,^''  some  refer  to  the 
judgments  which  he  frequently  executes  upon  the  voluptuous 
and  covetous  in  this  world  ;  as  if  he  had  said  that  for  these 
vices  God  has  been  accustomed  to  inflict  his  avenging  strokes 
upon  men.  Others  understand  it  of  the  punishment  he  will 
award  them  at  the  last  day;  and,  indeed,  the  Scripture  frequently 
so  speaks  of  that  great  judgment,  and  the  things  which  shall  be 
done  in  it,  saying  that  it  cometh  ;  elegantly  signifying  by  that 
word  the  certainty  and  infallible  coming  of  a  thing  which,  it 
is  true,  as  yet  is  not,  but  will  not  fail  to  be  ;  as  if  it  were  a 
person  who  travelled,  and  was  already  on  the  way  to  the  place 
where  he  would  arrive.  But  I  conceive  the  apostle  encloses 
within  this  word  the  execution  of  both  those  kinds  of  judg- 
ments, signifying  by  it  those  great  and  dreadful  torments  into 
which  God  will  plunge  the  wicked  on  the  day  of  his  anger, 


CHAP.  III.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  485 

which  will  be  the  last  efifect  of  his  wrath  against  sin,  and  also 
all  the  chastenings  wherewith  he  scourges  them  in  this  life, 
which  are,  as  it  were,  the  first-fruits  of  his  wrath,  and  so  many 
samples  and  forerunners  of  his  final  vengeance.  Paul  com- 
prises all  this  in  his  saying  that  "the  wrath  of  God  cometh." 
But  this  form  of  speech,  that  the  wrath  of  God  cometh  upon 
men,  is  graceful  and  eximious,  importing  that  the  evils  which 
arrive  on  earth  do  not  happen  at  adventure,  nor  spring  out  of 
the  earth  itself,  and  their  inferior  causes  simply,  but  issue  from 
another  source,  namely,  from  heaven,  which  pours  them  down 
here  below,  as  a  storm  or  deluge,  for  inevitably  enveloping  and 
overwhelming  those  for  whom  they  are  appointed.  They  set 
forth  from  heaven,  they  travel  towards  us,  and  fall  in  the  end 
upon  the  heads  of  evil-doers,  by  the  order  of  the  Most  High, 
who  marks  out  the  whole  course  they  are  to  take,  and  dispenses 
them  with  the  same  judgment  that  he  does  thunders,  and  tem- 
pests, and  rains,  which  come  upon  us  from  on  high  by  the 
guidance  of  his  providence.  And  as  you  see,  for  the  most  part, 
in  the  works  of  nature,  that  these  meteors  do  not  come  on  a 
sudden,  but  after  some  signs  which  precede  and  presage  their 
approach  ;  in  like  manner  it  is  ordinarily  with  the  judgments 
of  God.  The  thunder  of  his  wrath,  as  well  as  that  of  nature, 
roars  before  it  falls.  God  threatens  the  guilty  before  he  strikes 
them,  and  almost  always  sends  men  some  warnings,  which  are 
as  couriers  and  harbingers  of  his  wrath,  to  prepare  them,  that 
they  may  either  divert  it,  by  preventing  it  through  their  repent- 
ance, or  receive  it  to  remain  with  them.  Thus,  in  Matthew, 
chap,  xxiv.,  our  Lord  and  Saviour  predicts  that  the  last  judg- 
ment should  be  preceded  by  many  great  and  terrible  signs,  for 
daunting  the  ferocity  of  sinners,  and  reducing  them,  if  possible, 
to  repentance;  and  in  the  same  place  he  describes  the  prog- 
nostics of  that  dreadful  vengeance  which  God  was  soon  after 
to  pour  upon  Jerusalem,  and  the  whole  nation  of  the  Jews  ; 
and  which  failed  not  shortly  to  arrive  punctually  as  he  had 
foretold.  He  observes  the  same  order  still  in  bis  chastising 
families  and  nations  ;  scarcely  ever  involving  them  in  any  cal- 
amity but  he  warns  them  of  its  coming  before  he  executes  it  ; 
which  may  be  remarked,  among  others,  in  those  horrible  scourges 
which  have  made  havoc  in  Christendom  for  these  eight  and 
twenty  or  thirty  years. 

But  the  apostle  adds  who  they  are  upon  whom  the  wrath  of 
God  comes,  "  upon  the  children  of  disobedience."  It  is  a  He- 
brew form  of  speech,  familiar  in  the  Scriptures  of  both  Testa- 
ments, to  call  that  man  the  child  of  a  thing  who  is  addicted  to 
it,  and  has  in  him  the  impression  and  tincture  of  it  ;  as  they 
call  antichrist  the  son  of  perdition  ;  that  is  to  say,  a  lost  man, 
one  devoted  and  abandoned  to  perdition,  who  destroys  himself 
in  destroying  others.     And  the  Grecians,  whose  language  is 


48Ô  AN  EXPOSITION  OP  [SERM.  XXXVi 

extremely  polished  and  perfectly  well  formed,  have  not,  how- 
ever, disdained  this  form  of  expression,  using  often,  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Grecians,  to  signify  Greeks  themselves,  and,  the 
children  of  physicians,  for  physicians.  In  like  manner  here, 
these  children  of  rebellion,  of  whom  the  apostle  speaks,  are  the 
rebellious;  such  as  disobey  the  will  of  God  and  his  warnings, 
fiercely  despise  his  counsel  ;  those  who,  as  Peter  says,  stumble 
at  the  word  ;  who,  whatever  care  God  takes  to  declare  his  holy 
will  to  them,  and  to  call  them  to  repentance,  will  not  hearken, 
but  obstinately  settle  and  harden  themselves  in  their  sins  ;  by 
which  they  render  themselves  guilty  of  two  heinous  faults,  un- 
belief and  disobedience.  For  they  reject  the  testimony  of  God, 
and  esteem  it  a  fable  ;  sometimes  even  openly  mocking  it,  which 
is  a  horrible  outrage  against  the  truth  of  God,  Then  next 
they  disobey  his  voice,  confirming  themselves  in  doing  what 
he  forbids  them,  and  in  neglecting  what  he  commands  them. 
Such  were  those  profane  persons  before  the  flood,  who  stub- 
bornly despising  the  preaching  of  Noah,  the  herald  of  right- 
eousness, continued  impudently  in  the  track  of  their  corrupt 
ways  ;  taking  no  heed  to  the  admonitions  of  God  and  his  ser- 
vant. And  Peter,  by  reason  of  this  insolent  contempt,  terms 
them  "disobedient,"  or  unbelieving,  1  Pet.  iii.  20.  They  did 
eat,  saith  our  Saviour,  they  drank,  they  married,  and  gave  in 
marriage,  and  perceived  not  the  flood,  until  it  came  and  bore 
them  all  away.  Afterward  the  people  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah 
did  as  much  ;  who  treated  the  holy  and  humble  remonstrance 
of  God's  servant  Lot  to  think  on  themselves,  and  the  notice  he 
gave  them  of  the  destruction  of  their  cities,  as  raillery  or  frenzy, 
Gen.  xix.  14.  They  remained  obstinate  in  this  profane  security, 
until  a  deluge  of  fire  and  brimstone,  pouring  in  a  moment  out 
of  heaven  upon  them,  and  upon  their  abominable  country,  forced 
those  dreams  of  their  incredulity  out  of  their  heads,  and  taught 
them  that  there  is  nothing  more  true  than  the  word  of  God, 
nor  more  false  than  an  imagination  of  the  security  of  sinners. 
Indeed,  it  is  the  crime  of  all  those  upon  whom  the  wrath  of 
God  falls.  They  are  children  of  rebellion,  to  whom  may  be 
applied  (though  to  some  more,  to  others  less)  what  a  prophet 
said  to  the  Jews,  They  would  not  understand,  but  have  pulled 
away  the  shoulder,  and  made  their  ears  heavy,  that  they  might 
not  hear,  and  have  hardened  their  hearts  as  an  adamant,  that 
they  might  not  hearken  to  the  law,  and  the  words  which  the 
Lord  of  hosts  sent  by  his  Spirit,  Zech.  vii.  11,  12. 

I  acknowledge  that  this  is  properly  the  crime,  first,  of  those 
who  reject  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  the  true  word  brought 
in  by  the  Holy  Spirit  ;  and,  secondly,  of  them  that,  living  un- 
der the  Mosaic  covenant,  rebelled  against  the  word  of  God 
preached  to  them  by  Moses  and  the  prophets.  But  I  affirm, 
that  even  they  are  not  exempt  from  it,  who  have  sinned,  or  do 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  487 

sin,  in  the  darkness  of  paganism.  For  though  these  people  do 
not  reject  the  word  either  of  the  gospel  or  the  law,  neither  of 
which  is  addressed  to  them  ;  yet  they  cannot  be  excused  of 
contemning  that  other  voice  of  God,  which  makes  itself  heard 
from  heaven  throughout  all  the  earth,  and  sounds  secretly  in 
every  man's  heart,  and  privily  calls  them  to  repentance  for  their 
sins,  to  piety,  honesty,  justice,  and  rectitude.  They  profanely 
reject  this  sacred  declaration  of  the  Deity,  without  which  God 
never  left  a  man  among  the  nations,  no,  not  the  most  forlorn, 
or  most  desperately  plunged  in  idolatry  and  viciousness,  as  the 
apostle  teaches  us  in  the  Acts.  They  despise  those  admirable 
directions  he  gives  them  in  the  governing  of  the  world,  to  seek 
him,  feel  him,  and  find  him,  Acts  xiv.  17  ;  xvii.  26,  27.  They 
make  light  of  the  evidences  he  offers  them  in  his  administra- 
tion of  the  universe  of  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead;  and 
finally,  abuse  the  riches  of  his  mercy,  of  his  patience,  and  of  his 
long-suffering,  by  which  his  goodness  invites  and  solicits  all 
men  to  repentance,  Eom.  i.  20  ;  ii.  4.  Hence  how  astonishing, 
not  only  the  justice,  but  even  the  gentleness  and  benignity,  of 
God,  who  having  right  to  punish  men  upon  the  first  sin  of 
which  they  are  found  guilty,  yet  does  it  not  ;  but  calls  and  in- 
vites them  to  repentance,  and  waits  for  them,  and  causes  not 
his  wrath  to  fall  upon  them,  till,  to  the  crime  of  their  sin,  they 
have  added  that  of  rebellion  against  that  second  way  of  salva- 
tion, which  he  in  his  loving-kindness  offers  them  ;  namely,  the 
way  of  repentance.  For  that  which  the  apostle  says  here  of 
fornicators,  and  the  avaricious  in  particular,  is  true  of  all  vices 
in  general  ;  the  wrath  of  heaven  cometh  not  upon  them  who 
are  guilty,  but  when  by  their  unbelief  and  obduracy  they  have 
made  themselves  children  of  rebellion  ;  and  there  is  not  a  sin- 
ner in  the  world,  how  great  and  enormous  soever  his  crimes 
may  be,  but  this  good  and  all-merciful  Majesty  receives  most 
readily  to  mercy,  provided  only  he  repent  ;  according  to  the 
prophet's  saying,  that  God  willeth  not  the  death  of  a  sinner, 
but  that  he  be  converted  and  live,  Ezek.  xxxiii,  11  ;  so  that 
henceforth  it  is  not  simply  sin  that  condemns  men,  but  impeni- 
tence and  unbelief.  And  the  goodness  of  God  so  much  the 
more  gloriously  appears  in  this  his  procedure  towards  them, 
for,  that  he  might  have  the  liberty  of  treating  thus  with  them, 
he  bought  it  (if  I  may  so  speak)  at  the  price  of  the  blood  of  his 
only  Son,  whom  he  (such  is  his  goodness  to  us)  delivered  up 
to  the  death  of  the  cross,  to  preserve  the  interests  of  his  justice, 
which  opposed  this  way  of  mercy  which  he  determined  to  open 
unto  men  after  their  falling  into  sin.  But  this  very  thing  shows 
us,  on  the  other  hand,  how  great  the  corruption  of  men  is,  and 
how  untractable  the  furiousness  of  the  passion  they  have  for 
vice,  in  that,  not  content  to  be  debauched  from  the  service  of 
their  Sovereign,  (which  is  of  itself  a  horrible  crime,  and  worthy 


488  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXV. 

of  a  thousand  penalties,)  they  are  so  desperately  in  love  with 
sin,  that,  to  continue  in  it,  they  despise,  and  even  reject,  with 
an  enraged  insolence,  all  this  holy  and  sacred  mystery  of  the 
kindness  of  God,  and  are  so  enchanted  and  bestialized  by  the 
poisons  of  sin,  that  they  prefer  its  short,  vain,  and  wretched 
pleasures  before  divine  grace  and  salvation,  and  less  dread  the 
wrath  of  their  Sovereign,  the  society  of  devils,  and  the  tor- 
ments of  hell,  than  the  loss  of  that  unworthy  and  shameful  de- 
light which  the  practice  of  sin,  and  the  fulfilling  of  its  lusts, 
gives  them  for  a  few  days. 

But  we  may  further  observe  here  the  apostle's  holy  art,  who, 
aiming  to  divert  the  Colossians  from  avarice,  and  the  pollution 
of  carnal  pleasures,  does  not  tell  them  that  God  will  punish 
them  heavily,  if  they  do  not  avoid  them  :  this  language  might 
have  offended  them,  as  implying  that  they  had  some  inclina- 
tion or  disposition  to  such  a  fault.  On  the  contrary,  presup- 
posing that  this  would  not  befall  them,  to  give  them  dread  of 
these  crimes,  he  shows  them  their  just  punishments  in  the 
person  of  the  unbelieving  and  rebellious  ;  like  a  tender  and  a 
prudent  father,  who,  to  imprint  a  hatred  of  vice  and  drunken- 
ness in  the  heart  of  his  child,  chastises  the  slaves  in  his  pres- 
ence, that  the  example  of  those  vile  and  wretched  persons  may 
teach  him  what  punishments  he  will  deserve,  if  he,  who  is  the 
son  of  his  house,  the  heir  of  his  freedom  and  estate,  fall  into 
any  such  disorder.  For  we  must  not  fancy  that  because  we 
have  the  honour  to  be  allied  to  God,  we  may  therefore  commit 
with  impunity  those  sins  which  the  Lord  punishes  so  se- 
verely in  those  that  are  without.  Far  from  us  be  so  sottish 
and  so  pernicious  a  conceit.  God  hates  vice,  and  not  persons  ; 
and  whoever  hardens  himself  therein,  live  he  in  any  profession, 
pagan  or  christian,  reformed  or  otherwise,  he  is  a  child  of  re- 
bellion ;  and  the  advantage  and  excellency  of  the  profession 
he  makes  is  so  far  from  exempting  him  from  punishment,  that 
it  will  aggravate  it  ;  it  being  most  just,  as  our  Saviour  teaches 
us,  that  he  who  knew  the  will  of  his  Master,  and  did  it  not, 
should  receive  more  stripes  than  he  who  offends  ignorantly, 
Luke  xii.  47.  And  when  a  true  believer  falls  through  infirm- 
ity into  some  one  of  these  disorders,  (as,  alas  !  happens  but  too 
often,)  God  plainly  shows  how  much  it  displeases  him,  never 
failing  to  chasten  it,  except  a  prompt  repentance  prevent  his 
rebukes.  Judgment,  says  Peter,  begins  at  the  house  of  God, 
1  Pet.  iv.  17.  And,  He  judges  us,  says  Paul,  and  teaches  us, 
"  that  we  may  not  be  condemned  with  the  world,"  1  Cor.  xi. 
82,  as  we  shall  assuredly  be,  if  we  persevere  in  sin  without 
repentance  and  amendment.  Hence  the  apostle,  fearing  lest 
some  such  imagination  should  abuse  the  Ephesians,  gives  them 
the  same  intimation,  with  express  advice  that  they  suffer  not 
themselves  to  be  beguiled  with  a  false  hope  of  impunity  :  "  Let 


CHAP.  III.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  489 

no  man  deceive  you  with  vain  words  :  for  because  of  these 
things  Cometh  the  wrath  of  God  upon  the  children  of  disobe- 
dience," Eph.  V.  6. 

But  further,  his  specially  threatening  fornication,  unclean- 
ness,  inordinate  affection,  evil  concupiscence,  and  covetousness, 
in  saying  that  "  for  these  things  the  wrath  of  God  cometh 
upon  the  children  of  disobedience,"  is  not  to  signify  that  other 
excesses  of  such  rebellious  ones,  as  their  cruelties,  murders, 
ambitions,  and  similar  enormities,  should  remain  unpunished; 
on  the  contrary,  he  elsewhere  expressly  declares,  that  "  the 
wrath  of  God  is  revealed  from  heaven  against  all  ungodliness 
and  unrighteousness,"  Rom.  i.  18  ;  and  again,  that  there  shall 
be  "tribulation  and  anguish  upon  every  soul  of  man  that 
doeth  evil,"  Rom.  ii.  9.  But  he  has  denounced  this  wrath  of 
•God  upon  the  luxurious  and  avaricious  by  name  ;  because, 
among  all  vices,  these  especially  provoke  the  vengeance  of 
God,  by  reason  of  their  vileness  and  enormity,  and  also  for 
the  disturbance  they  occasion  in  human  society,  the  interest 
and  preservation  of  which  often  forces  the  Lord  to  speed  the 
execution  of  his  judgments  upon  such  sinners,  and  to  punish 
them  exemplarily  in  this  world  ;  that  so  by  his  severity  he 
may  cool  the  fury  of  those  who,  giving  up  themselves  to  the 
passions  of  these  two  accursed  pests,  would  overthrow  all  order 
among  mankind,  if  their  rage  were  not  repressed  by  some  re- 
markable chastisement. 

As  for  the  truth  of  this  sentence,  "the  wrath  of  God 
cometh  for  these  sins  upon  the  children  of  disobedience," 
since  the  apostle,  who  is  the  mouth  of  heaven,  the  oracle  of 
Jesus  Christ,  pronounces  it,  no  christian  may  doubt  it.  First, 
though  they  should  go  on  altogether  unpunished  in  this  world, 
yet  in  the  next  it  is  certain  that  this  burning  wrath  of  the  Al- 
mighty, which  shall  there  manifest  itself  once  for  all,  at  the 
great  and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord,  shall  separate  them  for 
ever  from  the  society  of  the  blessed,  and  strike  them  down  to 
hell,  there  to  suffer  eternally  with  devils  the  just  punishments 
of  their  rebellion.  For  besides  this  clear  text,  the  apostle 
in  three  other  passages  expressly  enrols  idolaters,  fornicators, 
and  adulterers  among  those  who  shall  have  no  part  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  1  Cor.  vi.  9,  10  ;  Gal.  v.  21  ;  Eph.  v.  5. 
And  elsewhere  he  says  particularly  of  whoremongers  and 
adulterers,  that  God  will  judge  them,  Heb.  xiii.  4  ;  and  again, 
that  God  will  destroy  those  who,  by  such  pollutions,  shall  have 
destroyed  or  violated  his  temple,  that  is,  their  bodies,  1  Cor. 
iii.  17.  In  like  manner,  John  assigns  them  "  their  part  in  the 
lake  that  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone,  which  is  the  second 
death,"  Rev.  xxi.  8.  And  as  for  the  covetous,  it  is  of  them  in 
particular  Paul  says  that  "  the  unrighteous  shall  not  inherit 
the  kingdom  of  God,"  1  Cor.  vi.  9  ;  and  elsewhere,  that  cove- 
tous desires  "  drown  men  in  perdition,"  1  Tim.  vi.  9. 
62 


490  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXXV. 

But  besides  this  great  and  dreadful  punishment  which  these 
vices  will  infallibly  draw  down  at  the  last  day  upon  the  chil- 
dren of  rebellion,  they  at  present  involve  them  in  such  va- 
rious evils,  that  if  the  world's  stupidity  and  passion  did  not 
blind  it,  it  might  easily  perceive  the  truth  of  what  the  apostle 
affirms.  For,  first,  that  brutishness,  and  that  horrible  eclipsing 
of  good  sense  and  right  reason,  and  that  bestial  addictedness 
to  the  vilest  passions  and  actions,  into  which  almost  all  the 
slaves  of  these  vices  are  seen  to  fall,  are  an  eminent  and  plain 
mark  of  the  wrath  of  God  upon  them.  The  life  of  the  de- 
bauched is  nothing  but  a  continual  wandering  out  of  the  way. 
Consider  Solomon,  the  wisest  prince  that  ever  lived,  in  whom 
shone  so  glorious  and  splendid  a  light  of  knowledge  and  wis- 
dom, that  he  ravished  his  whole  age,  and  attracted  a  great 
queen  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  come  and  behold  his  glory. 
After  he  yielded  up  himself  to  this  infamous  passion,  he  so 
lost  all  that  force  of  spirit  and  judgment,  that  he  became  ex- 
travagant to  such  a  degree,  as  to  give  up  himself  to  idolatry, 
the  utmost  of  all  brutalities,  in  complacency  to  his  concubines. 
The  heathen  poets,  in  their  fables,  to  represent  what  is  the  or- 
dinary sequel  of  this  vice,  make  one  of  their  heroes  assume 
the  habit  and  equipage  of  a  woman,  after  he  had  once  fallen 
into  the  snares  of  this  wretched  passion.  It  is  an  image  of 
what  still  befalls  those  who  suffer  themselves  to  be  taken  in 
those  snares  :  putting  off  by  little  and  little  all  virtue  and 
shame,  they  become  effeminate,  and  so  utterly  lose  their  senses, 
that  at  length  there  is  nothing  so  disgraceful,  nothing  so  con- 
trary to  order,  honour,  and  decency,  but  they  readily  do  and 
suffer.  The  same  is  signified  again  by  another  fable  of  the 
same  author,  concerning  some  whom  the  potion  of  a  sorceress 
transformed  into  swine  and  other  beasts.  The  fable  is  preg- 
nant with  truth,  and  under  feigned  names  and  persons  con- 
tains the  history  of  the  greater  number  of  those  miserable  men 
whom  fornication  and  adultery  have  bewitched.  They  lose 
heart,  and  judgment,  and  common  sense,  and  commit  so  many 
follies  and  extravagances,  that  it  is  very  easy  to  perceive  it 
is  no  longer  the  soul  of  a  man,  but  of  a  mere  animal,  that 
guides  them.  Hence  comes  so  strange  a  metamorphosis,  even 
in  a  Solomon,  and  in  persons  who  otherwise  seemed  so  cautious 
and  prudent.  Dear  brethren,  doubt  not  but  that  it  comes  from 
a  secret  judgment  of  God,  who  deprives  them  of  that  spirit 
and  discernment  of  which  they  made  such  ill  use,  and  who,  so 
to  say,  degrading  them  from  the  rank  of  men,  of  which  this 
vice  has  rendered  them  unworthy,  drives  them  out  among  ani- 
mals, delivering  them  up  to  a  mind  unfurnished  with  judg- 
ment, as  the  apostle  elsewhere  describes  this  dreadful  vengeance 
of  God,  Rom.  i.  21—23. 

But  besides  mind  and  reason,   who  sees   not  that  it  also 


GHAP.  UI.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  491 

usually  takes  away  their  strength,  beauty,  vigour,  and  health 
of  body,  bringing  on  them  diseases  which  gnaw  their  very 
bones,  diseases  which  rot  and  consume  them  before  the  time, 
and  which,  creating  sharpest  pains  in  all  the  parts  of  their 
miserable  flesh,  make  it  pay  dear  for  the  dishonest  pleasures 
they  have  given  it?  Loss  of  goods  is  also  one  of  the  punish- 
ments which  God  commonly  inflicts  for  this  sin,  permitting  its 
very  self  to  consume,  by  the  irregularity  of  its  foolish  expenses, 
the  means  which  are  necessary  for  the  support  of  the  life  of 
man  and  reduce  those  who  serve  it  to  a  vexatious  and  shame- 
ful poverty.  To  which  we  may  yet  add  numerous  examples 
of  tragical  miseries,  of  which  the  lives  of  men  are  full,  which 
God  visibly  inflicts  on  sins  of  this  sort.  It  was  for  them  that 
he  sent  the  first  deluge  of  water  on  the  earth  ;  and  afterwards, 
a  second  of  fire  and  brimstone  upon  the  coasts  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah.  The  debauches  of  Israel  with  Moab  were  the 
causes  of  the  death  of  four  and  twenty  thousand  men,  whom 
God  consumed  in  his  fury.  And  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  though 
great  and  flourishing,  was  reduced  to  six  hundred  men,  for 
the  uncleanness  of  one  of  their  cities.  Who  knows  not  that 
sometimes  one  man's  adultery  has  caused  long  wars  and  ruined 
great  estates  ?  And  among  the  instances  of  it,  that  is  particu- 
larly lamentable  of  the  Goths'  empire;  which  having  flourished 
in  Spain  a  long  time,  was  destroyed  and  utterly  overthrown 
for  a  fault  of  this  kind  committed  by  one  of  their  kings.  This 
occasion  brought  in  the  Saracens,  who,  besides  liberty  and 
goods,  took  also  the  christian  religion  away  from  the  most 
part  of  the  people  ;  introducing  and  maintaining  Mahometism 
in  those  countries  during  many  ages.  It  is  not  to  be  doubted 
but  that  the  violent  deaths  and  ruin  of  so  many  great  ones, 
whom  the  world  has  seen,  and  still  sees,  perish  with  astonish- 
ment, are  for  the  most  part  from  the  same  source,  even  the  de- 
bauches to  which  they  have  been  carried.  The  accidents  of 
particular  families  and  persons  infected  with  this  leprosy  are 
less  marked  ;  yet  are  they  nevertheless  very  remarkable.  And 
he  that  shall  look  narrowly  into  them,  shall  find  in  them  ad- 
mirable examples  of  the  justice  of  God  upon  these  kind  of 
sins  ;  and  this  in  particular,  that  he  commonly  takes  away  his 
covenant  from  families  where  such  disorders  reign.  I  might 
easily  show  you  similar  footsteps  of  the  wrath  of  God  upon  the 
covetous,  whose  unrighteousness  he  often  punishes  with  loss 
of  reason,  of  health,  of  honour,  and  of  that  very  wealth  which 
they  love  much  better  than  their  bodies,  and  even  their  souls  ; 
not  to  speak  of  the  infamy  which  God  sometimes  pours  upon 
them,  and  the  horrible  miseries  into  which  he  suffers  them  to 
fall,  in  their  persons  and  in  their  posterity. 

II.  But  I  must  pass  to  the  other  part  of  this  text,  and  speak  a 
few  words  upon  it,  and  conclude.     For  the  apostle,  after  this 


492  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XXXV. 

wrath  of  God,  which  he  has  represented  as  falling  from  heaven 
upon  the  children  of  rebellion,  because  of  their  pollutions  and 
avarice,  reminds  the  Colossians,  that  they  themselves  had 
formerly  been  in  the  same  condition  ;  "  In  the  which  ye  also 
walked  some  time,  when  ye  lived  in  them."  To  live  in  these 
sins  is  to  have  the  principles  of  our  life  infected  with  their 
venom.  To  walk  in  them  is  to  produce  the  actions  of  them. 
The  one  is  the  power  and  faculty  of  life,  the  other  is  the  ex- 
ercise and  function  of  it.  Having  in  oneself  the  principles  and 
faculties  of  life,  the  apostle  terms  living,  and  by  walking  he 
understands  a  putting  forth  the  actions  of  the  same;  as  appears 
plainly  by  his  saying  elsewhere,  "  If  we  live  in  the  Spirit,  let 
us  also  walk  in  the  Spirit,"  Gal.  v.  25.  A  man  that,  for  in- 
stance, is  asleep,  nevertheless  lives,  and  has  life,  though  he  per- 
forms not  the  actions  of  it.  As  therefore  to  live  in  the  Spirit 
is  nothing  else  but  to  have  the  faculties  and  powers  of  our 
nature  renewed,  and  as  it  were  new-cast,  and  regenerated  by 
the  virtue  of  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  so,  on  the  contrary,  to 
live  in  sin  is,  in  like  manner,  to  have  our  understanding,  and 
will,  and  the  other  powers  of  our  nature,  putrefied,  and 
corrupted,  and  as  it  were,  poisoned  with  Adam's  sin,  by  the 
contagion  of  his  flesh.  And  again,  as  those  walk  in  the  Spirit 
who  exercise  piety  and  holiness,  and  conduct  all  the  actions 
and  motions  of  their  lives  according  to  the  will  of  the  Spirit  ; 
so  they,  on  the  contrary,  walk  in  sin  who  follow  and  fulfil  its 
lusts,  and  employ  themselves  in  no  other  exercise  but  serving 
it,  and  doing  those  evil  works  which  naturally  flow  from  its 
habits.  But  we  have  spoken  largely  before,  if  you  remember, 
of  this  first  life  of  old  Adam,  which  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
has  destroyed  and  mortified  in  us.  We  have  only  to  observe 
in  our  way,  that  since  the  exercise  of  man  in  his  state  of  nature 
before  grace  is  to  walk  in  vices  and  in  grossest  pollutions, 
it  must  be  a  great  error  to  imagine  that  he  should  be  able,  in 
such  a  state,  to  produce  works  either  meritorious,  as  some  say, 
or  preparatory  to  grace,  as  others  pretend.  All  he  does  at  this 
time,  if  you  believe  the  apostle  in  the  case,  is  not  good,  but  to 
prepare  for  hell  and  merit  the  wrath  of  God  ;  and  to  have  any 
other  opinion  of  it  will  be  a  diminution  of  the  greatness  of  the 
grace  of  God  towards  us.  Let  us  think  then,  beloved  brethren, 
on  that  shameful  and  miserable  state  in  which  we  naturally 
were,  and  should  have  continued  for  ever  with  the  children  of 
disobedience,  living  and  walking  in  sins,  the  wages  and  fruit 
of  which  could  be  no  other  than  eternal  death,  if  the  Lord, 
through  his  abundant  grace,  had  not  delivered  us  from  such  a 
condemnation.  And  remembering,  as  we  ought,  the  greatness 
of  the  benefit  he  has  conferred  upon  us,  let  us  incessantly  bless 
his  mercy  and  goodness  : — Thanks  be  ever  rendered  unto  thee, 
O  holy  and  merciful  Lord,  that  us  who  were  servants  of  sin, 


CHAP.  III.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  493 

thou  hast  made  free  by  thy  Son,  and  given  by  thy  Spirit  to 
obey  that  express  form  of  doctrine  which  has  been  delivered 
us  by  thy  servants  I  Rom.  vi.  17. 

Bat  as  heretofore  the  vices  in  which  we  lived  continually 
produced  all  kind  of  pollutions  and  sins;  and  henceforth,  since 
the  cross  and  grace  of  our  Lord  have  dried  up  this  source  of 
impurity  ;  let  there  no  more  appear  any  track  of  them  in 
our  manners.  Let  the  holiness  of  that  new  man,  of  whose 
name  and  blood  we  boast,  shine  forth  in  all  the  actions  of  our 
lives.  Above  all,  let  us  banish  those  two  chief  and  accursed 
pests  of  luxury  and  avarice,  for  which  you  have  heard  before 
all  the  mouths  of  heaven  opened  to  fulminate,  against  the  re- 
bellious who  serve  them,  the  curses  of  this  world  and  of  that 
which  is  to  come.  And  if  the  ignorance  of  such  as  lived  in 
error  withheld  not  the  wrath  of  God  then  from  coming  on  them 
for  these  two  kinds  of  sins,  what  must  those  expect  now  who 
commit  the  same  crimes  in  the  light  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  Sure, 
as  much  as  the  disobedience  of  the  one  is  more  grievous  and 
enormous  than  that  of  others,  so  much  more  terrible  will  be  the 
wrath  that  shall  pour  from  heaven  upon  them,  than  all  the 
judgments  of  God  the  world  has  seen  in  time  past.  Your 
ingratitude,  christian,  who  so  ill  bear  your  name,  and  your 
disobedience,  surpass  in  enormity  all  the  unbelief,  both  of  the 
first  world  and  of  ancient  Israel;  they  rejected  but  the  preach- 
ing of  Noah  and  the  ministry  of  Moses,  whereas  you  outrage 
the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  and,  as  much  as  in  you  is,  make 
him  a  liar.  Yet  you  know  how  they  were  punished  ;  you 
know  the  deluge  which  the  crime  of  some  brought  upon  all 
the  earth  :  you  know  the  abyss  opened  its  mouth  to  swallow 
up  others  alive;  heaven,  and  earth,  and  the  elements  were 
armed  against  them.  If  their  punishment  makes  you  tremble, 
why  do  you  imitate  their  faults  ?  yea,  why  commit  you 
such  as  are  more  heinous  and  blacker  than  theirs?  God 
is  good  and  merciful,  I  acknowledge,  but  to  repenting  sinners. 
To  those  who  mock  at  his  instruction,  and  make  a  jest  of  his 
menaces,  he  is  severe  and  inexorable.  And  if  they  amend 
not,  they  shall  know  sooner  or  later  to  their  cost  that  it 
is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  his  hands.  May  the  Lord  Jesus, 
whom  we  invocaie,  please  to  give  us  better  things  ;  so 
reforming  this  church  by  the  power  of  his  Spirit  and  of 
his  word,  that  henceforth  these  crying  sins  be  no  more  seen 
among  us.  Not  the  filth  of  luxury,  nor  the  villanies  of 
avarice  which  are  the  infamy  of  his  people,  the  reproach 
of  our  profession,  the  scandal  of  such  as  are  without,  the 
shame  of  those  that  are  within,  and  the  ruin  and  eternal  misery 
of  those  who  obstinately  continue  in  these  vices;  but  rather 
let  honesty,  chastity,  purity  of  body  and  spirit,  charity,  and 
liberality,  and  all  other  christian  virtues,  be  seen  to  flourish  and 


494  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXVI. 

fructify  in  tHe  midst  of  us,  to  the  glory  of  God,  to  tlie  edifica- 
tion of  all  within  and  without,  and  to  our  own  salvation. 
Amen. 


SERMON  XXXVI. 

VERSE    8. 

But  now  ye  also  put  off  all  these  ;  anger,  wrath,  malice,  blas- 
phemy, filthy  communication  out  of  your  m,outh. 

Dear  brethren,  the  philosophers  have  well  and  accurately 
observed,  as  each  of  us  may  perceive  by  his  own  experience, 
that  besides  understanding  and  will,  there  are  in  the  souls  of 
men  two  other  inferior  powers  ;  one  of  which  desires  those 
pleasing  things  which  sense  presents  to  it,  and  the  other  flees 
from  and  avoids  those  that  look  troublesome.  In  the  barbar- 
ous language  of  the  schools,  the  former  is  called  the  concupisci- 
ble,  and  the  latter  the  irascible.  Both  were  given  us  by  the 
Creator  for  our  benefit,  to  act  as  two  goads  ;  one  to  urge  us  to 
seek  and  acquire  what  is  profitable,  the  other  to  repel  what  is 
inimical.  And  in  the  primitive  and  legitimate  constitution  of 
our  being,  each  of  these  two  powers,  exactly  obeying  reason, 
had  nothing  in  their  motions  but  what  was  good  and  just. 
Afterwards,  by  our  fall,  sin  supervening,  put  them  into  great 
disorder  ;  reason,  which  had  lost  its  dominion,  leaving  them 
both  without  guidance,  and  most  commonly  favouring  their 
errors  instead  of  correcting  them.  For  now  desire  embraces 
any  gustful  thing  which  is  presented,  and  anger  is  stirred  up 
against  everything  that  seems  displeasing,  without  heeding 
or  following  the  judgment  of  right  reason  ;  whence  proceed 
the  greatest  part  of  the  sins  and  miseries  of  the  life  of  man. 
Accordingly  the  principal  task  of  those  who  would  reform 
our  manners,  is  to  labour  above  all  things  to  rectify  these  two 
powers  of  our  souls,  and  gently  to  reduce  them  to  the  yoke  of 
reason,  that  neither  of  them  may  ever  move  itself  but  as  it 
commands  or  permits.  Our  apostle,  therefore,  having  under- 
taken to  give  the  Colossians,  and  other  believers,  who  read 
this  Epistle,  the  form  of  that  sanctity  to  which  the  doctrine 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  obliges,  took  care  at  the  entrance  to 
correct  the  movements  of  both  these  powers.  He  began  with 
concupiscence  and  avarice,  enjoining  us  to  mortify  all  that  is 
vicious  in  them,  and  religiously  abstain  from  such  excesses, 
which  are  the  basest  of  carnal  pleasures.  To  this  end  he  re- 
minds us  of  those  inevitable  punishments  which  these  disor- 
ders always  draw  down  from  heaven  upon  the  children  of 


CHAP.   III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  495 

rebellion;  that  if  the  justness  of  the  thing  itself  cannot  per- 
suade us,  at  least  the  fear  of  punishment  may  retain  us  in  our 
duty.  Having  thus  cleansed  our  concupiscence,  he  comes 
next  to  wrath;  and,  in  the  verse  we  have  read,  faithfully 
advises  us  to  mortify  likewise  its  passions,  and  all  the  evils  they 
produce  ;  that  our  lives  may  be  not  only  pure  and  honest,  but 
also  innocent,  calm,  peaceful,  and  truly  worthy  of  that  Jesus 
Christ  of  whom  we  make  profession,  who  is  the  supreme 
pattern  of  sweetness  and  benignity.  "But  now  ye  also  put 
off  all  these;  anger,  wrath,  malice,  blasphemy,  filthy  com- 
munication out  of  your  mouth." 

Of  the  five  things  which  he  commands  us  to  put  off,  "  anger, 
wrath,  malice,  blasphemy,  and  filthy  communication,"  the 
£rst  four  are  either  kinds  or  effects  of  that  one  and  the  same 
passion  which  we  call  wrath.  The  last  refers  to  somewhat 
else  ;  nevertheless  he  ranks  it  here  with  the  other  for  a  reason 
which  you  shall  hear  presently.  This  is  the  subject  of  which, 
by  the  will  of  God,  we  will  treat  in  this  sermon.  Only  be- 
fore our  coming  to  it,  considering  that  there  is  nothing  super- 
fluous or  useless  in  this  holy  apostle's  language,  we  must 
discover,  in  short,  the  meaning  and  reason  of  those  words 
with  which  he  begins  his  exhortation,  "  But  now  ye  also  put 
off  all  these  things."  They  depend  upon  the  former  verse,  to 
which  they  most  evidently  refer.  Paul  there  put  the  Colos- 
sians  in  mind  of  their  ancient  condition  under  the  darkness 
of  paganism,  before  the  gospel  shone  on  them.  At  that  time, 
said  he  to  them,  you  wallowed  in  the  filth  of  avarice  and 
luxury,  as  well  as  other  children  of  the  generation  ;  ye 
walked  and  lived  in  these  things.  When,  therefore,  he  adds 
here,  "  But  now  put  ye  off  all  these  things,"  it  is  clear  that 
Jie  opposes  to  the  time  of  their  past  ignorance  the  time  of  their 
present  knowledge  ;  their  faith  to  their  error  ;  their  Christi- 
anity to  their  paganism  ;  the  day  to  the  night,  and  the  light  to 
darkness  ;  and  by  this  means  presents  one  reason  to  induce 
them  to  their  duty,  drawn  from  their  present  estate.  For  every- 
thing, as  the  wise  man  shows,  has  its  time,  and  every  season 
its  business.  The  actions  of  the  day  are  of  one  sort,  and 
those  of  the  night  another  ;  and  a  thing  that  becomes  child- 
hood is  not  sufferable  in  riper  years.  While  you  were  in 
the  darkness  of  paganism,  that  gross  ignorance  in  which  you 
lived  rendered  your  vices  less  strange  and  more  excusable,  says 
the  apostle.  Now  that  you  live  in  the  light  of  Jesus  Christ, 
with  what  excuse  can  you  cover  your  faults  any  longer  ?  The 
laws  and  customs  of  this  divine  kingdom,  into  which  he  has 
called  you,  are  quite  different  from  those  of  paganism,  which 
you  have  renounced.  Be  content  to  have  escaped  out  of 
them,  and  let  it  suflice  you  to  have  wretchedly  lost  so  many 
years  in  the  vices  of  ignorance,  and  to  have  so  long  fulfilled 


496  AN  EXPOSITION"  OF  [SE RM.  XXXVI. 

the  will  of  the  Gentiles.  Now  that  God  has  graciously  brought 
you  to  quit  their  errors,  relinquish  also  their  vices,  and  hence- 
forth regulate  your  manners  by  the  light  which  shines  about 
you.  Have  no  more  intercourse  with  their  works,  since  Jesus 
Christ  has  brought  you  out  of  their  darkness.  The  apostle, 
in  another  place,  explains  this  reason  more  at  length,  which 
he  here  only  touches:  "  The  night  is  far  spent,  the  day  is  at 
hand  :  let  us  therefore  cast  off  the  works  of  darkness,  and  put 
on  the  armour  (that  is  the  garments)  of  light,"  Rom.  xiii.  12. 
*'  Ye  are  all  children  of  light,  and  of  the  day  :  we  are  not  of 
the  night,  nor  of  darkness,"  1  Thess.  v.  6.  "Old  things  are 
passed  away  ;  behold,  all  things  are  become  new,"  2  Cor.  v.  17. 
Beloved  brethren,  would  to  God  we  had  this  consideration 
alw.iys  before  our  eyes  !  It  would  be  sufficient  to  divert  us 
from  the  vices  of  the  world,  to  which  we  suffer  ourselves  to  be 
so  easily  carried.  For  if  they  rendered  us  guilty  of  death 
when  we  practised  them  in  the  darkness  of  ignorance,  of 
what  hells  and  maledictions  shall  we  not  be  worthy  if  we  com- 
mit them  now?  Now  that  we  live  in  the  light  of  the  gospel, 
in  the  communion  of  saints  and  angels,  who  sees  not,  that  if 
we  live  in  sin,  all  these  great  advantages  will  turn  to  our 
misery,  and  that  the  honour  of  our  knowing  God  and  his  Christ 
will  serve  no  end  but  aggravating  the  guilt  and  augmenting 
the  punishment  of  our  sins  ?  Let  us  then,  christians,  beware 
of  abusing  the  gifts  of  God.  Let  us  lead  a  life  worthy  of  the 
condition  to  which  he  has  called  us,  and  of  the  age  to  which 
he  has  advanced  us,  and  following  the  counsel  of  his  apostle, 
now  that  we  are  under  grace,  in  the  kingdom  of  holiness,  let 
us  put  off  all  these  base  lusts,  which  belong  only  to  that  state 
of  error  and  ignorance  out  of  which  we  are  come. 

The  word  which  we  have  translated  "  put  off"  signifies  sim- 
ply lay  by,  or  cast  behind  you  ;  as  when  a  man  throws  down 
a  burden  with  which  he  was  laden  ;  and  so  our  Bibles  have 
rendered  it,  Rom.  xiii.  12,  where  the  apostle  has  used  it  ;  "  Let 
us  cast  off  the  works  of  darkness.  And  it  seems  it  would  not 
have  been  amiss  so  to  translate  it  in  the  passage  before  us,  be- 
cause it  immediately  follows,  and  "  filthy  communication  out 
of  your  mouth,"  with  respect  to  which  the  phrase  "  put  off"  is 
inappropriate,  as  you  perceive.  But  this  concerns  the  words 
only.  The  sense  remains  the  same,  that  we  rid  ourselves  of 
all  the  passions  of  vice,  and  cleanse  our  souls,  our  senses,  and 
our  mouths  of  them,  and,  as  the  apostle  speaks  elsewhere, 
using  again  the  same  word,  cast  off  all  this  heavy  and  killing 
load  of  the  sins  of  the  world.  We  must  not  forget  the  word 
also  ;  "  ye  also  put  off  all  these  things."  Some  refer  it  to  other 
believers,  who  strive  after  true  sanctification  ;  as  if  the  apos- 
tle's meaning  were  that  the  Colossians  should  act  like  them. 
But  nothing  appearing  in  the  text  on  which  such  an  interpre- 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  497 

tation  may  be  founded,  I  account  it  better  to  refer  it  either  to 
the  present  state  of  the  Colossians,  which  required,  that  as  they 
formerly  walked  in  vice,  so  they  should  now  renounce  it  ;  or 
(which  seems  to  me  more  appropriate)  to  the  passions  of  which 
he  had  spoken.  Besides  fornication  and  covetousness,  put  off 
also  all  these  things,  namely,  wrath  and  blasphemy,  of  which 
he  now  speaks.  For  indeed,  friend,  if  you  would  be  truly  a 
christian,  it  is  not  enough  that  you  rid  yourself  of  one  vice, 
you  must  also  break  with  all  the  rest.  As  for  restoring  you 
to  health,  it  is  not  sufficient  to  cure  you  of  one  malady,  you 
must  be  healed  of  all  ;  it  being  clear  that  while  any  one  re- 
mains upon  you,  though  you  may  be  less  sick  than  you  were 
when  you  had  many  others  with  it,  yet  you  will  not  be  in 
health.  Accordingly,  to  be  a  true  christian,  a  disciple  of  the 
Spirit,  and  one  of  God's  household,  there  is  need  of  being  de- 
livered not  only  from  some  vices,  but  from  all.  If  you  have 
mortified  the  passions  of  luxury  and  avarice,  I  acknowledge 
it  is  much.  But  yet  it  is  not  all.  Quit  also  those  of  wrath 
and  blasphemy,  since  they  alone  are  sufficient  to  destroy  you, 
though  you  have  no  other.  This  is  the  instruction  the  apos- 
tle, after  having  ordered  us  to  mortify  the  former  of  these 
vices,  adds  ;  "  Put  off  also  all  these  things  ;  anger,  wrath, 
malice,  blasphemy,  filthy  communication  out  of  your  mouth." 
The  first  two  of  these  five  words  refer  to  one  and  the  same 
passion,  which  we  too  well  know,  and  indifferently  call  either 
wrath  or  anger.  But  in  the  language  the  apostle  uses  there  is 
this  difference,  that  the  second  of  these  words  (which  we  have 
rendered  wrath)  properly  imports  a  firm  and  fixed  desire  of 
revenge.  The  other  which  we  have  translated  anger,  or  indig- 
nation, is  the  first  trouble  which  arises  in  us  when  we  enter 
into  choler,  that  fire  which  on  a  sudden  kindles  in  our  spirits, 
and  heating  and  agitating  our  blood,  makes  it  boil  about  our 
hearts.  One  is  the  beginning,  and  the  other  the  form  and  con- 
sistency of  the  passion.  One  is  the  first  gust  of  the  storm, 
the  other  the  continuation  of  it.  The  one  enkindles,  the  other 
burns,  our  hearts.  The  one  puts  fire  to  them,  the  other  keeps 
it  in.  I  confess  this  first  boiling  up  of  indignation  is  a  less 
evil  than  formed  wrath;  but,  notwithstanding,  it  is  an  evil. 
Wherefore  the  apostle  would  have  us  clear  ourselves  of  them 
both.  That  malice  which  he  adds,  in  the  third  place,  is  also, 
in  my  opinion,  a  certain  kind  of  anger.  I  know  well  the 
word  is  of  great  extent,  and  signifies  in  general  that  venom 
and  evil  of  sin  which  is  diffused  through  any  one  of  our  pas- 
sions, whichever  it  be.  But  here,  as  frequently  elsewhere,  I 
suppose  it  is  taken  for  the  malignity  of  anger  ;  when  a  mis- 
chievous and  vindictive  stomach  inwardly  broods  on  its 
passion,  and  feeds  its  fire  under  the  ashes,  hatching  some  ill 
turn  for  the  person  it  aims  at,  and  waiting  for  opportunity 
63 


498  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.   XXXVi; 

to  break  out.  Sucli  a  man  works  under  ground,  as  miners 
do,  and  appears  not  till  the  ruin  he  prepares  for  his  enemy- 
is  fully  ready.  His  passion  is  like  a  stinted  fire,  that  does  not 
burn  up  till  its  season.  Of  all  kinds  of  anger,  there  is  none 
more  black  and  malignant  in  itself,  or  more  noxious  and 
pernicious  in  its  effects.  Wherefore  the  apostle  calls  it 
malice,  naughtiness,  or  malignity  particularly  ;  and  it  seems 
to  be  the  same  thing  he  elsewhere  calls  bitterness,  when  treat- 
ing of  the  same  subject,  he  says,  "  Let  all  bitterness,  and  wrath, 
and  anger,  and  clamour,  and  evil-speaking  be  put  away  from 
you,  with  all  malice,"  Eph.  iv.  31. 

But  the  apostle's  indication  of  our  duty  is  not  obscure,  and 
it  would  be  loss  of  time  to  spend  any  more  about  its  explana- 
tion. The  sum  of  all  is,  that  each  of  us  in  good  earnest  labour 
to  practise  it.  For  the  evil  that  this  holy  man  would  take 
away  from  us  is  so  common,  that  scarcely  a  person  can  be 
found  exempt  from  it.  I  confess  it  is  a  great  and  almost 
incredible  calamity,  that  man,  who  was  created  for  humanity, 
and  whose  nature  seems  to  be  formed  only  for  sweetness, 
courtesy,  and  gentleness,  should  be  so  corrupted,  that  there  is 
no  animal  in  the  world  more  ferocious  and  malignant.  The 
poison  of  serpents,  the  paws  of  lions,  and  the  tusks  of  wild 
boars,  are  not  more  to  be  dreaded  than  most  men's  anger.  I 
confess  also,  it  is  yet  a  much  greater  shame  that  christians, 
whom  the  discipline,  spirit,  and  example  of  their  Master  should 
have  transformed  into  sheep  and  lambs,  that  is,  into  creatures 
without  gall  and  void  of  asperity  ;  that  they,  I  say,  should  be 
as  much  or  more  subject  to  the  furies  of  this  passion,  than 
men  of  the  world,  brought  up  and  fashioned  in  the  school  of 
vanity  and  error.  But  however  shameful  this  fault  is,  we  are 
constrained,  by  the  very  evidence  of  things,  to  acknowledge 
that  it  is  too  common  among  us.  There  are  households  where 
this  demon  of  anger  governs  all  at  its  pleasure,  incessantly 
troubling  the  concord  of  husband  and  wife,  the  union  of  pa- 
rents and  children,  and  the  peace  of  masters  and  servants. 
There  is  nothing  done,  nothing  said,  but  in  anger.  You 
would  say  of  these  houses,  that  they  are  the  fabled  cavern  of 
.^olus,  where  the  winds  shut  up  in  it  are  heard  night  and  day, 
roaring  and  blustering.  There  is  no  climate,  no  sea,  no  coast 
in  all  the  earth,  where  storms  are  greater  or  more  frequent.  For 
whereas  natural  tempests  happen  but  at  some  seasons  of  the 
year,  in  these  miserable  houses  no  calm  is  ever  seen  ;  and  there 
needs  but  one  petty  action,  one  word,  yea,  one  look,  to  raise 
storms  of  many  days'  continuance  :  as  it  is  said  of  certain 
lakes  in  the  mountains  of  Berne,  that  if  one  cast  but  a  stone 
into  them,  the  surrounding  air  becomes  turbid,  and  is  imme- 
diately filled  with  winds  and  clouds,  which  soon  issue  light- 
ning, thunders,  and  excessive  rain.     Yea,  there  are  some  whose 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  499 

passion  is  so  violent,  that  it  cannot  be  kept  within  the  enclo- 
sure of  their  houses.  It  issues  out  of  doors,  and  without  re- 
spect to  the  faces  of  those  who  pass  by,  without  apprehension 
of  scandal,  audaciously  shows  itself  in  public,  and  acts  its  trage- 
dies in  the  presence  of  all  the  world.  Our  anger  will  some- 
times have  even  these  sacred  places  for  witnesses,  in  which  it 
is  not  ashamed  to  make  itself  seen,  and  to  utter  the  greatest 
indignities  and  provocations  it  can  form  before  the  eyes  of  this 
holy  company,  in  the  sight  of  God  and  his  angels.  And 
though  this  passion  has  always  had  too  free  course  among  us, 
I  must  needs  say,  my  brethren,  that  quarrels,  injuries,  blows, 
fightings,  even  to  the  shedding  of  blood,  were  never  seen  so 
frequent  as  of  late.  O  God  !  how  can  it  be  that  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ,  which  is  so  assiduously  and  faithfully  preached  to  you, 
should  have  so  little  influence  upon  you — should  not  only 
fail  to  plant  in  your  souls  that  celestial  and  angelic  sanctity, 
which  it  was  sent  to  produce,  but  be  unable  even  to  restrain 
your  deportment  within  the  bounds  of  shame-facedness  and 
decency?  We  are  christians,  and  do  things  which  honest 
men  of  the  world,  which  disciples  of  heathen  philosophy, 
would  not  have  done.  If  they  have  not  more  holiness  than 
we,  it  is  certain  they  have  more  discretion. 

But  I  forbear  complaints,  dear  brethren,  though,  in  truth, 
if  there  be  any  subject  wherein  grief,  emotion,  and  even  anger 
may  be  permitted,  without  doubt  it  might  in  this.  Come  we 
to  the  thing  itself,  and  each  condemning  himself  for  his  own 
particular  faults,  into  which  anger  has  heretofore  transported 
him,  amend  for  the  future,  and  studiously  endeavour  to  cure 
his  soul  of  this  passion.  Let  us  give  our  hearts  no  rest  until 
we  have  purged  them  of  their  gall,  and  tempered  and  seasoned 
them  with  the  sweetness  and  gentleness  of  our  Lord  and  Sa- 
viour. When  we  perceive  in  ourselves,  or  in  our  children, 
some  inactivity  of  the  liver  likely  to  occasion  diseases,  or 
even  some  ill  habit,  such  as  stooping,  or  any  other  ungraceful 
posture  of  the  body,  we  do  our  utmost  to  correct  it,  and  readily 
submit  to  anything  to  attain  our  end.  Would  to  God  we 
were  as  careful  to  cure  inclinations  and  passions  contrary  to  a 
heavenly  life  !  I  durst  say  that  we  should  not  spend  three 
months  in  such  endeavours  without  wholly  mortifying,  at 
least  very  much  mitigating  and  taming,  this  fierce  and  cruel 
anger,  which  causes  so  many  mischiefs  in  the  church  and  in 
the  world.  Though  there  were  nothing  but  the  apostle's  pro- 
hibition, which  so  expressly  orders  us  to  quit  and  put  off  all 
kinds  of  wrath,  this  alone  might  suffice  to  give  us  an  ab- 
horrence of  it.  But  the  deformity  and  venom  of  the  thing 
itself,  if  we  consider  it  ever  so  superficially,  will  clearly  justify 
this  holy  man's  injunction,  and  force  us  to  confess,  that  if  he 
had  said  nothing  of  it,  our  own  interest  would  induce  us  to  do 


500  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SEBM.  XXXVI. 

of  our  own  accord  what  he  enjoins  us.  For  behold,  I  pray, 
what  spoil  this  passion  makes  in  the  souls,  in  the  bodies,  and 
in  the  whole  nature  of  those  poor  men  upon  whom  it  seizes. 
First,  at  the  entrance  it  perturbs  their  judgment,  and  extin- 
guishes the  light  of  their  understanding;  and  spreading  its 
poisonous  vapours  through  all  the  faculties  of  their  mind, 
leaves  them  no  clear  sight  of  anything.  In  this  agitation  they 
conceive  nothing  but  with  perturbation,  and  see  nothing  but 
under  strange  colours  ;  they  no  longer  discern  a  friend  from 
an  enemy  ;  they  forget  respect  ;  they  lose  modesty  and  shame. 
It  is  no  longer  reason  that  guides  them  ;  but  rage  and  impetu- 
osity thrust  them  on,  and  carry  them  headlong.  They  are  no 
longer  men.  Anger  has  transformed  them  into  beasts  or 
devils.  The  very  heathen  well  observed  it,  saying,  as  we  still 
read  in  their  books,  that  this  passion  is  a  short  madness,  that 
it  differs  from  madness  in  nothing  but  in  its  being  of  shorter 
duration.  And  the  Holy  Ghost  makes  the  same  judgment  of 
it,  when  he  pronounces,  in  Ecclesiastes,  that  "  anger  resteth 
in  the  bosom  of  fools,"  chap.  vii.  9  ;  and  elsewhere  he  puts 
among  the  marks  of  a  prudent,  discreet  man,  that  he  restrains 
his  wrath,  and,  as  he  expresses  it,  "  covereth  his  shame,"  Prov. 
xii.  16  ;  justly  calling  the  follies  and  extravagancies  which 
this  passion  causes  us  to  commit,  our  shame. 

For  it  stops  not  at  that  disorder  which  it  creates  within  us. 
It  soon  breaks  out  and  discovers  its  hideousness.  For  that 
blood  which  it  has  heated  and  made  to  boil  about  our  hearts, 
rushing  forth  to  the  external  parts,  gives  a  new  tincture  to 
the  countenance,  and  defacing  its  natural  and  ordinary  form, 
and  covering  it,  as  we  may  say,  with  a  strange  and  hideous 
mask,  causes  it  to  appear  quite  different  from  what  it  was  be- 
fore. The  man  has  no  longer  his  ordinary  eyes.  He  has 
others  of  fire  and  of  flame;  a  look  wild  and  furious  ;  a  visage 
of  a  hundred  colours,  sometimes  red,  blue,  or  violet,  some- 
times pale  and  wan,  according  to  the  various  motions  of  his 
fury.  His  veins  swell,  the  storm  within  driving  into  them, 
with  violence  a  vast  quantity  of  blood  and  spirits.  His  voice 
becomes  rough,  and  loses  its  natural  tone.  His  speech  is 
confused  and  inarticulate,  rushing  forth  all  at  once,  without 
order  and  without  distinction.  He  bites  his  lips,  he  grinds 
his  teeth,  and  does  a  thousand  other  actions,  so  resembling  the 
actions  of  demoniacs,  that  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  passion 
which  torments  him  is  a  very  demon.  If  you  had  seen  your- 
selves in  this  state,  I  do  not  doubt  that  you  would  have  been 
frightened  at  yourselves,  and  have  hated  the  cause  which  so 
vilely  disfigured  you.  But  what  need  is  there  for  any  other 
glass  in  which  to  see  the  image  of  your  anger  than  that  with 
which  your  neighbours'  passion  daily  presents  you  ?  That 
trouble,  that  fury,  and   that  frantic  demeanour,  which  you 


CHAP.  III.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  501 

cannot  without  trembling  behold  in  them,  is  a  faithful  portrait 
of  your  anger.  When  it  seizes  you,  you  are  in  no  degree 
wiser,  less  frightful,  nor  insufferable  than  they. 

But  as  in  nature,  when  the  wind  and  the  thunder  have 
roared  for  a  time,  there  follow  bail  and  fire,  breaking  forth 
from  the  clouds,  and  making  dreadful  havoc  here  below  ;  so  is 
it  generally  with  the  tempest  of  anger.  After  the  noise  and 
thunder  of  a  thousand  reproaches,  and  indiscreet,  insolent, 
ridiculous  speeches,  in  the  end  it  usually  comes  to  blows, 
which  are  dealt  this  way  and  that,  without  judgment  or  discre- 
tion. And  when  there  happens  to  be  resistance,  when  one 
angry  man  encounters  another  possessed  with  the  same  rage, 
as  it  frequently  happens,  how  sad  and  shameful  is  the  combat 
of  two  such  furies,  who,  instigated  by  the  demon  that  guides 
them,  commit  and  sufter  the  vilest  and  deepest  injuries  !  Who 
can  utter  the  other  evils  which  this  execrable  passion  causes 
in  mankind?  It  troubles  the  peace  of  families  and  states, 
stirring  up  in  them  sedition  and  wars.  It  is  this  that  has  in- 
vented duels,  and,  to  authorize  its  rage,  makes  it  pass  for  a 
point  of  honour;  so  blinding  men,  that  they  will  have  their 
honour  to  consist  in  offending  God,  and  damning  themselves, 
by  shedding  another's  blood,  and  hazarding  their  own,  which 
is  undoubtedly  not  only  the  most  false,  but  also  the  most 
foolish  and  senseless,  error  that  ever  was  committed.  It  is 
anger  that  plots  and  executes  most  of  the  treasons,  murders, 
and  assassinations  which  are  committed  in  the  world.  It  is 
this  that  raises  clamour.  Quarrels  and  processes  are  its 
workmanship.  It  breaks  the  most  sacred  bonds  of  civil  and 
domestic  society,  and  teaches  men  shamelessly  to  tread  under 
foot  all  laws,  both  human  and  divine.  It  instructs  them  to 
despise  their  own  welfare  and  repose,  in  order  to  have  only 
the  satisfaction  of  disturbing  that  of  other  men.  There  is  no 
vice  that  carries  men  so  far,  or  that  is  apt  to  render  them 
more  unnatural.  Judge  what  is  its  poison,  and  how  cruel  it 
is,  since  David,  who  otherwise  was  a  kind  and  generous  man, 
by  only  tasting  a  little  of  it,  became  so  changed,  that  he 
marched  forward  his  men  with  a  resolution  to  pillage  and 
massacre  a  whole  poor  innocent  family,  for  the  fault  of  only 
one  man.  And  you  know  the  inhumanity  which  this  same 
passion  induced  Simeon  and  Levi  to  commit,  causing  them  to 
put  a  whole  city  to  fire  and  sword  for  one  young  man's 
indiscretion  and  folly.  Consequently  Jacob  their  father,  even 
on  his  death-bed,  calls  them  "  instruments  of  cruelty,"  and 
curses  the  fierceness  of  their  anger  and  the  excess  of  their 
fury.  Gen,  xlix.  5,  7.  But  as  anger  easily  thrusts  on  men, 
and  precipitates  them  into  all  sorts  of  sins  ;  so,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  infinitely  contrary  to  piety  and  holiness.  It  drives 
the  Holy  Ghost,  the  author  of  all  honesty  and  virtue,  out  of 


502  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXVI. 

our  souls.  For  he  dwells  not  in  noise  and  violence  ;  and,  as 
the  Scripture  says,  in  the  history  of  Elijah's  vision,  he  is  not 
in  those  great  impetuous  winds  that  cleave  the  mountains,  and 
rend  the  rocks,  and  shake  the  earth,  1  Kings  xix.  11,  that  is, 
in  wrathful  souls.  This  Spirit  loves  peace  and  gentleness. 
Accordingly,  he  appeared  to  John  Baptist  under  the  form 
of  a  dove.  By  consequence,  there  is  nothing  that  drives  him 
sooner  from  us  than  the  tumult  of  this  blustering  and  tem- 
pestuous passion.  And,  indeed,  instead  of  glorifying  God, 
which  is  the  finst  point  of  piety,  wrath  influences  men  to  de- 
spise and  blaspheme  him.  It  disturbs  and  overturns  all  his 
service;  it  being  impossible  that  a  soul  can  pray  to  him  and 
invocate  him  as  it  ought  while  it  is  in  this  agitation.  And 
James  tells  us  expressly  that  "  wrath  worketh  not  the  right- 
eousness of  Grod,"  chap.  i.  20.  It  is  an  enemy  to  charity  ; 
which  desires  the  good  and  safety  of  its  neighbour,  whereas 
wrath  wishes  and  procures  his  injury  and  ruin.  It  extin- 
guishes modesty  ;  it  is  incompatible  with  patience  and  humili- 
ty ;  it  expels  consolation  and  joy.  For  what  contentment  or 
joy  can  there  be  amidst  the  tempests  of  this  wretched  pas- 
sion, which  disquiets  all  things,  and  keeps  our  spirits  in  a  con- 
tinual agitation  ?  It  makes  us  troublesome  and  tedious  to 
every  one  ;  and  instead  of  that  sweetness  and  gentleness  which 
should  adorn  our  manners,  it  plants  them  with  anxiety  and  ill 
humour,  roughness,  rashness,  and  sourness,  as  with  so  many 
briers,  or  nettles,  which  make  all  the  world  to  shun  our  com- 
pany, according  to  the  wise  man's  counsel,  "Make  no  friend- 
ship with  an  angry  man,  and  with  a  furious  man  thou  shalt 
not  go,"  Prov.  xxii.  24.  We  ought  therefore  to  be  obliging 
and  accessible,  and  to  attract  strangers  to  us  by  our  suavity, 
courtesy,  and  affability,  for  their  edification  ;  anger,  on  the 
contrary,  drives  away  from  us  our  very  friends.  For  where 
is  he  who  by  choice,  and  without  being  by  some  necessity 
obliged,  would  live  or  converse  with  a  person  subject  to  this 
passion  ?  Accordingly,  you  see,  that  whereas  in  other  fami- 
lies every  one  rejoices  at  the  master's  arrival,  in  the  house  of 
an  angry  man,  on  the  contrary,  nothing  is  so  much  dreaded 
as  his  presence,  because  he  always  carries  with  him  distur- 
bance and  tumult  wherever  he  goes. 

But  if  anger  is  troublesome  to  others,  it  no  less  incommodes 
its  possessor,  keeping  his  spirit  in  a  continual  state  of  per- 
turbation, hindering  all  the  sweet  and  delightful  reflections  of 
his  mind,  and  breeding  others  which  are  black,  cruel,  and 
tragical.  It  disturbs  his  repose,  robs  him  of  his  pleasures,  and 
eats  out  his  heart  like  a  viper.  And  it  is  impossible  that 
with  all  this  it  should  fail  to  ruin,  or  at  least  to  impair,  the 
health  of  the  body  also,  which,  consisting  in  a  certain  equality 
and  temperature  of  humours,  and  in  the  regular  action  and  well- 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  503 

ordered  motion  of  the  blood  and  spirits,  what  can  be  imagined 
more  contrary  to  it  than  this  passion,  which  confounds  and 
overturns  all  this  inward  economy  of  our  bodies,  turning  and 
tossing  our  spirits,  stirring  and  driving  our  blood  hither  and 
thither  with  extreme  violence  and  rapidity  ? 

Beloved  brethren,  these  are  the  characters  and  principal 
effects  of  this  passion.  If  reason,  with  which  heaven  has  ad- 
orned your  nature,  be  dear  to  you  ;  if  the  presence  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  and  his  holy  image  be  valued  by  you  as  it  ought  ;  if 
you  have  any  affection  for  the  order,  welfare,  and  happiness  of 
your  neighbours;  if  you  take  pleasure  in  their  society  ;  if  you 
love  the  exercise  of  piety  and  other  virtues  ;  if  you  desire  to 
preserve  your  souls  in  repose,  and  your  bodies  in  health  ;  obey 
the  apostle's  command,  root  out  and  put  away  anger  from  your 
hearts.  Suffer  not  so  dangerous  a  guest  to  lodge  within  you, 
the  parent  of  quarrels  and  debates,  the  enemy  of  peace,  the 
cause  of  hostilities  and  murders,  the  pest  of  families  and  estates, 
the  storm  of  the  soul,  the  poison  of  the  understanding,  the 
blinding  of  reason,  the  abhorrence  of  God  and  men,  the  ruin 
and  hell  of  those  whom  it  possesses.  Never  tell  me  that  you 
cannot  resist  the  tyranny  of  your  irascible  temper  or  that  you 
did  not  begin  first  to  be  angry  ;  but  it  was  an  injury  from  your 
neighbour  which  kindled  your  wrath,  and  you  should  pass  for 
a  man  of  no  spirit  if  you  suffered  an  affront  without  emotion 
and  resentment.  These  are  but  pretexts  and  vain  excuses, 
which  cannot  hide  the  shame  of  your  fault.  For  as  for  nature, 
it  forces  no  man  to  wrath  :  on  the  contrary,  it  loves  harmony 
and  tranquillity  ;  and  it  would  be  a  strange  thing  if  we  could 
not  be  men  without  having  the  impetuosity  and  fury  of  irra- 
tional animals.  If  the  Creator  has  given  you  anger,  he  has 
also  given  you  understanding  to  temper  it,  and  reason  to  go- 
vern it,  and  the  word  and  Spirit  of  his  Son  to  mortify  it.  And 
as  for  offences  received  from  your  neighbour,  the  producing  of 
them  is  no  justification  of  your  passion  ;  it  is  a  telling  us  the 
story  and  occasion  of  it.  What,  then,  do  you  imagine  that  the 
Lord  never  forbids  you  to  be  angry  but  when  nobody  gives 
you  cause  ?  If  your  neighbour  does  well  to  be  angry  with  you, 
why  are  you  troubled  at  it  ?  And  if  he  does  ill,  why  do  you 
imitate  him?  His  having  begun  is  so  far  from  justifying  you, 
that  I  doubt  whether  this  very  thing  will  not  aggravate  your 
crime.  For  he  who  casts  himself  into  an  evil  into  which  he 
saw  another  fall  seems  less  excusable  than  he.  His  example, 
in  which  you  might  have  seen  the  hideousness  of  this  passion, 
should  have  kept  you  from  it.  And  as  to  the  judgment  of  men, 
if  they  be  wise  they  will  never  impute  it  to  you  for  faint- 
heartedness that  you  have  overcome  your  own  animosity,  since 
it  is  properly  in  this  that  the  highest  point  of  magnanimity 
consists;  it  being  clear  that  the  weakest  persons  of  all,  as  chil- 


WS%  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SEKM.  XXXVI. 

dren,  and  such  as  resemble  them,  are  also  ordinarily  the  most 
turbulent  and  choleric,  and  that  true  generosity  is  less  subject 
to  be  moved  and  perturbed.  But  if  the  opinion  of  the  vicious 
or  ignorant  affrights  you,  surely  you  have  not  yet  profited  much 
in  the  school  of  Christ,  where  the  first  lesson  is  to  despise  the 
fancies  and  maxims  of  the  world,  that  we  may  rest  in  the  laws 
and  will  of  God. 

Lay  aside  then  all  these  nullities  of  excuse,  and  sedulously 
form  yourselves  to  that  sweetness  and  benignity  which  God 
requires.  Shun  all  occasions  of  anger,  and  repel  them  when 
they  occur.  And  to  win  this  ground  upon  yourself,  and  to  be 
always  master  of  your  own  spirits,  descend  into  yourselves, 
and  consider  well  the  meanness  of  your  nature,  and  its  little 
worth,  that  this  body,  which  makes  so  much  noise,  is,  in  fact, 
nothing  but  dust  and  ashes  ;  that  this  breath  which  animates 
it  is  a  spirit,  it  is  true,  but  full  of  ignorance  and  vanity  ;  and, 
which  is  worse,  covered  with  crimes  worthy  of  hell,  if  God 
should  judge  you  in  rigour.  Eid  yourselves  of  that  vain  opi- 
nion of  your  nobility,  of  your  riches,  of  your  power,  of  your 
abilities,  which  pufiis  you  up  so  much.  For,  to  say  the  truth, 
all  this  is  but  a  dream  and  a  nonentity.  Such  a  consideration 
would  be  excellent  to  keep  down  the  stirring  and  boiling  of  your 
anger,  which  arises  mostly  from  nothing  but  our  presumption. 
For  esteeming  ourselves  too  highly,  we  consider  it  high  trea- 
son for  any  man  to  offend  us  ;  and  that  to  dare  to  attack  us  is 
a  kind  of  impiety.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  let  us  also  judge 
of  our  neighbours  with  more  equity  and  reason;  and  think 
that,  in  the  sight  of  God,  they  are  as  much,  or,  it  may  be,  more 
than  we  ;  they  are  the  workmanship  of  his  hand,  the  portraits 
of  his  image,  the  redeemed  of  his  Christ,  and  the  denizens  of 
his  paradise,  as  well  as  we.  If  we  looked  upon  them  and  our- 
selves in  this  manner,  we  should  not  be  so  easily  or  so  vehe- 
mently troubled  at  their  offences  against  us.  Then,  again,  we 
should  lift  up  our  eyes  higher,  and  meditate  upon  the  provi- 
dence of  God,  and  take  all  the  outrages  which  are  committed 
against  us  as  chastisements  or  trials  which  befall  us  by  his  or- 
der. It  was  this  consideration  that  restrained  David's  anger 
on  that  just  occasion  for  it  which  Shimei's  insolence  afforded: 
*'  So  let  him  curse,"  said  he,  "  because  the  Lord  hath  said  unto 
him.  Curse  David,"  2  Sam,  xvi.  10.  A  noble  speech  !  a  holy 
declaration  !  If  we  act  conformably  with  it,  all  the  occasions  of 
perturbation  which  men  give  us  will  be  so  many  exercises  of  pa- 
tience and  humility.  If  they  revile  us,  we  shall  bless  them.  If 
they  outrage  us,  we  shall  bear  with  them.  If  they  contemn  and 
abase  us,  we  shall  put  ourselves  yet  lower  ;  and  when  they  call  us 
worthless  people,  we  shall  add,  Yea,  we  are  but  dross  and  filth. 
If  they  reproach  us  with  poverty  or  ignorance,  we  shall  say  in 
addition  that  we  are  but  worms,  conceived  and  born  in  sin. 


CHAP.    III.]      THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  505 

This  would  be  profiting  by  their  outrages,  and  making  the  fury 
of  other  men  the  subject  of  our  virtue  and  matter  of  our  praise. 
It  would  be  also  of  use,  for  forming  us  to  meekness  and  patience, 
to  have  still  before  our  eyes  the  patience  and  meekness  of  aMoses, 
of  a  David,  of  a  Jeremiah,  of  a  Stephen,  and,  above  all,  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  ;  "  who,  when  he  was  reviled,  reviled  not 
again  ;  when  he  suffered,  he  threatened  not,"  1  Pet.  ii.  2S  ;  leaving 
us  this  glorious  pattern,  that  we  might  follow  his  steps.  We 
should  also  propose  to  ourselves  the  example  of  God  himself, 
who  is  infinite  goodness  and  love;  who  bears  the  blasphemies 
of  his  creatures,  and  instead  of  crushing  them,  causes  his  sun 
to  shine  on  them,  and  waters  their  lands  with  his  rain,  inviting 
them  so  graciously  to  repentance.  Which  would  you  rather 
be,  the  disciples  of  this  supreme  Lord,  and  of  his  Son,  and  of 
his  saints;  or  of  those  miserable  vassals  of  sin  whom  the  evil 
spirit  possesses  ?  And  this  again  should  sweeten  our  resent- 
ments towards  those  who  offend  us,  even  the  remembrance  that 
it  is  Satan  who  inspires  into  them  all  the  evil  which  they  say 
of  us  or  do  to  us.  They  are  but  his  instruments  ;  while  we 
attack  them  as  if  they  were  authors  of  the  outrage  ;  acting  in 
this  particular  like  dogs,  which  bite  the  stone  that  struck  them  ; 
and  touch  not  the  person  who  threw  it.  The  man  is  worthy 
of  our  pity.  The  devil,  who  instigated  him,  properly  deserves 
our  hatred.  It  is  with  this  murderer  that  we  should  be  angry. 
There  anger  would  be  just.  But  if  by  all  these  remedies  we 
cannot  prevent  being  sometimes  incensed  against  our  neigh- 
bours, at  least  let  us  stop  when  our  perturbation  boils  up.  Let 
us  not  add  sin  to  our  emotion,  neither  let  the  sun,  as  the  apos- 
tle says,  go  down  upon  our  wrath,  Eph.  iv.  26  ;  but  hold  this 
for  a  certainty,  that  the  shortest  angers  are  the  best. 

Now  if  we  can  once  divest  ourselves  of  this  wretched  passion, 
we  shall  by  the  same  means  eradicate  with  it  the  other  of  blas- 
phemy, or  evil  speaking,  which  Paul  here  annexes.  For  wrath 
is  commonly  the  root  from  which  this  springs,  or  at  least  that 
which  the  apostle  means,  who  uses  a  word  that  signifies  a 
man's  reviling  his  neighbour,  a  thing  scarcely  ever  done  but 
in  anger.  But  all  evil-speaking,  whatever  is  its  origin,  is  an 
accursed  and  deadly  plant,  the  production  and  workmanship 
of  the  devil,  the  father  of  evil-speakers.  For  his  trade,  you 
know,  is  to  calumniate,  to  detract,  and  to  speak  evil.  They  who 
do  these  things  are  his  disciples,  and  it  is  from  his  suggestion 
and  infusion  that  they  derive  the  poison  of  their  tongue.  And 
as  they  have  now  part  in  his  employment,  so  shall  they  one 
day  participate  in  his  torments  ;  according  to  that  which  the 
apostle  teaches  us,  that  revilers  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom 
of  God,  1  Cor.  vi.  10.  Indeed,  since  heaven  is  the  inheritance 
of  charity  and  holiness,  what  portion  in  it  can  detraction  pre- 
tend to,  which  is  so  contrary  to  those  two  virtues,  and  gives 
64 


§lQ$  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXVI. 

them  at  once  three  deadly  wounds  ;  wonnding  and  outraging 
by  the  same  blow,  not  only  the  person  of  whom  it  speaks  evil, 
but  also  the  individuals  to  whom  and  by  whom  it  is  spoken? 
It  wounds  the  reputation  of  the  person  of  whom  it  speaks  evil  ; 
and,  as  much  as  in  it  lies,  deprives  him  of  his  honour,  the  most 
valuable  of  our  external  goods,  and  such  as  no  riches  can  equal. 
It  pollutes  the  ear  of  him  who  hears  it,  and  makes  such  a 
poison  glide  through  it  into  his  heart  as  is  apt  to  extinguish 
neighbourly  charity  :  and  fill  him  with  suspicion,  aversion,  and 
hatred  against  his  neighbour,  even  to  the  raising  sometimes  of 
scandalous  and  violent  enmities  and  quarrels  between  them. 
Again,  the  detractor  does  not  spare  himself;  but  profanes  his 
own  tongue,  and  abuses  it  to  the  wounding  and  scandalizing 
of  his  neighbour  ;  whereas  it  was  given  him  by  his  Creator  to 
be  an  instrument  of  benediction  and  edification.  And  this 
seems  to  be  properly  the  consideration  which  the  apostle  here 
had  in  view.  Having  cleansed  our  hearts  from  the  pollutions 
of  wrath  and  malignity,  he  also  purifies  our  mouths,  taking  out 
of  them  what  is  contrary  to  their  sanctification.  "  Put  away," 
says  he,  "  anger,  wrath,  malice,  blasphemy,  filthy  communica- 
tion out  of  your  mouth."  And  this  is  the  reason  why  to 
blasphemy,  or  detraction,  he  adds  filthy  communication,  be- 
cause it  defiles  our  mouths,  and  corrupts  our  speech,  one  of  the 
most  precious  presents  that  divine  bounty  has  made  us  ;  and 
that  too  that  our  mind  might  use  it  for  the  communication  of 
its  good  and  holy  conceptions  to  others,  for  their  consolation 
and  edification.  Whereas,  on  the  contrary,  he  who  indulges 
in  filthy  communication  fills  the  ears  of  others  with  pollution, 
fouls  the  purity  of  their  hearts,  and  shows  the  infection  of  his 
own  ;  out  of  the  abundance  of  which,  as  our  Saviour  says,  his 
mouth  speaks.  For  as  offensive  breath  betokens  some  inward 
indisposition  and  corruption  ;  so  filthy  and  dishonest  conver- 
sation discovers  the  impurity  and  unchastity  that  are  in  the 
soul  of  him  who  uses  it.  Hence  the  apostle  in  another  place 
expressly  puts  this  among  other  parts  of  christian  sanctity, 
that  our  conversation  be  pure,  chaste  and  honest;  "Fornication, 
and  all  uncleanness,  or  covetousness,  let  it  not  be  once  named 
among  you,  as  becometh  saints  ;  neither  filthiness,  nor  foolish 
talking,  nor  jesting,  which  are  not  convenient,"  Eph.  v.  3,  4. 
And  again  in  another  place,  "  Let  no  corrupt  communication 
proceed  out  of  your  mouth,  but  that  which  is  good  to  the  use 
of  edifying,  that  it  may  minister  grace  unto  the  hearers,"  Eph. 
iv.  29.  Behold,  beloved  brethren,  the  divine  doctrine  of  this 
great  apostle.  Let  us  conform  our  whole  life  to  this  ;  serving 
God  in  body  and  spirit  ;  and  sanctifying  our  hearts  and  mouths 
to  his  glory,  and  the  edification  of  our  neighbours;  eradicating 
first  out  of  our  souls  all  asperity  and  bitterness,  anger,  wrath, 
and  malice,  and  planting  them  with  kindness,  sweetness,  and 


CHAP,  ni.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  507 

patience  towards  all  men  ;  tlien  purging  our  tongues  also  from 
the  poison  of  detraction,  and  from  the  filth  of  all  dishonest 
communication,  consecrating  them  as  precious  vessels  to  the 
praise  of  God,  and  the  spiritual  utility  of  men  ;  to  the  end  that 
there  be  nothing  in  our  conduct  but  what  is  worthy  of  the  dis- 
cipline of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  that  after  we  shall  have 
so  walked  in  his  fear,  in  all  piety  and  honesty,  he  may  here- 
after receive  us  into  his  kingdom  of  glory,  where,  without 
holiness,  none  shall  enter.  Unto  him,  with  the  Father  and  the 
Holy  Spirit,  be  all  honour  and  praise,  to  ages  of  ages.     Amen. 


SERMON  XXXVII. 

VERSES   8,  9. 

But  noio  ye  also  put  off  all  these;  anger ^  wrath^  malice^  bias- 
jphemy^  filthy  communication  out  of  your  mouth.  Lie  not  one 
to  another. 

Among  the  advantages  which  raise  our  nature  above  that 
of  irrational  animals,  speech  undoubtedly  holds  one  of  the  first 
ranks;  being  the  interpreter  of  the  mind,  the  image  of  thought, 
the  instrument  of  communication,  the  bond  of  society,  the  in- 
structor of  ignorance,  the  consolation  of  grief,  the  parent  and 
nurse  of  friendship,  and  the  sweetener  of  life.  If  you  consider 
it  in  itself,  what  can  be  imagined  more  marvellous  than  this 
faculty,  which  represents,  by  a  certain  number  of  sounds,  not 
very  different  from  each  other,  the  infinite  variety  of  all  those 
things  which  come  into  our  minds  ;  and  bringing  them  out  of 
that  inaccessible  and  impenetrable  recess,  where  our  soul  con- 
ceives and  forms  them  within  itself,  makes  them  appear 
abroad  ;  rendering  that  in  some  measure  visible  which  was 
altogether  invisible,  and  that  corporeal  which  was  purely 
spiritual  ?  I  well  know  that  animals  discover  the  passions 
and  movings  of  their  souls,  joy,  grief,  fear,  desire,  by  certain 
cries,  which  they  utter  as  often  as  they  are  affected  with  them. 
But  there  is  nothing  in  this  that  approaches  to  speech.  For 
the  voices  of  animals  proceed  from  nature  itself;  whereas 
words  of  speech  are  an  effect  and  an  institution  of  reason. 
Those  are  confused  and  inarticulate;  these  distinct,  and  formed 
with  excellent  art.  Those  express  nothing  but  the  passions 
of  a  sensitive  faculty  ;  these  represent  the  conceptions  of  the 
understanding.  But  speech  is  not  less  useful  than  wonderful. 
Without  it,  assemblies  of  men  would  be  but  so  many  herds  of 


080*;  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXVII. 

cattle,  and  their  reason  would  do  them  little  more  service  than 
if  they  had  none  at  all.  Whereas  speech  brings  it  forth,  and 
renders  it  useful  to  us,  communicating  to  many,  and  almost 
infinitely  multiplying  that  which  was  at  first  in  one  soul  only. 
For  as  a  seal  imprints  its  form  upon  all  the  drops  of  wax  to 
which  it  is  applied,  so  speech,  gliding  through  the  ear  into  the 
hearts  of  all  that  hear  it,  engraves  on  them  that  image  of  the 
mind  and  will  of  the  speaker  which  it  carries  with  it.  It 
guides  and  keeps  up  the  négociations,  the  treaties,  the  alliances, 
the  arts,  the  sciences,  and  the  instructions  of  men  ;  and  is  the 
soul  of  their  commerce  and  of  their  conversation,  and,  in  a 
word,  of  all  their  humanity.  It  is  by  this  that  superiors 
cause  themselves  to  be  obeyed,  and  inferiors  obtain  the  assist- 
ance they  need  ;  since  it  is  this  that  makes  both  the  will  of  the 
one,  and  the  necessities  of  the  other,  to  be  understood.  It  is 
this  that  unites  the  souls  of  equals,  and  discovers  what  each 
has  of  reason  and  wisdom  in  himself,  or  of  sympathy  and 
aversion  for  others.  It  transfuses  the  soul  of  the  one  into  the 
others,  pouring  into  them  their  sentiments,  their  reasonings, 
their  inventions,  and  their  affections. 

But  as  the  abuse  of  the  most  excellent  things  is  much  more 
dangerous  than  that  of  things  mean  and  common,  so  it  is  plain 
that  the  efficacy  of  speech  is  not  less  pernicious,  when  applied 
to  evil,  than  useful  and  beneficial,  when  employed  for  good. 
It  is  as  powerful  to  destroy  as  to  edify  ;  to  infect,  as  to  cure  ; 
and  is  equally  capable  of  communicating  to  men  health  and 
sickness,  life  and  death,  according  to  the  springs  and  intentions 
from  which  it  is  dispensed.  Speech  being  of  so  great  impor- 
tance in  the  life  of  men,  it  is  with  great  propriety  that  the 
apostle  has  taken  care,  in  the  rule  he  here  gives  us  for  our  de- 
portment, to  cleanse  it  of  the  vices  with  which  sin  has  polluted 
it.  You  may  remember  that,  in  the  preceding  text,  he  purged 
it  of  the  poison  of  detraction,  and  of  pollutions  contrary  to 
honesty,  commanding  us  to  put  away  blasphemy  and  filthy 
communication  out  of  our  mouth.  Now,  to  the  end  that  it 
may  be  thoroughly  pure  and  legitimate,  and  truly  worthy  of 
a  christian  mouth,  he  takes  out  of  it  lying  also,  the  most  shame- 
ful of  its  defilements,  and  that  which  is  most  directly  contrary 
to  its  natural  constitution.  "  Lie  not,"  says  be,  "  one  to  another." 
And  because,  in  the  preceding  sermon,  shortness  of  time  per- 
mitted us  not  to  say  all  that  we  desired  upon  the  two  former 
vices  of  speech,  we  will  resume  that  discourse  now,  with  your 
permission  ;  and  treat,  if  the  Lord  please,  of  all  those  three 
sins  of  the  tongue  which  the  holy  apostle  has  here  forbidden  ; 
first,  evil-speaking;  then,  in  the  second  place,  filthiness,  con- 
trary to  honesty  ;  and,  thirdly,  lying.  May  it  please  God  to 
guide  us  in  this  discourse,  and  so  purify  our  lips  with  the 
divine   fire  of  that   heavenly  coal,   with  which  he  formerly 


CHAP.  III.]         THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COL03SIAN9.  509 

touched  those  of  his  prophet,  that  henceforth  our  mouths  may- 
be so  many  living  sources  of  benediction  and  edification,  from 
which  shall  issue  none  but  good  and  innocent,  pure  and  honest, 
sincere  and  veritable  speeches,  to  his  glory,  our  neighbour's 
benefit,  and  our  own  salvation.     Amen. 

The  apostle,  in  the  original,  makes  use  of  the  word  "  blas- 
phemy," to  signify  evil  speaking.  For  though  the  former 
term,  in  our  tongue,  imports  words  spoken  to  the  offence  of 
God,  when  things  unworthy  of  his  greatness,  and  holiness, 
and  truth  are  attributed  to  him,  or  those  which  belong  to  him 
are  denied  him  ;  or  when  that  which  is  proper  to  his  divinity 
is  communicated  to  creatures  ;  yet  in  the  Greek,  that  is,  in  the 
language  the  apostle  speaks,  the  word  blasphemy  generally 
signifies  any  offensive,  injurious  speech,  whomever  it  concerns, 
whether  God,  or  angels,  or  men.  The  truth  is,  this  word,  if 
we  respect  its  origin  or  etymology,  simply  denotes  injuring 
the  reputation,  or  offending  some  one's  honour  ;  as  the  Greek 
grammarians  have  observed.  Consequently,  Paul  uses  it  not 
only  here,  but  also  in  other  places  to  signify  such  revilings 
and  detractions  as  are  directed  properly  to  men,  and  not  to 
God  ;  as  when  he  says,  in  the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians, 
chap.  iv.  13,  "  Being  defamed,  we  entreat,"  it  is  in  the  original, 
being  blasphemed  ;  and  when  he  enjoins  Titus,  chap.  iii.  2,  to 
admonish  the  faithful  that  they  "speak  evil  of  no  man,"  it  is 
in  the  Greek,  blaspheme  no  man.  That  evil-speaking  which  he 
in  this  place  so  severely  banishes  from  all  christians'  mouths 
is  a  vice  so  common,  that  no  one  can  be  ignorant  of  it.  The 
world  is  full  of  it,  and  the  church  itself  beholds  but  too  many 
examples  of  it  in  those  who  make  profession  of  her  communion. 
But  that  no  man  may  deceive  himself,  it  will  not  be  imperti- 
nent to  represent  the  principal  kinds  of  it.  For  as  in  a  pesti- 
lence great  diversity  is  found  in  the  poisons  which  it  compre- 
hends, and  in  the  manner  in  which  they  seize  on  human 
bodies  ;  so  is  it  with  evil-speaking.  It  is  a  poison  that  has 
under  it  many  different  species,  a  mischief  that  puts  forth  va- 
rious branches  from  one  and  the  same  root  of  bitterness.  If  you 
regard  the  form  of  it,  one  smites  uncovered,  another  deals  its 
blows  in  secret:  the  former  reviles  openly,  and  wounds  the 
honour  of  a  neighbour  in  his  presence  ;  the  latter  manages 
itself  subtlely,  and  blackens  his  reputation  in  private,  with 
so  much  greater  effect,  because  it  is  in  a  place  where  no  person 
appears  to  ward  off"  its  blows.  If  you  consider  the  cause  and 
occasions  of  it,  some  are  incited  to  it  by  anger,  others  by 
hatred  ;  some  by  a  close  envy,  the  most  by  a  secret  malignity 
of  nature.  Again,  if  you  respect  their  design,  some  do  it  to 
avenge  themselves  of  offences,  which  they  believe  they  have 
received  ;  others  to  satisfy  their  ill  humour  ;  and  a  third  sort, 
merely  to  pass  away  the  time.     It  may  be,  that  the  apostle 


510  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXVII. 

here  particularly  aimed  at  open  evil-speaking,  whicli  being 
pressed  by  the  violence  of  anger,  breaks  out  into  revilings, 
since  it  is  of  this  passion  expressly  that  he  speaks  in  the  pre- 
ceding words.  Yet  we  must  not  imagine  that  he  permits  us 
to  indulge  in  any  species  of  this  evil.  For  whatever  difference 
there  may  be  in  other  respects,  this  is  common  to  them  all, 
that  they  offend  our  neighbour,  and  deprive  him,  either  in 
whole  or  in  part,  of  the  most  precious  of  his  goods,  that  is, 
his  reputation.  If  it  is  a  heinous  sin  to  rob  a  man  of  his 
money,  or  his  goods,  or  his  lands  ;  how  much  more  grievous 
is  his  crime  who  attempts  to  bereave  him  of  his  honour, 
which  is  more  to  be  esteemed  than  life  itself!  To  which  must 
be  added,  that  goods  may  be  recovered,  and  are  actually  very 
often  recovered  ;  but  it  is  extremely  difficult,  and  ordinarily 
impossible,  for  persons  whose  reputation  evil-speaking  has 
violated  to  repair  the  loss.  And  though  the  wound  which  an 
evil-speaker  has  given  may  be  cured,  yet  it  is  scarcely  ever  so 
well  and  perfectly  done,  as  to  leave  no  scar  remaining. 

But  besides  reputation,  which  evil-speaking  properly  attacks, 
it  most  commonly  takes  away  some  of  those  other  goods  which 
depend  upon  it  ;  yea,  sometimes  life  itself.  For  both  the  af- 
fection of  our  friends,  and  the  edification  we  afford  our  neigh- 
bours, being  consequences  of  the  esteem  they  have  for  us  ; 
who  sees  not,  that  the  blows  of  a  slanderous  tongue  deprive 
us  of  both  these  good  things,  in  ruining  that  good  opinion 
which  was  entertained  of  us  ?  And  if  the  person  who  takes 
in  the  poisons  of  evil-speaking  be  potent,  and  in  high  author- 
ity, how  unspeakable  are  the  miseries,  and  mournful  the  effects, 
which  it  produces!  It  was  this  accursed  evil  that  formerly 
ruined  David  with  king  Saul,  and  drew  upon  him  a  long  and 
a  cruel  persecution.  It  is  this  that  in  the  courts  of  princes, 
and  in  the  families  of  private  men,  daily  causes  thousands  of 
disorders  ;  that  dissolves  the  best  friendships  ;  that  sows  dis- 
trusts ;  that  enkindles  hatreds  ;  that  embroils  quarrels  ;  that 
oppresses  the  innocent;  that  renders  the  fairest  virtues  hide- 
ous, and  the  greatest  abilities  suspected,  often  depriving  church 
and  state  of  the  exquisite  fruits  that  might  be  reaped  from  their 
being  employed.  And  the  psalmist,  to  represent  this  perni- 
cious efficacy  of  evil  speaking,  tells  us  that  its  detractions  are 
"sharp  arrows"  shot  by  a  strong  man,  and  "coals  of  juniper," 
Psal,  cxx  ;  and  Solomon  his  son,  in  a  similar  manner,  com- 
pares the  calumniator  to  a  hammer,  to  a  sword,  and  a  sharp 
arrow  ;  both  of  these  expressions  meaning  that  there  is  in  na- 
ture neither  metal,  nor  fire,  nor  weapon  more  dangerous  than 
the  tongue  of  a  slanderer.  It  is  of  this  we  must  properly  un- 
derstand what  the  apostle  James  says  of  the  tongue  in  general, 
namely,  that  it  is  "  a  fire,"  yea,  "  a  world  of  iniquity,"  which 
"defileth  the  whole  body,  and  setteth  on  fire  the  course  of  na- 


CHAP.  III.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  511 

tare  and  is  set  on  fire  of  hell  ;"  that  "  it  is  an  unruly  evil,  full 
of  deadly  poison,"  James  iii.  6,  8. 

But  setting  aside  the  horrible  effects  which  evil-speaking 
produces  in  all  societies  of  n\en,  its  malignity  and  unright- 
eousness appear  of  themselves.  For  while  the  Lord  desires  us 
to  consider  the  good  qualities  and  perfections  with  which  he 
has  endowed  his  creatures,  to  the  end  that  we  might  praise  and 
esteem  them,  and  imitate  them,  to  his  glory  and  our  own  edifi- 
cation, the  evil-speaker  looks  upon  nothing  but  their  defects 
and  vices.  And  as  vultures  fly  over  fair  meadows,  and  flow- 
ery and  sweet-smelling  fields,  and  alight  only  on  dunghills, 
and  places  full  of  carrion  and  infection  ;  and  as  flies,  without 
touching  the  sound  parts  of  the  body,  fasten  only  upon  sores 
and  ulcers;  so  the  evil-speaker,  without  so  much  as  noticing 
what  is  graceful  and  happy  in  the  lives  of  men,  fo.Us  upon  that 
which  is  weak  and  sickly  in  them.  If  they  have  chanced  to 
stumble,  as  is  very  ordinary  in  this  infirmity  of  our  nature,  it  is 
upon  this  that  he  fixes  ;  in  this  he  takes  pleasure,  this  he  gladly 
exposes  and  publishes,  amplifying  and  exaggerating  it  with  his 
infernal  rhetoric.  It  is  by  this  he  knows  persons,  it  is  by  this 
he  marks  them  out  and  describes  them  ;  as  bad  painters  who  re- 
present nothing  so  exactly  as  the  moles  and  scars  of  the  faces 
which  they  draw,  the  deformity  of  the  nose,  the  protuberance 
of  the  lips,  and  other  such  marks  which  they  have  from  the 
birth,  or  receive  by  some  accident.  Charity  covers  sins,  and 
forgets  them  ;  the  evil-speaker  divulges  them,  and  remembers 
them  perpetually,  and  takes  out  of  the  grave  that  which  had 
been  buried  in  oblivion,  and  brings  it  to  light  again.  He  loves 
pollution,  and  feeds  on  nothing  but  poisons  and  filth.  And 
for  this  end  he  has  always  a  sufiicient  store  of  such  provision 
by  him.  His  memory  is  a  magazine,  or  rather  a  sink,  where 
he  heaps  up  the  villanies,  the  sins,  and  the  scandals,  not  of 
his  own  neighbourhoood,  or  his  own  quarter  only,  but  of  the 
whole  city  ;  yea,  if  he  possibly  can,  of  the  whole  state.  It  is 
from  this  diabolical  treasury  that  he  derives  the  subject  of  his 
sweetest  thoughts  and  most  pleasing  entertainments.  These 
things  are  his  perfumes  and  his  dainties.  But  he  is  not  con- 
tent only  to  rake  together  and  lay  open  the  imperfections 
which  he  finds  in  his  neighbours;  he  is  so  malignant  that  he 
feigns  more,  and  fancies  some  where  there  are  none.  He 
spreads  it  abroad  for  truth  ;  and  that  he  may  persuade  others 
of  it,  he  artificially  colours  his  fictions,  giving  out  shows  for 
truths,  and  shadows  for  substances.  He  so  bitterly  hates  all 
good,  that  where  he  sees  any  he  bespatters,  blackens,  and  dis- 
guises it,  and  causes  it  to  pass  for  evil.  And  as  the  snail  sul- 
lies the  lustre  of  the  fairest  flowers  with  its  sordid  slime;  just 
so  this  bad  man,  by  the  poison  of  his  malignity,  defames  the 
most  grateful  virtues,  and  turns  them  into  vices.     He  takes 


512  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  '  [SERM.  XXXVII. 

valour  for  temerity,  and  patience  for  stupidity;  justice  for 
cruelty,  and  prudence  for  craftiness.  Him  that  is  liberal  he 
calls  prodigal,  and  the  frugal  person  covetous.  If  you  be  re- 
ligious, he  will  not  fail  to  accuse  you  of  superstition  ;  and  if 
you  be  free  and  generous,  and  far  from  superstition,  he  will 
accuse  you  of  being  profane.  In  fact,  there  is  no  virtue  nor 
perfection  for  which  this  wicked  man  has  not  found  an  infa- 
mous name,  taken  from  the  vice  that  borders  next  upon  it.  To 
this  iniquity  he  usually  adds  a  base  and  black  piece  of  treach- 
ery, when,  to  cause  his  poisons  to  be  the  more  easily  swal- 
lowed, he  mischievously  sugars  them,  beginning  his  detractions 
with  a  preface  of  praise,  and  with  an  affected  commendation 
of  the  persons  whom  he  intends  to  revile;  protesting,  at  his 
entrance,  that  he  loves  and  respects  them,  for  the  purpose  of 
creating  a  belief  that  it  is  nothing  but  the  mere  force  and  evi- 
dence of  truth  that  constrains  him  to  speak  evil  of  them.  He 
kisses  his  man  at  meeting,  and  then  murders  him,  as  Joab  for- 
merly did  :  he  crowns  his  victims  before  he  kills  them  :  a  fraud 
which,  notwithstanding  its  ordinary  occurrence,  is  the  blackest 
and  most  malignant  that  can  be  committed. 

After  these  things,  we  need  not  wonder  that  God  and  his 
saints  have  abhorred  evil-speaking,  and  universally  treated  it 
as  one  of  the  most  detestable  vices  in  the  world.  As  for  our 
Lord,  he  forbade  it  expressly  to  Israel  of  old,  in  those  words, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  go  up  and  down  as  a  tale-bearer  among  thy 
people,"  Lev.  xix.  16.  "  Thou  shalt  not  raise  a  false  report," 
Exod.  xxiii.  1.  And  as  for  saints,  David  protests  he  will  cut 
off  the  man  that  slandereth  his  neighbour  privily,  Psa.  ci.  5  ; 
and  among  the  qualities  he  gives  the  persons  who  shall  dwell 
in  God's  holy  hill,  he  says  particularly,  "  he  that  backbiteth 
not  with  his  tongue,  nor  taketh  up  a  reproach  against  his 
neighbour,"  Psal.  xv.  3.  He  curses  this  kind  of  people,  and 
makes  such  vehement  imprecations  against  them,  in  the  109th 
Psalm,  as  we  do  not  find  that  he  ever  used  against  any  other 
sort  of  sinners  ;  and  that  truly  with  much  justice,  for  there  is 
no  vice  more  malignant,  or  upon  which  the  devil's  marks  are 
more  express.  Profit  seduces  the  thief  ;  pleasure  precipitates 
the  fornicator  and  adulterer  ;  the  honour  of  the  world  causes 
the  murderer  to  commit  his  sin.  The  evil-speaker  can  allege 
no  such  motive  ;  it  being  evident  that  he  reaps  from  his  vice 
no  fruit  at  all.  There  redounds  thence  to  him  neither  honour, 
nor  profit,  nor  pleasure.  "  What  shall  be  given  unto  thee," 
says  the  psalmist  to  him,  "or  what  shall  be  done  unto  thee, 
thou  false  tongue?"  Psal.  cxx.  3  ;  as  if  he  had  said  that  he 
could  draw  no  advantage  from  it,  and  that  by  wounding  and 
wronging  others  he  got  nothing  for  himself.  It  is  a  mere  sin, 
a  thing  that  has  no  allurement  or  temptation  to  excuse  it  ;  af- 
fording him  that  commits  it  nothing  but  the  pleasure  of  the 


CHAP.  III.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  513 

devil,  who  loves  evil  for  its  own  sake,  and  seeks  no  other  satis- 
faction in  sin  than  the  mere  commission  of  it.  Accordingly, 
you  see  that  detraction  and  calumny  is  the  proper  exercise 
of  the  devil.  At  the  beginning  he  slandered  God  to  man,  in- 
ducing him  falsely  to  believe  that  God  envied  his  perfection. 
He  slanders  men  to  God,  mischievously  accusing  in  his  pres- 
ence the  service  they  render  to  him,  of  hypocrisy  and  impiety, 
as  you  see  in  the  history  of  Job.  It  is  for  this  he  goeth  to 
and  fro  in  the  earth,  and  walketh  up  and  down  in  it.  He  takes 
all  this  pains  only  to  find  food  for  his  evil-speaking,  and  mat- 
ter for  calumniation.  And  it  is  in  this  character  John  de- 
scribes him  in  the  Apocalypse,  as  "  the  accuser  of  our  brethren, 
which  accused  them  before  our  God  day  and  night,"  Eev.  xii. 
10.  There  are  then  no  sinners  who  more  resemble  this  un- 
clean and  accursed  spirit  than  evil-speakers.  Their  vice,  and 
the  pleasure  they  take  in  it,  is  the  true  and  genuine  image  of 
Satan.  Certainly  the  apostle  accounted  this  sin  so  horrible, 
and  so  contrary  to  the  legitimate  and  natural  constitution  of 
men,  that  he  expressly  puts  detraction  and  evil-speaking 
among  the  fruits  of  that  reprobate  mind  to  which  the  Gentiles 
were  delivered  up  because  of  their  impiety,  Eom.  i.  29,  80. 
And  elsewhere  he  instructs  us  to  hold  evil-speakers  for 
anathematized  and  excommunicated  persons,  with  whom  we 
should  have  no  commerce  ;  but  drive  them  even  from  our 
tables,  as  infamous  harpies  that  would  pollute  our  repasts. 
"  I  have  written  unto  you,"  says  he,  "  not  to  keep  company, 
if  any  man.  that  is  called  a  brother  be  a  fornicator,  or  evil- 
speaker  ;  with  such  an  one  no  not  to  eat,"  1  Cor.  v.  11.  And 
as  he  banishes  them  from  our  communion  in  this  world,  so  he 
expressly  enrols  them  among  those  who  "  shall  have  no  part 
in  the  kingdom  of  God,"  in  the  world  to  come,  1  Cor.  vi.  10. 

Flee  then,  beloved  brethren,  this  mortal  pest.  Let  not  the 
bad  examples  and  vain  opinions  of  the  world,  which  esteems 
and  caresses  it,  deceive  you.  It  is  not  by  the  examples  nor 
maxims  of  this  generation  that  a  christian  ought  to  shape  his 
conversation.  Whatever  disguise  may  be  put  upon  it,  the  in- 
trinsic nature  of  this  vice  cannot  be  changed.  The  good  com- 
panies in  which  it  is  found,  the  audience  that  is  given  it,  the 
colours  with  which  it  is  decked,  do  not  hinder  this  evil-speak- 
ing from  being  blasted  and  accursed  by  our  Lord,  detested  and 
interdicted  by  his  holy  ministers  ;  the  image  and  character 
of  Satan  ;  the  daughter  of  envy,  hatred,  anger,  and  malignity; 
the  mother  of  scandals  ;  the  incentive  of  discords  ;  the  scourge 
of  all  human  societies,  and  at  last  an  infallible  iuheretrix  of 
hell.  Flatter  not  yourselves,  ye  evil-speakers.  Acknowledge 
the  heinousness  of  your  vice,  and  renounce  it  betimes  ;  and 
know  that  otherwise  you  can  have  no  part  either  in  the  grace 
or  glory  of  Christ  Jesus.  Do  not  tell  me  that  you  say  nothing 
65 


514:  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.XXXVII. 

but  what  is  true.  I  doubt  it  much  ;  it  being  difficult  for  an 
evil-speaker  to  tell  any  story  of  his  neighbours,  and  not  add 
something  of  his  own.  Yet  suppose  it  to  be  so,  and  that  the 
persons  you  censure  are  in  truth  guilty  of  all  the  turpitude 
you  impute  to  them  ;  you  greatly  deceive  yourselves,  if  you 
think  to  be  exempted  from  evil-speaking  thereby.  Doeg  re- 
ported to  Saul  that  he  saw  David  with  Ahimelech  the  priest, 
1  Sam.  xxii.  And  the  Jews  testified  that  the  Lord  Jesus  had 
said  he  would  raise  the  temple  again  in  three  days,  Mark  xiv. 
58.  Both  were  true  ;  and  yet  the  scripture  condemns  both 
Doeg  and  those  Jews  as  very  calumniators  and  false  witnesses  ; 
and  that  justly,  because  their  design  in  saying  such  things  was 
to  offend  the  reputation  of  those  of  whom  they  spake,  and  to 
hurt  them.  And,  in  general,  whoever  says  evil  of  his  neigh- 
bour is  guilty  of  evil-speaking,  though  what  he  says  of  him 
is  true,  if  he  say  it  without  necessity,  in  places,  at  times,  and 
unto  persons  where  there  is  no  occasion  to  say  it.  To  have 
discovered  a  fault  is  an  evil,  seeing  that  fear  of  scandal  obliges 
us  to  hide  it  ;  and  to  wound  by  so  doing  the  reputation  of  the 
faulty,  is  yet  a  further  evil  ;  it  being  evident  that,  except  his 
salvation  or  public  edification  compel  us,  we  ought  not  to 
awaken  up  nor  stir  such  things.  Neither  excuse  yourselves 
again,  by  saying  that  it  is  not  a  design  to  harm  your  neigh- 
bour, nor  any  hatred  you  bear  him,  that  prompts  you  to  speak 
amiss  of  him  ;  but  what  you  say  is  only  to  pass  the  time  for 
want  of  better  discourse.  Wretched  man,  how  would  you 
deal  with  him  if  you  hated  him,  since,  having  not,  as  you  say, 
any  ill  will  against  him,  you  hesitate  not  to  wound  him  in 
this  manner  ?  Your  soul  must  needs  be  infinitely  malign, 
since  it  makes  a  pastime  of  offending  a  person  whom  you  hate 
not.  As  if  a  man,  and  he  too  a  christian,  had  not  matter 
enough  to  employ  his  tongue  in  celebrating  the  wonders  of 
God,  and  perfections  of  his  creatures,  and  as  if  it  were  not  a 
much  greater  pleasure  to  speak  of  good  than  of  evil.  Eenounce 
then,  henceforth,  this  unworthy  and  infamous  exercise,  and 
leave  it  to  devils,  to  whom  it  belongs,  and  to  those  baser  and 
more  impure  spirits  which  resemble  them.  Put  away  all  evil- 
speaking  out  of  your  mouth,  and  consecrate  your  tongues  to 
the  blessing  of  God  and  the  edifying  of  men.  Remember  that 
excellent  rule  which  the  Lord  has  given  us,  "  All  things  what- 
soever ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to 
them,"  Matt.  vii.  12.  There  is  not  one  of  you  that  does  not 
consider  it  a  grievous  offence  to  be  slandered  and  ill  spoken 
of;  take  heed,  then,  of  treating  others  in  that  manner:  cover 
their  defects,  if  they  have  any  ;  hide  their  faults,  if  they  have 
happened  to  commit  any  ;  considering  that  you  also  are  not 
exempted,  and  have  need  of  the  charity  you  exercise  towards 
them.     Employ  yourselves  in  curing  your  own  evils,  rather 


CHAP.  III.]  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS.  515 

than  in  discovering  those  of  other  men  ;  and  be  more  solici- 
tous to  correct  your  own  defects,  than  curious  to  learn  or  pub- 
lish theirs.  Seek  your  contentment  in  your  own  good  deeds, 
and  not  in  the  evils  of  others.  And  as  it  is  not  sufficient  for 
a  man  that  he  does  not  steal,  but  he  must  also  not  conceal  an- 
other's theft  ;  so  it  is  not  sufficient,  my  brethren,  that  we  re- 
frain from  evil-speaking  ourselves,  we  must  not  so  much  as 
entertain  the  evil-speakings  of  others.  Let  us  keep  our  ears 
as  well  as  our  mouths  pure  and  free  from  this  poison.  Let  us 
defend  the  absent,  when  they  are  ill-spoken  of  in  our  presence  ; 
favour  their  honour  ;  and  if  we  cannot  otherwise  do  it,  at 
least  let  us  declare  by  our  looks  and  countenance  how  trouble- 
some detractive  discourses  are  to  us.  This  is  often  sufficient 
to  silence  them  ;  for  the  vice  is  so  weak  and  so  shameful  in  it- 
self, that,  to  beat  it  down,  we  need  only  to  put  it  back.  And 
this  is  the  wise  man's  meaning,  when  he  says,  that  as  "  the 
north  wind  driveth  away  rain,  so  doth  an  angry  countenance 
a  backbiting  tongue,"  Prov.  xxv.  23. 

But  having  spoken  of  detraction,  it  is  time  to  come  to  the 
other  vice,  of  which  the  apostle  here  would  purge  our  mouths. 
"Put  away,"  says  he,  "filthy  communication  out  of  your 
mouths."  This  is  so  shameful  a  practice,  that  it  has  no  place 
in  the  manners  of  the  people  of  the  world,  who  have  ever  so 
little  honesty  and  gravity.  And  I  cannot  enough  wonder  at 
the  extravagance  of  the  ancient  Stoic  philosophers,  who,  main- 
taining virtue  and  honesty  as  to  other  things,  still  permitted 
their  wise  man  to  utter  the  most  unseemly  matters,  shamelessly 
and  without  any  cover  whatever.  It  is  certain  that  this  licen- 
tiousness of  the  tongue  cannot  come  but  from  the  uncleanness 
of  the  heart  ;  a  soul  chaste  and  truly  holy,  having  all  images 
of  filthiness  in  abhorrence.  And  as  this  impurity  of  speech 
arises  from  corruption,  so  it  evidently  tends  to  it,  infecting  the 
minds  and  affections  of  those  who  hear  it.  And  to  this  that 
Greek  proverb,  which  the  apostle  elsewhere  mentions,  must  be 
particularly  referred,  that  "evil  communications  corrupt  good 
manners,"  1  Cor.  xv.  33.  For  such  discourses  bring  into  our 
spirit  filthy  and  abominable  images,  which,  being  received, 
make  impression,  and  growing  familiar  with  us  by  degrees 
take  away  the  shame  and  horror  we  ought  to  have  at  dishonest 
things.  I  say  as  much  of  the  unclean  and  perverse  artifice  of 
those  who  hide  the  impurity  of  their  thoughts  under  covered 
speeches,  and  of  a  double  meaning.  For  it  is  these  sayings 
that  sink  deepest  into  the  imagination,  and  do  so  much  the 
more  harm,  as  they  are  closer  and  more  witty.  And  here  I 
cannot  forbear  complaining  of  their  abuse  also  who  have  ad- 
ministered auricular  confession,  as  they  call  it,  among  chris- 
tians, since  it  has  been  in  use.  For  these  men,  under  pretext 
of  informing  themselves  of  the  state   of  the  souls  of  those 


516  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXTLI. 

whom  they  confess,  often  put  strange  questions  to  them,  and 
such  as  ill  accord  with  modesty  ;  whereby  they  commit  two 
faults  :  the  one  is,  that,  contrary  to  the  apostle's  express  pro- 
hibition, both  here  and  elsewhere,  they  license  themselves  to 
say  and  hear  dishonest  things,  changing  the  tongue  of  minis- 
ters of  Jesus  Cnrist,  which  should  be  nothing  but  sanctity  and 
honesty,  into  a  vessel  of  uncleanness,  and  their  ear  into  a  pub- 
lic sink  of  all  the  filth  of  a  parish.  The  other  is,  that  by  such 
demands  they  open  people's  hearts  to  vice,  and  most  danger- 
ously put  them  in  mind  of  evils  of  which  they  perhaps  would 
never  have  thought.  They  are  come  so  far  in  this  matter, 
that,  not  content  with  corners,  and  the  secret  of  their  confes- 
sionals, they  have  also  published  great  books  upon  this  sub- 
ject, which  the  most  shameless  would  be  hardly  able  to  read 
without  blushing.  Such,  among  others,  is  that  of  a  Spanish 
Jesuit,*  in  which  he  has  heaped  together  so  much  filth,  yea, 
some  until  now  unheard  of  in  the  world,  that  other  doctors 
of  the  Eoman  communion  have  been  forced  to  make  public 
declaration  of  the  indignation  and  horror  which  this  infamous 
volume  has  produced  in  them  ;  though  otherwise  both  the  wri- 
ting and  the  author  are  infinitely  esteemed  by  those  of  his  own 
order.  As  for  us,  my  brethren,  who  are  not  in  truth  the  com- 
panions, (as  these  gentlemen  qualify  themselves,)  but  the  ser- 
vants and  disciples,  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  let  us  form  our  mouths 
after  his  most  holy  example,  and  by  the  rules  of  his  apostles. 
Let  there  be  nothing  in  our  language  but  what  is  honest,  se- 
rious, and  seasoned  with  the  salt  of  grace,  worthy  of  the  ear, 
not  only  of  the  chastest  virgins,  but  of  angels  themselves. 
For  it  is  for  this  use  that  the  Lord  has  given  us  a  tongue,  not 
to  pollute  the  ears  of  our  neighbours,  not  to  teach  them  evils 
they  know  not,  nor  to  induce  them  to  discover  to  us  what  they 
know  ;  but  indeed,  to  edify  them,  to  glorify  the  name  of  God, 
to  show  forth  his  wonders,  and  speak  that  language  in  this 
world  which  we  shall  eternally  speak  in  that  holy  and  glorious 
Jerusalem  on  high,  into  which  no  impurity  nor  filthiness  shall 
enter. 

There  remains  the  third  vice,  of  which  the  apostle  would 
purge  our  speech,  that  is,  lying — a  vice  that  has  greatest  ex- 
tent of  all  the  rest,  and  such  as  men  slip  into  with  most  facil- 
ity; "Lie  not,"  says  he,  "one  to  another."  Truth  is  properly 
a  correspondence  and  conformity  of  our  conceptions  with 
their  object,  when  the  image  we  form  of  it  in  our  minds  is 
such  as  the  thing  itself  to  which  it  has  relation,  as  when  we 
believe  that  a  thing  is  or  is  not,  which  accordingly  is  or  is  not 
indeed.  But  truth  of  speech,  to  which  lying  is  opposed,  is 
measured  by  our  conception,  and  not  by  the  thing  which  is 

*  P.  Aurelius. 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  517 

the  object  of  it  ;  that  is,  our  speaking  is  true  when  it  ac- 
cords, not  with  the  thing  itself  immediately,  but  with  the 
conception  we  have  of  it.  It  therefore  frequently  happens 
that  a  man  speaks  a  thing  which  is  false,  yet  does  not  lie  ; 
and,  on  the  contrary,  sometimes  lies,  though  what  he  utters 
is  in  itself  true:  as  when  Jacob  said  that  his  son  Joseph 
was  dead,  he  lied  not,  because  his  tongue,  in  what  he  ut- 
tered, accorded  with  his  heart,  though  the  thing  spoken  was 
nqt  true;  and,  on  the  contrary,  if  he  had  said,  against  the 
belief  of  his  soul,  that  Joseph  had  been  alive,  he  had  lied, 
since  he  had  spoken  contrary  to  his  own  thought,  though 
what  he  had  said  in  that  case  would  have  been  in  itself 
true.  Man,  being  a  reasonable  creature,  is  bound  to  endea- 
vour not  to  possess  any  opinion  or  sentiment  in  anything 
but  what  is  true  and  conformable  to  the  reality  of  the 
thing,  heedfully  keeping  himself  from  being  surprised,  and 
from  falling  into  any  error  ;  yet  this  is  not  properly  the  duty 
which  the  apostle  requires  of  us  here.  As  indeed  we  must 
acknowledge,  that  through  the  weakness  of  our  apprehensions 
and  understandings,  and  amid  that  infinity  of  false  appearances 
with  which  things  or  men  continually  present  us,  it  would  be 
very  difficult,  not  to  say  impossible,  to  preserve  ourselves 
from  all  error,  and  never  be  deceived  in  common  life.  The 
apostle  demands  of  us  a  very  easy  and  just  thing,  even  that  we 
never  speak  anything  but  what  we  believe  to  be  true  ;  and 
that  in  the  commerce  which  we  have  with  men  our  language  be 
sincere  and  faithful,  without  fraud  and  without  fallacy;  na- 
turally representing  without  what  we  conceive  within  ;  and 
that  we  never  say  one  thing  and  think  the  contrary.  The 
Scripture  teaches  us,  in  a  multitude  of  places,  that  God  hates 
lying  more  than  any  other  vice;  and  the  wise  man  says  ex- 
pressly, that  lying  lips  are  an  abomination  to  him.  Prov.  xii.  22. 
The  psalmist  also,  among  other  marks  which  he  gives  to  the  in- 
habitants of  the  hill  of  God,  puts  this  for  the  very  first,  that 
they  walk  uprightly,  and  work  righteousness,  and  speak  the 
truth  in,  or  as  it  is  in,  their  heart,  Psal.  xv.  2  ;  and  elsewhere 
he  says  peremptorily,  that  God  will  "  destroy  them  that  speak 
leasing,"  Psal.  v.  6.  In  sum,  John  proclaims  in  his  Revelation, 
chap.  xxi.  8,  that  the  portion  of  "  all  liars"  shall  be  in  "  the 
lake  which  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone."  Whence  you 
see  that  the  question  here  is  not  respecting  a  matter  of  decency, 
but  a  necessary  duty,  in  which  we  may  not  fail  without  incur- 
ring perdition.  The  justice  of  it  is  so  evident,  that  the  sages 
of  the  pagans  themselves  have  acknowledged  it;  leaving  us  in 
their  books  a  thousand  notable  intimations  of  that  roundness, 
and  simplicity,  and  truth,  which  a  man  of  honour  and  pro- 
bity should  inviolably  observe  in  his  whole  life.  For  speech 
having  been  given  to  us  by  nature,  or  rather  by  the  God  of 


518  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SEEM.  XXXVII. 

nature,  to  the  end  that  we  might  signify  and  declare  to  our 
neighbours  what  we  have  in  our  hearts,  it  is  clear  that  an 
abuse  of  it,  to  signify  that  which  we  do  not  think,  is  a  violation 
of  the  law  and  institution  of  nature.  And  all  true  and  gen- 
erous minds  have  this  sentiment  so  imprinted  on  them,  that 
they  cannot  endure  double  persons  ;  consequently,  the  prince 
of  heathen  poets  makes  his  hero  say,  He  hates  no  less  than 
the  gates  of  hell  the  man  that  says  one  thing,  and  hides  in  his 
heart  another.  Lying  is  a  slavish  vice,  that  proceeds  either 
from  baseness  of  spirit,  from  badness  of  conscience,  or  from 
vanity.  Accordingly,  you  see,  that  it  is  extremely  odious 
among  all  noble  and  civilized  nations,  and  particularly  in  ours, 
where  you  know  there  is  no  outrage  that  is  accounted  more 
grievous,  and  more  to  be  resented  than  to  charge  a  man  with 
lying.  He  who  suffers  it  without  justifying  himself  is  held  to 
be  a  man  lost  in  honour,  not  among  gentlemen  only,  but  even 
among  people  of  meaner  birth  ;  this  generous  and  true  senti- 
ment having  been  handed  down  to  us  by  our  ancestors,  that 
lying  is  an  infamous  thing,  and  the  mark  of  a  soul  either 
wicked  or  witless  ;  and  that  he  who  is  not  ashamed  of  it  will 
make  conscience  of  nothing  ;  as,  on  the  contrary,  truth  is  the 
foundation  of  all  virtue  and  honesty.  But  the  Scripture 
shows  us  in  two  clauses  what  we  should  think  of  it,  when,  on 
the  one  hand,  it  names  the  devil  the  father  of  lies  ;  and,  on 
the  other,  calls  the  Lord  the  God  of  truth,  and  his  eternal  Sou 
the  truth  itself;  a  consideration  that  renders  the  temerity  of 
those  so  much  the  more  insufferable,  who,  styling  themselves 
the  companions  of  Jesus,  have  not  blushed  to  favour  lying, 
by  that  doctrine  of  equivocations  and  mental  reservations,  as 
they  call  them,  which  they  have  published  and  practised  in 
these  last  times.  "  But  ye  have  not  so  learned  Christ,  if  so 
be  that  ye  have  heard  him,  and  have  been  taught  by  him,  as 
the  truth  is  in  Jesus,"  Eph.  iv.  20.  He  hates  all  lying  and  ob- 
liquity, in  whatever  manner  they  are  disguised  ;  and  would 
not  have  his  truth  dishonoured  by  begging  from  its  enemies' 
hand  the  help  which  it  needs  ;  that  is,  he  would  by  no  means 
have  fraud  and  fallacy  employed  on  his  behalf;  his  providence 
is  potent  enough  to  defend  it  without  such  infamous  succour. 
It  is  a  maxim  of  his  apostles,  that  we  must  not  do  evil  that 
good  may  come.  Lying  is  an  evil  contrary  to  the  law  of  God 
and  the  ordinances  of  nature  :  there  cannot  therefore  be  any 
reason  which  gives  us  a  dispensation  to  commit  it. 

Thus  you  see,  beloved  brethren,  that  which  we  had  to  explain 
concerning  these  three  vices,  which  the  apostle  here  banishes 
from  the  mouths  of  christians,  evil-speaking,  impurity,  and 
lying.  Let  us  obey  his  holy  doctrine,  and  remembering  that, 
according  to  James,  "  He  that  ofifendeth  not  in  word,  the  same 
is  a  perfect  man,"  let  us  diligently  purge  ours  from  all  these 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  519 

impurities;  and  so  govern  our  tongue,  that  it  may  not  speak 
but  of  wisdom,  nor  pronounce  but  of  judgment,  and  that  all 
our  discourses  may  be  full  of  goodness,  honesty,  and  truth  ; 
so  that  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  who  is  charity,  purity,  and 
sovereign  truth,  may  own  us  for  his,  and  after  the  conflicts 
and  trials  of  this  life  give  us  part  in  the  peace  and  triumphs 
of  the  next  ;  receiving  us  into  the  society  of  those  pure 
and  holy  spirits  who  live  on  high  in  the  heavens  with  him,  to 
bless  him  for  ever  ;  as  unto  him,  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  only  true  God,  belong  all  honour  and  glory.   Amen. 


SERMON  XXXVIII. 

VERSES   9 — 11. 

Seeing  that  ye  have  put  off  the  old  man  with  his  deeds  ;  and  have 
put  on  the  netv  man,  lohich  is  renewed  in  knowledge  after  the 
image  of  him  that  created  him  :  where  there  is  neither  Qreeh 
nor  Jeiv^  circumcision  nor  uncircumcision,  Barharian,  Scy- 
thian, bond  nor  free:  but  Christ  is  all,  and  in  all. 

Dear  brethren,  I  know,  and  freely  confess,  that  being  called 
this  day,  through  the  goodness  of  God,  to  celebrate  the  mem- 
ory of  the  death  and  passion  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  it  is 
my  duty,  in  order  that  you  may  be  prepared  for  so  important 
a  service,  to  occupy  your  attention  with  things  that  relate  to 
this  great  and  divine  mystery.  But  as  I  acknowledge  that 
this  is  properly  the  service  in  which  I  should  employ  this 
hour;  so  I  conceive  that  these  words  of  the  apostle  Paul, 
which  you  have  heard,  and  which  occur  in  the  chain  of  our 
ordinary  text,  are  very  suitable  to  that  principal  subject  of 
our  exhortation.  For  this  putting  off  the  old  man,  and  this 
putting  on  the  new,  of  which  they  tell  us,  are  both  of  them 
the  true  effects  of  this  death  of  our  Lord,  the  r-emembrance  of 
which  we  solemnize.  If  Jesus  had  not  died,  we  should  never 
have  put  off  the  old  man,  nor  put  on  the  new  ;  since  that 
without  his  death  we  could  not  have  had  the  pardon  of  our 
sins,  nor  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  nor  the  hope  of  immor- 
tality ;  all  which  are  things  absolutely  necessary  for  divesting 
us  of  the  old  man,  and  reinvesting  us  with  the  new.  But  Jesus 
Christ  having  died  on  the  cross,  has  there  pierced  through  and 
fastened  up  our  old  man  ;  and  by  the  virtue  of  his  sufferings 
created  and  formed  in  us  another  new  man,  as  different  from 
the  old  as  heaven  from  the  earth,  and  life  from  death.     There- 


520  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXXVIII. 

fore  the  apostle  elsewhere  concludes,  from  the  death  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  death  of  the  old  man  in  us,  and  the  life  of  the  new. 
"If  one  died  for  all,"  says  he,  "then  were  all  dead:  and  he 
died  for  all  that  they  which  live  should  not  henceforth  live  unto 
themselves,  but  unto  him  which  died  for  them,  and  rose  again. 
If  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature,"  2  Cor.  v.  14, 
15,  17.  And  in  another  place  he  says  expressly,  that  our  old 
man  was  crucified  with  Christ,  that  the  body  of  sin  might  be 
destroyed,  and  that  we,  being  dead  to  sin,  might  live  to  God 
through  him,  Eom.  vi.  6,  11.  Thus  the  death  of  Christ  is  at 
once  the  destruction  of  the  old  man  and  the  production  of  the 
new  ;  the  one  was  abolished  by  it,  and  the  other  created.  This 
flesh  of  the  mystical  Lamb,  which  God  to-day  presents  to  us, 
has  slain  our  flesh  and  enlivened  our  spirit  ;  and  from  his  di- 
vine blood,  in  which  the  old  man  is  drowned,  has  issued  forth 
the  new,  created  in  righteousness  and  holiness  ;  like  as  for- 
merly the  Israelite  was  seen  to  come  out  alive  and  glorious 
from  that  very  gulf  of  the  Eed  Sea  in  which  the  Egyptian  lay 
sunk  and  overwhelmed. 

But,  0  new  wonder  !  as  our  Lord's  flesh  and  blood  is  the 
principle  that  gives  being  to  our  new  man,  so  is  it  also  his 
nutriment.  And  as  in  nature,  things  are  sustained  by  the 
same  means  which  produced  them  ;  so  in  grace,  the  new  man 
is  preserved,  increased,  and  strengthened  by  the  same  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ  out  of  which  he  was  formed.  And  that  heavenly 
meat  and  divine  drink,  which  you  shall  presently  receive  from 
the  hand  of  God,  are  not  given  you  but  for  feeding  and  per- 
fecting your  new  man.  I  go  yet  further,  and  venture  to  say, 
that  this  new  man,  with  whom  the  apostle  would  at  this  time 
invest  you,  is  none  other,  rightly  considered,  than  the  same 
Jesus  Christ  whom  we  have  put  on  at  baptism,  and  whom  we 
receive  in  the  supper,  propagated  (if  I  may  so  speak)  and  por- 
trayed in  us  by  his  own  power  ;  who  transforms  us  into  the 
likeness  of  his  death  and  resurrection,  because  that  entering 
into  and  dwelling  in  us,  he  forms  in  us  a  man  like  himself; 
who,  as  he  did,  dieth  unto  the  flesh  ;  and  with  him,  leaves  in 
his  sepulchre  all  his  old  life,  as  an  infirm  and  useless  oflal  ; 
and  being  enlivened  with  him,  and  adorned  with  his  light,  and 
endowed  with  a  heavenly  nature,  leads  thenceforth  a  spiritual 
and  glorious  life.  Thus  you  see  that  the  body  of  Christ  was 
crucified  and  his  blood  shed  ;  and  that  both  are  given  us  in 
the  supper,  to  divest  us  of  the  old  man,  and  invest  us  with  the 
new.  This  is  the  end  and  fruit  of  all  that  mystery,  to  the 
participation  of  which  you  are  this  day  called.  Consider, 
then,  that  the  best  preparation  you  can  bring  to  it  is  a  serious 
meditation  upon  what  the  apostle  here  informs  us.  He  ex- 
horted the  Colossians  before  to  mortify  the  vices  of  their  flesh, 
and  all  the  infamous  passions  of  that  pagan  life  which  they 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  521 

had  previously  led  in  the  darkness  of  their  ignorance  ;  as 
fornication,  covetousness,  anger,  evil-speaking,  impurity  of 
language,  and  lying.  Now,  to  root  up  these  and  other  such 
vices,  and  to  comprise  all  the  parts  of  sanctification  in  a  few 
words,  he  commands  us  to  put  off  the  old  man  with  his 
deeds,  &c. 

There  are  others  who  take  these  words  for  a  reason  of  his 
preceding  exhortation,  drawn  from  that  state  into  which  Jesus 
Christ  had  put  them  by  baptism  ;  as  if  his  meaning  were,  that 
they  are  obliged  to  renounce  the  vices  he  had  been  forbidding 
them  ;  since  in  their  baptism  they  put  off"  the  old  man,  on 
which  these  vices  depend,  and  of  which  they  make  up  a  part  ; 
and  put  on  the  new,  which  is  contrary  to  and  incompatible 
with  them.  Whether  you  understand  it  thus,  or  take  the  text 
simply  for  a  prosecution  of  the  preceding  command,  showing 
us  that,  for  the  due  execution  of  it,  we  must  perform  what  is 
here  added,  all  amounts  to  nearly  the  same  sense.  And  for 
rightly  comprehending  it,  we  will  treat,  if  God  permit,  of  the 
three  points  which  offer  themselves  in  the  apostle's  words  : 
first,  of  the  old  man,  which  we  must  put  off;  secondly,  of  the 
new,  which  we  must  put  on,  and  the  form  in  which  it  consists, 
namely,  a  renewing  in  knowledge,  after  the  image  of  him  who 
created  it  ;  and  lastly,  of  that  indifference  of  nations,  and  cere- 
monies, and  conditions,  which  the  apostle  aflfirms  in  this  mat- 
ter, requiring  nothing  in  reference  to  it  but  Christ,  who  is  the 
all  of  it,  and  in  all.  May  it  please  God  so  to  enlighten  our 
understandings  rightly  to  discern  this  saving  truth,  and  touch 
our  hearts  to  love  and  practise  it  ;  effectually  sanctifying  us 
by  the  virtue  of  his  word  and  precious  sacrament,  that  we  may 
all  go  out  hence  new  men,  conformed  in  purity,  and  charity, 
and  every  virtue,  to  that  Lord  Jesus,  in  whose  name  and  com- 
munion we  by  his  grace  do  glory. 

I.  The  Scripture  sets  before  us  the  person  of  Adam,  and  of 
Jesus  Christ,  as  two  different  stocks  of  mankind,  or  as  it  were 
two  opposite  heads,  or  principles  of  this  nature,  which  we  call 
human.  They  have  this  in  common,  that  both  have  a  great 
number  of  children,  which  are  issued  from  them,  and  depend 
upon  them  ;  and  that  each  of  them  communicates  to  his  own 
his  being,  his  form,  his  life,  and  his  condition,  imprinting  his 
image  on  them,  which  every  one  of  them  bears  according  to 
the  quality  of  his  extraction.  They  differ,  or  rather  are  oppo- 
site, in  that  one  is  earthy,  the  other  heavenly  ;  one  has  a  car- 
nal, vicious,  infirm  nature,  full  of  ignorance  and  error,  and  sub- 
ject to  death  and  the  curse  ;  the  other  has  a  spiritual,  holy  na- 
ture, full  of  light  and  wisdom,  acceptable  unto  God,  immortal, 
and  inheriting  eternity.  The  one  propagates  in  his  children 
sin  and  death;  the  other  communicates  to  them  his  righteous- 
ness, holiness,  and  life.  The  one  transmits  his  nature  by  a 
66 


522  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXVIIL 

carnal  generation  ;  the  other  imparts  his  to  his  descendants  by 
a  spiritual  generation,  and  such  a  one  as  has  nothing  in  com- 
mon with  flesh  and  blood.  The  nature  of  the  one  is  depraved 
by  the  impoisoned  breath  of  the  old  serpent,  which  creeps  on 
the  ground,  and  lives  on  the  dust  thereof;  that  of  the  other 
has  been  formed  and  preserved  by  the  eternal  and  celestial 
Spirit.  It  is  for  these  reasons  that  the  Scripture  calls  each  of 
these  two  persons  simply  man,  because  of  their  advantage,  and 
their  holding  the  first  and  principal  rank,  each  of  them  in  his 
kind.  For  the  same  reason  again,  it  gives  each  of  these  two 
persons  the  name  Adam  ;  because  they  are  each  of  them  the 
Adam,  that  is  to  say,  the  father  and  author  of  his  order  ;  the 
one  of  sin  and  death,  the  other  of  righteousness  and  life.  But, 
to  distinguish  them,  it  calls  the  one  the  first  man,  and  the  first 
Adam  ;  the  other  the  second  man,  and  the  last  Adam,  1  Cor. 
XV.  45,  47.  The  former,  having  corrupted  himself  by  his  dis- 
obedience, has  also  infected  us,  leaving  us  vice  and  the  curse 
for  an  inheritance.  The  latter,  having  repaired  our  fault  by 
his  obedience,  has  given  us  righteousness,  holiness,  and  immor- 
tality. Adam  is  styled  the  first  man,  and  Jesus  Christ  the  se- 
cond; because  the  one's  corrupting  preceded  the  other's  re- 
pairing and  reforming.  Adam  first  defiled  and  poisoned  his 
nature  by  sin  ;  and  then  Jesus  Christ  manifested  his,  full  of 
grace  and  truth.  It  is  upon  the  same  consideration  that  Adam 
is  called  the  old  man,  and  Jesus  Christ  the  new.  Taking  in 
withal,  that  the  first  Adam  shall  be  destroyed  ;  whereas  the 
second  remains  for  ever.  For  it  is  the  custom  of  Scripture  to 
call  that  old  which  is  ready  to  be  done  away,  and  that  new 
which  is  firm  and  lasting.  But  because  each  of  these  two  men 
communicates  to  those  who  are  his  the  form  and  condition  of 
his  nature,  according  to  that  Scripture  principle,  that  that  which 
is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit 
is  spirit,  John  iii.  6  ;  Paul,  therefore,  giving  the  effect  the  name 
of  its  cause,  by  a  figure  ordinary  in  all  languages,  calls  that 
form  and  condition  of  nature  which  each  of  us  receives  from 
the  first  Adam,  by  carnal  birth,  the  old  man  ;  and,  likewise,  that 
form  and  condition  which  the  faithful  receive  from  Jesus  Christ, 
by  spiritual  regeneration,  the  new  man.  This  is  what  he  means 
here,  when  he  speaks  of  putting  off  the  old  man,  and  putting 
on  the  new  ;  and  elsewhere,  in  a  passage  similar  to  this.  The 
truth,  says  he,  which  ye  have  learnt  in  Jesus,  is,  "  that  ye  put 
off  concerning  the  former  conversation  the  old  man,  which  is 
corrupt  according  to  the  deceitful  lusts  ;  and  that  ye  put  on 
the  new  man,  which  after  God  is  created  in  righteousness  and 
true  holiness,"  Eph.  iv.  22,  24. 

Now  as  to  that  form  of  nature  which  we  all  receive  from  the 
first  Adam  by  our  carnal  birth,  every  one  well  knows  what  it 
is,  and  in  what  it  consists.     For  the  Scripture  declares,  and  all 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  523 

men's  experience  also  teaclies,  that  the  nature  of  the  children 
of  Adam  is  extremely  corrupt  and  vicious  ;  smitten  in  the  un- 
derstanding with  a  horrible  ignorance  and  blindness,  and  full 
of  errors  and  false  and  pernicious  maxims  ;  infected  in  the  will 
with  violent  and  enraged  love  of  a  man's  self,  of  the  flesh,  and 
of  the  earth,  with  brutish  affections  and  passions.  This  nature 
is  nothing  but  pride,  ambition,  injustice,  avarice,  luxury,  envy, 
hatred,  malignity,  imprudence,  fury,  cruelty,  and  inhumanity. 
Such  are  all  Adam's  progeny  while  without  the  communion  of 
Jesus  Christ.  There  are  no  others  born  upon  the  earth  ;  and 
whatever  difference  there  is  between  men,  with  regard  to  cli- 
mate, colour,  and  external  appearance  of  life,  the  blood  from 
which  they  come  imprints  this  wretched  form  upon  them  all  in 
common  ;  which,  seizing  them  at  their  birth,  grows  up  and  is 
augmented  with  age  and  exercise,  rooting  itself  in  them,  and 
thrusting  forth  the  habits  of  various  sins,  which  in  the  end 
render  them  insufferable  to  God  and  their  neighbours.  And 
if  the  providence  of  heaven,  for  the  preservation  of  mankind, 
did  not  repress  the  cursed  fecundity  of  this  evil,  the  disorder 
and  havoc  which  it  makes  would  be  much  greater  than  it  is, 
and  would  proceed  to  infinity.  It  is  then  this  mass  of  corrup- 
tion, this  hydra  of  vices,  which  the  apostle  calls  "the  old  man," 
because  it  is  the  production  of  Adam,  our  old  and  first  stock, 
in  every  one  of  us. 

II.  Hence  it  is  easy  to  understand,  on  the  other  hand,  what 
the  new  man  is  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  form  which  Jesus  Christ, 
the  principle  of  the  second  creation,  puts  upon  each  of  them 
that  are  his.  For  it  is  directly  contrary  to  that  of  the  first 
Adam,  and  comprehends  in  it  all  graces  and  virtues  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  other's  vices,  as  faith,  wisdom,  piety,  charity,  jus- 
tice, meekness,  honesty,  temperance  ;  and,  in  one  word,  a  holi- 
ness like  that  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  image  of  which  it  is  also 
called.  It  is  this  that  Paul  here  styles  "the  new  man,"  be- 
cause it  is  the  work,  and  likewise  the  portrait,  of  the  Lord  Je- 
sus, our  new  Adam.  And  he  describes  it  thus  himself  in  this 
place.  For  as  to  the  old  man,  he  only  names  it,  without  say- 
ing any  more  of  it.  But  he  occasionally  explains  to  us  the 
nature  of  the  new,  saying  that  it  "  is  renewed  in  knowledge, 
after  the  image  of  him  that  created  it."  In  which  few  words 
he  teaches  us,  first,  that  it  is  created  in  us,  that  is,  produced  by 
the  operation  of  a  divine  power  ;  in  consequence  of  which  we 
are  called  the  workmanship  and  the  creatures  of  God  ;  and  the 
apostle  says  elsewhere,  that  we  were  "  created  in  Christ  Jesus," 
Eph.  ii.  10  ;  whereas  the  production  of  the  old  man  in  us  is  not 
a  creation,  but  a  natural  operation.  For  as  it  is  indeed  in  our 
power  to  kill  a  man,  but  there  is  none,  save  God  alone,  that 
can  raise  him  up  again  ;  so  it  was  easy  for  Adam  to  destroy 
himself,  and  all  of  us  with  him,  but  to  recover  and  re-establish 


524:  AN  EXPOSITION   OP  [SERM.  XXXVIII. 

US  belongs  to  God  alone.  Adam  could  corrupt  and  deform  our 
nature  ;  but  neither  he,  nor  any  of  his,  was  able  to  repair  or 
reform  it  into  a  new  man.  This  appertains  to  none  but  the 
Creator.     It  is  the  work  of  a  divine  power. 

Then  again,  the  apostle  shows  us  here  who  it  is  that  creates 
this  new  man  in  us,  saying  that  it  is  the  same  person  after 
whose  image  it  is  created.  For  it  is  clear  that  the  new  man  is 
after  the  image  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is,  then,  Jesus  Christ  that 
creates  it  in  us.  Vain  man,  give  not  the  glory  to  your  pre- 
tended free-will.  It  appertains  wholly  to  the  Lord.  And  we 
may  truly  say  of  this  second  generation,  what  the  psalmist 
sings  of  the  first,  that  it  is  the  Lord,  the  eternal  Word  of  the 
Father,  "  who  hath  made  us,  and  not  we  ourselves,"  Psal. 
c.  3. 

But  the  apostle  in  saying  that  this  new  man  is  renewed, 
teaches  us  another  very  important  lesson,  namely,  that  this 
piece  of  our  regeneration,  or  the  production  of  the  new  man,  is 
polished  and  perfected  by  degrees  in  us  ;  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
working  upon  it  during  the  whole  course  of  our  life  upon 
earth,  and  adorning  this  his  own  creature  by  various  reiterated 
operations  with  the  graces  and  spiritual  beauties  it  ought  to 
possess,  until  it  attain  to  the  utmost  and  highest  point  of  its 
perfection  in  the  heavens,  when  there  shall  be  seen  a  complete 
and  angelical  holiness  shining  forth  in  it  with  glory  and  blessed 
immortality. 

Again,  the  apostle  briefly  touches  upon  the  manner  after 
which,  and  also  the  pattern  by  which,  this  renovation  is 
wrought  in  us.  Respecting  the  manner  of  it,  he  says  that  this 
new  man  is  renewed  in  knowledge  ;  thereby  showing  that 
Jesus  Christ,  for  the  communication  to  us  of  this  new  nature, 
which  is  in  him  as  in  its  source,  gives  us  the  knowledge  of  his 
truth,  and  day  by  day  augments  it  in  us  :  for  as  ignorance  and 
error  are  the  principal  deformities  of  the  old  man,  and  the 
cause  of  all  the  rest  ;  so,  on  the  contrary,  wisdom  and  know- 
ledge are  the  principal  lineaments  of  the  new  man,  by  which 
are  formed  in  us  all  the  other  virtues  in  which  it  consists,  as 
love  of  God,  charity  towards  men,  and  all  the  other  holy  habits 
which  depend  upon  them  ;  it  being  manifest  that  we  love  none 
but  the  things  we  know,  and  that  proportionably  to  the  know- 
ledge which  we  have  of  them.  Wherefore  the  Lord  begins  the 
admirable  work  of  his  grace  by  giving  us  knowledge.  And 
we  have  an  excellent  illustration  of  this  his  method  in  the  first 
creation  of  the  world,  where  Moses  expressly  observes,  that  the 
first  thing  God  created  by  his  word  was  light,  which  is  the 
symbol  of  knowledge,  as  darkness  is  of  ignorance.  At  this  the 
apostle  plainly  points  elsewhere  ;  "  God,  who  commanded  the 
light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  hath  shined  in  our  hearts,"  2 
Cor.  iv.  6.     This  light  of  knowledge,  once  lighted  up  in  our 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  625 

souls  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  quickly  expels  vice  from  them; 
and  showing  us  the  holy  and  glorious  face  of  God  in  Jesus 
Christ,  transforms  us  into  his  likeness,  as  saith  the  same 
apostle  ;  "  We  all,  with  open  face  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the 
glory  of  the  Lord,  are  changed  into  the  same  image,  from  glory 
to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,"  2  Cor.  iii.  18.  It. 
is  this  he  means  iu  the  text,  when  he  says  of  the  new  man  that 
it  is  renewed  after  the  image  of  him  who  created  it,  that  is,  of 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  For  he  properly  is  the  pattern  by 
which  that  new  nature  of  which  we  are  made  partakers  is 
formed.  He  is  both  the  author  and  pattern  of  it  ;  and  it  is 
for  this  that  it  is  called  by  his  name,  that  is,  the  new  man. 
Therefore  the  apostle  elsewhere,  to  express  the  end  and  effect 
of  his  ministry  toward  the  Galatians,  says  that  he  travaileth  in 
birth  until  Christ  be  formed  in  them,  Gal.  iv.  19.  He  had  no 
other  design  but  to  reinvest  them  with  the  new  man.  Certainly 
then  the  new  man  is  nothing  else  but  Jesus  Christ  formed  in 
us  ;  that  is,  nothing  else  but  the  form  of  this  holy  and  blessed 
Lord,  engraven  and  imprinted  on  us  by  the  seal  of  his  word 
and  Spirit,  which  is  precisely  the  thing  he  here  calls  his 
image.  If  you  know  Jesus  Christ,  you  cannot  be  ignorant 
what  this  his  form  and  image  is.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Saint  of 
saints,  a  man  full  of  all  purity,  righteousness,  charity,  patience, 
constancy,  and  truth;  and  indeed  of  all  the  lights  of  holiness. 
Surely  then  his  form  and  image  can  be  no  other  than  a  genuine 
representation  of  these  divine  qualities,  a  soul  in  which  appears 
a  goodness,  a  humility,  an  honesty,  I  say  not  equal,  (for  it  is 
not  possible  to  arrive  at  so  high  a  perfection,)  but  at  least  re- 
sembling his,  and  proportionate  to  it.  And  this  is  that  which 
Paul  elsewhere  comprises  expressly  in  two  words,  saying  that 
"the  new  man  is  created  after  God,  in  righteousness  and  true 
holiness,"  Eph.  iv.  24. 

Thus,  you  see,  brethren,  what  that  old  man  and  what  this  new 
man  is  of  which  the  apostle  speaks  in  this  place.  The  one  is 
the  image  of  the  first  Adam,  and  the  other  of  the  second.  He 
commands  us  to  put  off  the  old  man  with  his  deeds,  and  put  on 
the  new  ;  a  mode  of  speaking  no  less  elegant  than  familiar  in 
Scripture,  which  is  accustomed  to  say  of  all  the  things  that  are 
found  in  any  subject,  that  it  is  clothed  with  them.  As  when 
the  prophets  say  that  God  is  clothed  with  strength,  with  glory, 
and  with  magnificence  ;  that  he  is  clothed  with  justice  ;  that  he 
will  clothe  his  priests  with  salvation,  and  their  enemies  with 
shame  ;  that  he  will  clothe  the  heavens  with  darkness  :  and  so 
in  a  multitude  of  other  places,  where  it  is  evident  that  the  term 
clothing  is  taken  figuratively,  to  express  simply  the  putting 
off"  a  thing  in  any  particular  subject,  whether  it  be  internally  or 
externally.  Whence  it  follows  that  to  put  off,  on  the  contrary,  is 
simply  to  quit  a  thing  which  one  had,  and  rid  himself  of  it.   Thus, 


526  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXVIII. 

to  put  off  the  old  man,  is  nothing  else  but  to  rid  ourselves  of  his 
vices,  and  of  his  corruptions  ;  to  pluck  up,  for  instance,  out  of 
our  hearts  his  covetousness,  and  his  ambition,  and  the  habits 
of  his  other  sins.  But  the  apostle  expressly  adds,  that  we  put 
him  off  with  his  deeds;  that  is  to  say,  that  we  not  only  pluck 
lip  out  of  our  hearts  the  habits  of  vices,  which  are,  as  it  were, 
the  roots  and  stocks  of  it,  but  that  also  we  cut  off  from  our 
lives  all  the  actions,  whether  interior,  as  desires  and  lustings, 
or  exterior,  as  other  sins  which  proceed  from  it,  and  are  so 
many  fruits  of  this  accursed  plant.  For,  to  speak  properly, 
the  old  man  is  one  thing,  and  the  act  of  sin  that  issues  from  it 
another.  The  one  is  the  corruption  itself  of  our  nature,  the 
other  is  the  effect  which  it  produces  ;  the  one  is  as  the  plant, 
and  the  other  as  its  fruit.  For  example,  cruelty  and  covetousness 
are  some  of  the  very  members  of  the  old  man  ;  murder  and  steal- 
ing are  acts  of  it.  The  apostle  directs  us  to  put  off  both,  that 
neither  vice  nor  its  acts  might  have  any  place  in  us.  In  like 
manner,  to  put  on  the  new  man,  is,  on  the  other  hand,  to  deck 
and  adorn  our  understanding,  our  will,  our  affections,  and  all 
the  parts  of  our  life,  with  those  excellent  virtues  in  which  the 
new  man  consists,  as  we  have  said  before  ;  to  labour  at  it 
studiously,  and  take  no  rest  till  we  have  them  formed  in  us,  and 
our  whole  nature  is  covered  and  enriched  with  them. 

But  though  these  two  words,  to  put  off,  and  to  put  on,  are 
in  this  passage  figuratively  taken,  yet  they  show  us,  contrary 
to  the  gross  and  senseless  error  of  some,  that  both  the  old 
man  and  the  new  signify  the  form  and  disposition,  not  the 
substance  and  very  essence  of  our  nature  :  for  when  a  thing 
is  utterly  destroyed,  we  do  not  say  it  puts  off  what  it  had,  but 
that  it  is  perished  ;  and  when  the  substance  of  a  thing  is 
altogether  newly  produced,  we  say  not  that  it  is  clothed,  but 
created  :  so  the  apostle  here  commands  us  to  put  off  the  old 
man,  and  to  put  on  the  new.  It  is  evident  that  in  this  reno- 
vation of  our  nature  we  do  not  lose  the  very  substance  of  it, 
nor  acquire  another  new  one  ;  but  only  quit  that  unworthy 
and  wretched  form  which  sin  gave  it,  and  assume  another, 
which  resembles  that  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  acknowledge  that 
that  old  form  which  we  put  off  had  seized  on,  blasted,  and  dis- 
figured all  the  parts  of  our  nature,  both  internal  and  external; 
as  also  that  the  new  one,  which  we  receive  in  Jesus  Christ,  ex- 
tends itself  likewise  to  them  all  ;  in  which  respect  both  of 
them  differ  from  a  garment,  which  covers  but  the  outside,  and 
reaches  not  further  in  ;  yet  they  both  are,  notwithstanding, 
things  differing  from  the  subject  itself,  which  is  unclothed  or 
clothed  with  them,  as  a  habit  is  a  different  kind  of  thing  to  the 
body  it  covers.  The  one  is  as  it  were  the  rust,  the  poison,  the 
malady,  the  loathsomeness,  and  the  deformity  of  our  nature  ; 
the  other  is  the  beauty,  the  health,  the  perfection,  the  orna- 


CHAP.  III.]        THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  527 

ment,  and  honour  of  it,  and,  as  it  were,  the  jewel  that  gives 
it  all  it  has  of  worth  and  value.  Neither  let  the  terms  of 
old  and  new  man  trouble  you,  for  they  are  often  made  use 
of  in  all  languages  to  signify  the  qualities,  and  not  the  very 
essentials,  of  our  nature,  as  when  we  say  of  a  person  who 
was  once  vicious  and  debauched,  but  is  now  become  honest 
and  virtuous,  that  he  is  another  man,  a  new  man  ;  though,  to 
speak  properly,  he  has  the  same  substance,  the  same  soul  and 
the  same  body,  he  had  before,  and  has  quitted  nothing  of  his 
former  nature  but  the  bad  habits  with  which  it  was  vested, 
not  the  substance  of  his  being.  Thus  it  is  with  regard  to  the 
old  and  new  man  ;  the  substance  of  the  subject  remains  the 
same  under  both  ;  there  is  nothing  changed  but  its  form  and 
quality.  And  it  is  thus  also  that  we  are  to  understand  what, 
after  the  prophets,  Peter  has  said,  namely,  that  at  the  last  mani- 
festation of  the  Son  of  God  there  shall  be  "  new  heavens  and 
a  new  earth,"  2  Pet.  iii.  13  ;  for  these  creatures  which  now 
subsist  shall  not  be  annihilated.  On  the  contrary,  Paul  says 
that  they  shall  have  part  in  the  deliverance  of  the  sons  of 
God,  Eom.  viii.  21  ;  but  because  they  shall  be  purged  from  all 
vanity,  and  put  into  a  state  much  more  excellent  than  that 
in  which  they  now  sigh  and  languish,  therefore  they  are  called 
new  heavens  and  a  new  earth. 

As  for  what  remains,  the  apostle  enjoins  us  expressly,  both 
here  and  elsewhere,  to  put  off  the  old  mau  and  to  put  on  the 
new,  because  in  truth  these  are  two  different  things,  even  as  to 
depart  from  evil  and  to  do  good.  It  is  very  true  that  in  the 
state  men  are  in,  no  one  puts  off  the  old  man  without  putting  on 
the  new  ;  and  so  on  the  contrary.  And  again  it  is  also  true 
that  the  same  Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ  which  effects  the  one 
also  effects  the  other,  even  as  the  sun  by  one  and  the  same  ac- 
tion dispels  the  darkness  of  our  air  and  diffuses  into  it  light  ; 
yet  this  does  not  prevent  considering,  simply  and  absolutely 
in  itself,  the  putting  off  of  the  old  man  to  be  one  thing,  and 
the  putting  on  of  the  new  another.  For  the  corruption  of 
the  old  man  is  not  a  mere  absence  and  privation  of  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  new,  neither  is  virtue  a  mere  privation  of  vice,  as 
darkness  is  nothing  at  all  but  a  simple  privation  of  light  ; 
otherwise  it  might  be  said  that  the  new  man  is  everywhere 
where  the  old  man  is  not  ;  and  so,  on  the  contrary,  as  where 
there  is  no  light  darkness  of  necessity  takes  place,  and  where 
there  is  no  darkness  there  must  be  light.  But  though  these 
two  actions  of  putting  off  the  old  man  and  putting  on  the 
new  are  different  in  themselves,  yet  are  they  inseparably 
joined  with  each  other  ;  and  in  the  state  we  now  are  in,  it  is 
impossible  that  any  person  can  divest  himself  of  sin,  and  of 
the  misery  of  his  old  man,  without  investing  himself  with  the 
new,  because  there   is  no    other  way  of  salvation    but   the 


528  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XXXVIII. 

communion  of  Christ,  into  whicli  no  one  ever  enters  without 
putting  on  the  new  man.  It  is  in  this  that  all  our  salvation 
consists. 

III.  But  because  those  false  teachers  which  troubled  the 
church  at  that  time  pretended,  to  the  prejudice  of  this  doctrine, 
that  circumcision  and  various  other  external  things  were  ne- 
cessary in  religion  ;  as  if  they  were  sufficient  to  save  us  with- 
out the  new  man,  or  at  least  the  new  man  were  not  sufficient 
to  save  us  without  them  ;  the  apostle  rejects  this  error  here 
which  he  refuted  before,  and  to  this  purpose,  in  speaking  of 
the  new  man,  adds,  "  Where  there  is  neither  Greek  nor  Jew, 
circumcision  nor  uncircumcision,  barbarian,  Scythian,  bond 
nor  free  ;  but  Christ  is  all,  and  in  all."  His  meaning  is  not 
that,  among  those  whom  Jesus  Christ  converts  to  new  men  by 
virtue  of  his  gospel,  there  are  none  that  are  by  extraction  Jews 
or  Greeks,  barbarians  or  Scythians,  and  for  condition  bond  or 
free,  circumcised  or  uncircumcised  ;  nor  likewise  that  these 
differences  are  in  themselves  nothing,  or  ought  not  to  be  con- 
sidered at  all,  either  in  nature  or  in  the  state  and  politic  order. 
On  the  contrary  he  himself  hereafter  establishes  the  difference 
of  bondmen  and  free,  and  commands  us  to  observe  it  in  civil 
life.  But  what  he  says  must  be  restrained  and  appropriated 
precisely  to  his  intention  and  design,  without  extending  it  any 
further.  He  speaks  of  the  new  man,  and  says  that  none  of 
these  differences  take  place  in  him.  He  means,  therefore, 
simply,  that  in  this  respect  (that  is,  in  what  concerns  the  na- 
ture of  the  new  man)  all  these  different  qualities  and  condi- 
tions are  no  way  important  ;  that,  with  respect  to  it,  they  have 
no  force  nor  virtue  ;  that  neither  the  superiority  of  the  Jew, 
nor  the  advantage  of  circumcision,  nor  the  liberty  of  the  free, 
serves  at  all  to  bring  us  near  the  new  man,  and  communicate 
him  to  us  ;  that  the  knowledge  of  the  Greek,  the  rudeness  of 
the  barbarian,  the  uncircumcision  of  the  Gentile,  and  the 
meanness  of  the  slave,  do  not  remove  us  further  from  him  ; 
that  a  man  can  participate  in  him  with  the  first  of  these  qual- 
ities, and  can  with  the  last.  It  is  the  same  thing  that  he  says 
elsewhere,  even  that  "  in  Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision 
availeth  anything,  nor  uncircumcision,  but  a  new  creature," 
Gal.  vi,  15  ;  and  again,  that  in  Christ  "  there  is  neither  Jew 
nor  Greek,  there  is  neither  bond  nor  free,  there  is  neither 
male  nor  female;  for  ye  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus,"  Gal. 
iii.  28. 

He  hereby  excludes,  first,  the  pretended  advantage  of  the 
Jew  above  the  Greek  ;  for  the  Jews  so  foolishly  presumed 
upon  their  birth,  that  they  imagined  it  sufficient  to  render 
them  acceptable  to  God,  and  they  haughtily  disdained  the 
Greeks,  as  accursed  and  abominable,  by  the  sole  infelicity  of 
their  extraction.     The  men  of  Eome  are  at  this  day  no  wiser, 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  529 

for  they  only  define  Christianity  by  an  adherence  to  the  see 
of  their  city.  The  apostle  here  condemns  the  vanity  of  both  ; 
proclaiming  that  neither  the  Jew  nor  the  Greek,  and  conse- 
quently not  the  Roman  or  Italian,  are  of  any  consideration  in 
godliness,  so  as  to  confer  upon  us  or  deprive  us  of  the  new 
man.  And  John  Baptist  had  before  cautioned  the  Jews  against 
it  :  "  Think  not  to  say  within  yourselves,  We  have  Abraham, 
to  our  father,"  Matt.  iii.  9.  And  it  is  this  our  Saviour  meant,, 
when  he  told  Nicodemus  that  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  he  must  be  born  again,  John  iii.  3  ;  signifying  that  all 
that  dignity  of  this  carnal  birth,  which  so  mightily  puffed  up 
the  hearts  of  the  Pharisees  and  Jews,  was  but  a  thing  of  nought, 
and  contributed  not  at  all  to  the  bringing  them  into  his  com- 
munion. And  elsewhere,  the  Jews  crying  out  that  Abraham 
was  their  father,  he  answers  them,  that  if  they  were  the  chil- 
dren of  Abraham,  they  would  do  his  works,  John  viii.  39  ;  an 
evident  sign  that  the  children  of  the  saints  are  they  who  do, 
their  works,  as  said  one  of  the  ancients,*  and  not  they  who 
take  up  their  place  ;  and  that,  as  Peter  said,  "  In  every  nation 
he  that  feareth  God,  and  worketh  righteousness,  is  accepted 
with  him,"  Acts  x.  35. 

That  which  the  apostle  afterwards  adds,  of  barbarians  and 
Scythians,  tends  also  to  take  away  all  difference  of  people  in 
matter  of  godliness,  against  the  vanity  of  the  Greeks,  who 
despised  all  other  nations,  and  called  them  barbarians  ;  esteem- 
ing none  but  their  own,  because  of  the  great  politeness  of  their 
language,  the  civility  of  their  manners,  and  the  study  of  phil- 
osophy and  eloquence  which  flourished  among  them.  Paul 
informs  them  that  this  vain  excellency  is  of  no  value  in  Chris- 
tianity, and  that  the  illiterature  and  political  defects  of  barba- 
rians do  not  alienate  them  from  God,  provided  that,  putting 
off  the  old  man,  they  put  on  the  new.  The  Scythians  are  those 
whom  we  call  Tartars,  and  he  makes  particular  mention  of  them, 
either  because  of  their  barbarity  and  extreme  rudeness,  inas- 
much as  they  were  accounted  the  most  uncultivated  and  least 
polite  of  all  barbarians,  or,  as  some  think,  because  of  their 
probity,  justice,  and  moral  innocency. 

After  nations,  he  speaks  also  of  the  difference  of  ceremonies 
and  conditions.  To  the  former  refers  his  expression,  that  in 
Christianity  there  is  neither  circumcision  nor  uncircumcision, 
comprising  under  this  one  species  all  other  similar  observances 
of  things  external  in  religion,  and  not  commanded  of  God  ; 
signifying  that  men  are  neither  advanced  towards  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  by  being  circumcised,  nor  set  further  from  it  by 
being  without  circumcision  ;  and  likewise,  that,  as  he  saith 
elsewhere,  "  if  we  eat,  we  are  not  the  better  ;  and  if  we  eat  not, 

*  Hierom. 
67 


530  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXVIII. 

we  are  not  the  worse."  We  see  therefore  how  ill-founded  is 
the  ridiculous  opinion  of  those  who  put  a  far  higher  estimate 
upon  themselves,  in  point  of  holiness,  than  upon  others,  on 
account  of  these  external  and  voluntary  devotions  ;  as,  for 
instance,  because  they  wear  a  cowl,  or  a  certain  particular 
habit,  because  they  abstain  from  flesh,  either  continually,  or 
during  certain  days,  and  do  other  such  things,  in  which  they 
are  not  ashamed  even  to  place  Christianity.  What  the  apostle 
adds,  in  the  last  place,  concerning  the  bond  and  the  free,  also 
comprehends  nobility  and  peasantry,  riches  and  poverty, 
dignity  and  inferiority  ;  and,  in  short,  all  that  diversity  of 
condition  which  divides  men  in  the  present  world.  Though 
these  qualities  put  a  difference  between  them  on  earth,  they 
put  none  between  them  in  heaven,  nor  in  the  mystical  body 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  into  which  God  receives  us  all 
indifferently,  if  he  see  the  new  man  in  us,  and  equally  ex- 
cludes those  in  whom  he  finds  it  not.  The  pomp  of  riches 
and  honours,  and  the  glory  of  great  birth,  recommend  no  one 
to  him  ;  meanness  of  extraction  or  of  condition,  and  the  misery 
of  poverty,  do  not  induce  him  to  reject  any.  He  strips  all 
men  of  that  habit  that  makes  up  no  part  of  them,  and  judges 
of  them  only  by  that  form  of  the  old  or  new  man  which  they 
bear  within  them. 

Now  having  excluded  all  these  things  from  the  true  constitu- 
tion of  piety,  he  informs  us,  in  conclusion,  in  what  its  whole 
force  and  virtue  consist.  In  this  renovation  of  man  "  there 
is,"  says  he,  "neither  Greek  nor  Jew,  circumcision  nor  uncir- 
cumcision,  barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  nor  free  :  but  Christ  is 
all,  and  in  all."  That  which  the  Jews  in  vain  promise  them- 
selves from  their  birth,  and  they  that  judaize  from  their 
circumcision,  and  the  Greeks  from  their  philosophy,  and  great 
ones  from  their  dignity,  Jesus  Christ  alone  gives  abundantly 
to  all  that  are  in  him.  He  is  all  to  them.  For  in  him  the 
Gentile  finds  Judaism  and  the  nobility  of  Israel  ;  all  they 
that  are  of  faith  being  children  of  Abraham,  Gal.  iii.  7.  In 
him  the  uncircumcised  have  the  true  circumcision,  which  is 
not  made  with  hands  ;  barbarians,  divine  philosophy  and  the 
citizenship  of  heaven  ;  bond-men,  freedom  of  spirit  ;  poor  men, 
the  treasures  of  eternity  ;  abject  persons,  the  glory  of  God,  and 
the  excellency  of  his  kingdom.  And  as  he  has  in  him  au 
abundance  of  all  sacred  and  salutiferous  things,  so  he  has 
them  for  all  :  shutting  not  up  the  bosom  of  his  grace  against 
any,  whoever  he  may  be,  and  universally  conferring  on  all 
those  of  his  communion  righteousness,  wisdom,  sanctification, 
and  redemption  ;  and,  in  a  word,  all  graces  requisite  for  con- 
ducting them  to  and  putting  them  into  the  eternal  possession 
of  supreme  felicity. 

Dear  brethren,  it  is  this  same  blessed  Lord,  the  fountain  and 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  631 

the  fulness  of  all  good,  that  God  presents  to  you  at  this  time 
in  his  word  and  in  his  sacrament.  Come  ye  all  to  him,  see- 
ing he  is  so  bountifully  offered  unto  you.  Let  no  one  imagine 
either  that  he  may  do  well  enough  without  him,  or  that  he 
may  not  enjoy  him.  He  is  both  necessary  for  the  greatest, 
and  accessible  to  the  least.  The  dignity  of  masters,  the  abun- 
dance of  riches,  the  extraction  of  the  noble,  the  observances 
of  the  devout,  and  such  other  advantages,  will  be  of  no  use  at 
all  in  saving  those  who  have  them  ;  so  that  Jesus  Christ  is  no 
less  necessary  for  them  than  if  they  had  them  not.  The  low 
estate  of  servants,  the  distress  of  the  poor,  and  other  similar 
disadvantages,  hinder  no  one  from  approaching  and  receiving 
him.  And  as  the  brazen  serpent,  which  prefigured  him  in 
the  desert,  was  communicated  indifferently  unto  all,  great  and 
small,  poor  and  rich,  noble  and  ignoble,  and  equally  cured  all 
those  who  looked  on  it  ;  and  again,  as  there  was  no  remedy  to 
be  had  against  the  bite  of  the  fiery  serpents  but  that  alone  ; 
neither  riches,  nor  nobility,  nor  science,  nor  any  other  quality 
being  able  to  cure  any  of  them  :  so  is  it  with  our  Lord  Jesus, 
he  is  equally  both  necessary  and  approachable  for  all.  He 
offers  himself  to  the  great,  he  disdains  not  the  least.  He  gives 
himself  to  both,  and  saves  them  all  indifferently.  Come  ye 
then  all  unto  him,  whatever  in  other  respects  your  condition 
or  extraction  may  be.  Lift  up  your  eyes  to  him,  and  behold 
him  stretched  out  for  you  upon  the  pole  of  Moses,  crucified 
for  your  sins,  and  wounded  for  your  iniquities  ;  his  flesh 
pierced  with  nails,  his  blood  spilt  on  the  ground  ;  presenting 
to  you  in  this  scandalous,  but  healthful  infirmity,  the  trea- 
sure of  life  and  happiness.  Bring  unto  him  souls  full  of  faith, 
reverence,  and  love,  and  prepare  for  the  reception  of  him,  not 
your  bodily  mouth  or  stomach,  places,  whatever  superstition 
may  say,  unworthy  to  lodge  him,  but  your  hearts,  your  minds, 
your  understandings  and  affections  ;  that  is,  the  nobler  part 
of  your  being.  There  it  is  that  he  takes  pleasure,  there  it  is 
that  he  would  dwell.  Accordingly,  it  is  there  that  he  should 
operate  and  display  his  virtue  unto  the  extinguishing  of  the 
old  man,  and  the  engraving  of  his  own  image.  As  the  body 
is  not  the  object  of  this  his  operation,  so  neither  is  it  the  seat 
of  his  presence,  nor  the  throne  of  his  majesty. 

But  you  plainly  see,  my  brethren,  that  this  incomparable 
favour  which  he  confers  on  you,  in  being  willing  to  come  and 
dwell  in  your  hearts,  obliges  you  to  put  oft'  his  enemy  the  old 
man,  and  to  clear  yourselves  of  all  his  pollutions,  to  eradicate 
the  habits  of  all  his  vices,  to  smother  all  his  desires,  and  to 
cleanse  your  whole  life  from  all  his  deeds.  This  old  man  is 
the  disgrace  of  your  nature,  the  poison  of  your  soul,  the  death 
of  your  life,  the  cause  of  your  unhappiness.  It  is  he  that  de- 
stroyed you,  that  banished  you  out  of  Paradise,  that  bereaved 


532  AN  EXPOSITION  OP  [SERM.  XXXVIII. 

you  of  your  true  delights,  that  made  you  subject  to  vanity,  to 
the  wrath  of  God,  the  hatred  of  his  angels,  and  the  tyranny  of 
devils.  Divest  yourselves  of  this  corrupt  and  accursed  habit. 
Give  yourselves  no  rest  till  you  be  rid  of  it.  Tell  me  not 
that  this  old  man  holds  too  fast  ;  that  you  feel  him  cleaving  to 
your  inward  parts.  Where  eternal  salvation  is  concerned, 
there  no  excuse  is  to  be  taken.  If  you  cannot  rid  yourselves 
of  him  in  any  other  way,  it  would  be  better  to  pluck  out  your 
very  bowels  than  to  spare  them  and  perish.  But  the  truth  is, 
we  flatter  ourselves  ;  and  that  to  keep  this  pleasing  enemy 
with  us,  we  make  ourselves  believe  that  he  is  part  of  us  ;  as 
if  we  could  not  be  men  without  polluting  ourselves  in  the  filth 
of  his  vices.  Be  not  afraid  of  injuring  or  outraging  your- 
selves by  driving  him  from  you.  It  is  but  the  pest  and  poison 
of  your  nature,  as  we  said  before.  Your  life  will  not  be,  as 
you  imagine,  incommoded  by  it,  but  made  more  free  and  hap- 
py than  it  was.  Besides,  after  the  victory  over  him,  which 
Christ  has  won  upon  the  cross,  it  ill  becomes  us  to  complain  of 
the  strength  of  this  enemy.  All  his  strength  consists  only  in 
our  cowardice,  our  feebleness  and  effeminacy.  Jesus  Christ 
has  taken  from  him  all  the  true  strength  which  he  had.  He 
has  crucified  him,  and  overthrown  all  the  foundations  of  his 
tyranny  and  of  his  life,  exhibiting  to  us  the  deformity  thereof, 
and  opening  to  us  the  way  to  liberty  and  the  gate  of  the  house 
of  God.  Instead  of  this  wretched,  sordid,  and  shameful  form 
of  life,  let  us  put  on  that  new  man,  who  now  presents  and 
gives  himself  to  us.  Let  us  have  him  night  and  day  before 
our  eyes,  as  the  only  pattern  of  our  true  nature.  Let  us  copy 
him  completely,  and  faithfully  engrave  upon  our  souls  all  the 
features  of  his  divine  and  glorious  form.  Let  the  image  of 
this  new  Adam  shine  forth  in  our  souls,  and  in  our  whole 
conduct. 

Dear  brethren,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  hitherto  we 
have  greatly  failed  in  this  duty.  For  what  is  more  unlike 
each  other  than  we  and  Jesus  Christ,  to  whose  image  we 
should  be  conformed  ?  He  is  humble,  meek,  and  patient  as  a 
lamb;  we  are  fierce,  proud,  and  irascible  as  lions.  He  did 
good  to  his  enemies  ;  and  we  hardly  spare  our  friends.  He 
loved  the  greatest  strangers,  and  we  hate  our  nearest  neigh- 
bours. He  was  most  pure  and  holy,  and  we  are  polluted 
with  the  filth  of  intemperance.  He  sought  only  his  Father's 
glory  and  the  salvation  of  men  ;  we  muse  upon  nothing  but 
earth,  and  consider  only  our  own  interests.  With  this  dissimili- 
tude, or  rather  contrariety,  how  can  we  pretend  to  have  put  on  the 
new  man,  which  is  created  after  the  image  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 
And  how  can  it  be  otherwise  than  imagined  that  we  rather 
bear  the  image  of  his  enemy  ?  Yet  you  are  not  ignorant  what 
depends  upon  it  ;  and  well  know  that  is  impossible  to  have 


CHAP.  III.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  633 

part  on  high  in  the  glory  of  the  new  man,  except  we  put  him 
on  here  below.  In  the  name  of  God,  beloved  brethren,  and 
as  your  own  salvation  is  dear  to  you,  pursue  this  great  and 
necessary  design.  Repair  the  negligences  of  the  time  past  ; 
and  discharging,  for  the  future,  with  good  fidelity,  what  the 
apostle's  word  and  the  sacrament  of  this  mystical  table  equally 
require  of  you,  put  off  the  old  man,  who  has  destroyed  you  ; 
put  on  the  new  man,  who  has  saved  you,  renewing  you  in 
the  knowledge  and  likeness  of  this  sweet  and  merciful  Lord, 
who  died  and  is  risen  again  for  you  ;  that  after  you  have 
borne  on  earth  the  image  of  his  holiness  and  charity,  you 
may  bear  it  eternally  in  the  heavens,  together  with  that  of  his 
glory  and  immortality.    Amen. 


SERMON  XXXIX 

VERSES  12,   13. 


Put  on  therefore^  as  the  elect  of  God,  holy  and  beloved,  bowels  of 
mercies,  kindness,  humbleness  of  mind,  meekness,  long-suffering  ^ 
forbearing  one  another,  and  forgiving  one  another,  if  any  man 
have  a  guarrel  against  any  :  even  as  Christ  forgave  you,  so 
also  do  ye. 

Dear  brethren,  that  which  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  holy 
supper  requires  of  us,  and  which,  when  we  duly  receive  it, 
effects  and  produces  in  us,  is  the  very  thing  which  the  apostle 
commands  us  in  this  text,  and  to  wliich  he  forms  us  by  these 
words.  He  directs  us  to  be  merciful,  kind,  humble,  meek,  pa- 
tient, and  ready  to  pardon  one  another.  And  the  end  and 
effect  of  the  sacrament  is  to  make  us  so  :  for  it  communicates 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  unto  us  ;  not  that  the  substance  of  his 
body  enters  into  ours,  nor  that  his  flesh  is  touched  by  our 
mouths  and  stomachs,  (a  thing  both  preposterous  and  impos- 
sible, and  which  is  moreover  unprofitable  and  superfluous,) 
but  indeed  transforms  us  into  his  image,  and  renders  us  like 
him,  that  is,  humble,  meek,  patient,  kind,  and  merciful,  as  he 
is,  forming  these  divine  virtues  in  us  by  the  efficacy  of  his  death, 
which  is  celebrated  in  this  mystery.  By  which  you  see  a  re- 
markable difference  between  the  heavenly  food  which  we  re- 
ceive in  this  sacrament,  and  the  earthly  meat  we  daily  take  ; 
for  whereas  the  latter  is,  for  the  nourishing  of  our  bodies, 
changed  into  their  nature  ;  the  former,  on  the  contrary,  for  the 
enlivening  of  our  souls,  transforms  them  into  its  own.     Thus, 


534  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXIX. 

since  we  have  participated  this  morning  of  this  precious  sac- 
rament, we  cannot  better  employ  the  present  hour  than  in 
meditating  upon  these  words  of  the  apostle,  which  contain  and 
represent  one  of  its  principal  effects.  Consider  them  therefore, 
my  brethren,  attentively.  And  that  we  may  discern  whether 
or  no  we  have  truly  communicated  of  the  bread  of  heaven, 
let  us  examine  whether  it  has  produced  and  formed  in  our 
hearts  that  humility  and  kindness,  and  all  those  other  virtues, 
which  the  apostle  enjoins  us  in  this  place  ;  and  let  us  be  as- 
sured that,  without  this,  neither  the  Lord's  favour  in  inviting 
us  unto  his  table,  nor  the  heavenly  food  there  presented  to  us, 
will  benefit  us  at  all  ;  and  that  so  far  from  contributing  to  our 
salvation,  it  will  aggravate  our  condemnation,  according  to  the 
apostle's  saying  in  another  place,  that  "  he  that  eateth  and 
drinketh  unworthily  eateth  and  drinketh  damnation  to  himself." 
Paul,  if  you  remember,  having  in  general  exhorted  the  Co- 
lossians  to  mortify  the  members  of  the  old  man,  particularly 
nominated  and  specified  some  of  his  principal  vices,  as  cove- 
tousness,  fornication,  malignity,  wrath,  and  others,  expressly 
enjoining  them  to  put  them  away.  But  because  it  is  not 
enough  to  refrain  from  evil,  but  there  must  be  also  a  doing  of 
good  ;  so  it  is  not  sufficient  that  we  abstain  from  vice,  if  we  do 
not  exercise  the  actions  of  virtue.  This  great  apostle  having 
forbidden  the  lusts  and  sins  of  the  old  man,  commands  us  first, 
in  general,  to  put  on  the  new,  as  you  heard  a  week  since  ;  and 
then,  in  the  progress  of  his  discourse,  he  points  to  some  of 
the  principal  parts  of  this  new  man  by  name.  It  is  precisely 
at  the  verses  we  have  read  that  he  begins  to  point  out  these 
qualities  :  "  Put  on  then,"  says  he,  "  as  the  elect  of  God,  holy 
and  beloved,  bowels  of  mercy,"  &c.  This  exhortation  he  infers 
from  the  preceding  verses,  and  proposes,  at  the  entrance,  a 
reason  that  obliges  us  to  this  pursuit,  taken  from  the  honour 
God  has  done  us  to  choose  us  for  his  saints  and  his  beloved. 
Next,  he  commends  to  us  compassion,  benignity,  humility, 
meekness,  patience,  five  virtues  which  refer,  as  you  see,  to  the 
manner  in  which  we  are  to  behave  towards  our  neighbours, 
and  particularly  towards  those  who  suffer  evil,  or  do  us  any. 
Afterwards  he  points  out  two  acts  of  patience  and  benignity; 
the  one  is  a  bearing  with,  and  the  other  the  pardoning  of,  one 
another  ;  and  to  incite  us  to  them,  he  adds  the  example  which 
our  Lord  and  Saviour  has  given  us.  So  we  shall  have  three 
points  of  which  to  treat  in  this  discourse,  if  the  Lord  will. 
First,  the  quality  of  the  elect  of  God,  "  holy  and  beloved," 
which  the  apostle  gives  us  at  the  entrance,  to  sway  us  to  our 
duty.  Secondly,  the  five  virtues  which  he  recommends  to  us, 
and  the  exercise  of  them  in  the  matter  of  that  forbearance  and 
mutual  forgiveness  which  we  owe  one  to  another.  And  finally, 
the  example  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  he  sets  before  our  eyes  as 


CHAP,  III.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  535 

an  accomplished  pattern,  and  a  most  effectual  argument  of  our 
sanctification.  Dear  brethren,  hear,  meditate,  and  duly  put  in 
practice  that  divine  lesson  which  the  Lord  Jesus  gave  you  this 
morning  in  the  mystery  of  his  table,  and  now  repeats  by  the 
mouth  of  his  apostle. 

I.  The  apostle  deduces  from  what  he  had  generally  asserted 
in  the  preceding  verses,  that  we  "  have  put  on  the  new  man, 
which  is  renewed  in  knowledge  after  the  image  of  him  who 
created  him."  Thence  he  now  concludes,  "  Put  on  then  bowels 
of  mercy,  kindness,  humbleness,  meekness,  long-suffering." 
The  consequence  is  evident.  For  since  we  put  on  the  new 
man  in  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  clear  that  these  virtues  being  mem- 
bers and  parts  of  this  new  man,  it  is  our  duty  to  put  them  on  ; 
and  that  without  them,  this  new  nature,  which  makes  us  chris- 
tians, would  remain  imperfect  in  us.  Brethren,  mark  well  this 
reasoning,  and  learn  by  it  how  greatly  they  deceive  tliemselves, 
who  pretend,  without  these  virtues,  to  the  name  and  inheritance 
of  christians  ;  imagining  that  they  are  not  necessary  for  all, 
but  only  meet  for  such  as  will  be  more  perfect  and  more  ex- 
cellent than  the  generality  of  the  faithful.  It  is  a  principle 
laid  down  in  various  places  by  the  apostle,  and  acknowledged 
by  the  whole  church,  that  no  man  is  in  Christ  except  he  be  a 
new  creature.  And  he  himself  teaches  us  here,  that  whoever 
is  a  new  creature  must  put  on  compassion,  and  those  other 
virtues  he  names  in  order  ;  surely  it  follows,  then,  that  who- 
ever has  not  put  them  on  is  not  a  new  creature,  and  conse- 
quently is  not  a  christian.  If  therefore  you  will  be  christians; 
if  you  will  aspire  to  salvation,  which  God  gives  to  none  but 
to  those  who  are  christians,  renounce  that  pernicious  error, 
and  embrace  the  pursuit  of  all  these  virtues  with  vigorous 
resolution,  labouring  incessantly  in  it  until  you  have  invested 
your  souls  with  their  habits,  sentiments  and  affections,  and 
filled  your  whole  life  with  their  actions. 

It  is  the  thing  to  which  you  are  also  evidently  obliged,  by 
the  dignity  of  being  the  elect,  the  holy,  and  the  beloved  of 
God,  of  which  the  apostle  in  this  place  reminds  you.  Put  on, 
says  he,  compassion,  kindness,  as  elected  of  God,  holy  and  be- 
loved. The  Hebrew  grammarians  have  remarked  that  the 
word  as  is  used  in  that  language  two  ways:  sometimes  to 
signify  the  analogy  and  resemblance  of  one  thing  to  another, 
and  this  they  call  the  as  of  likeness  ;  for  instance,  when  our 
Saviour  says,  "  Be  wise  as  serpents,  and  harmless  as  doves  ;" 
and  sometimes  to  signify,  that  the  subject  of  which  we  speak 
has  not  the  resemblance,  but  the  reality,  of  that  particular 
which  we  attribute  to  it,  and  this  they  term  the  as  of  verity. 
As  when  John  says  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  "  We  beheld 
his  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father," 
John  i.  14.     His  meaning  is,  not  that  Jesus  Christ  was  like 


536  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XXXIX. 

the  only  Son  of  God,  but  that  he  was  so  indeed  and  in  truth 
and  that  the  glory  which  he  and  his  companions  beheld  in 
him  was  just  such  as  the  glory  of  God's  true  Son  should  be. 
An  as  of  the  first  kind  compares  one  thing  with  another  ;  an 
«5  of  the  second  compares  a  thing  with  itself.  The  first  is  a 
comparative  particle,  as  the  grammarians  terra  it  ;  and  the 
second  a  rational  one.  The  as  here  used  by  the  apostle  is  of 
the  second  kind,  not  of  the  first  ;  for  he  does  not  mean  that  we 
should  addict  ourselves  to  those  virtues  which  he  enjoins,  as 
do  certain  other  persons  elected  of  God  ;  but  that  we  addict 
ourselves  to  them,  because  we  have  the  honour  to  be  elected 
of  God  ourselves.  This  as  does  not  compare  us  with  others, 
but  with  ourselves,  and  imports  as  much  as  if  Paul  had  said, 
Seeing  that,  or  since  you  are  elected  of  God;  containing  in  it 
this  reasoning  :  Such  as  have  the  honour  to  be  elected  of  God, 
his  saints,  and  his  beloved,  ought  to  be  clothed  with  humility, 
benignity,  and  meekness  ;  since  then  you  have  in  Jesus  Christ 
the  honour  to  be  the  elect,  the  saints,  and  the  beloved  of  God, 
judge  if  you  are  not  bound  to  put  on  all  these  virtues.  We  use 
the  word  as  in  the  same  sense  often  in  common  conversation  ; 
as,  for  example,  when  we  say  of  a  good  man  that  he  lived 
and  died  religiously,  as  a  christian,  that  is,  so  as  was  meet 
for  that  quality  of  christian  which  he  possessed  ;  and  when 
we  advise  a  young  man  of  good  rank  to  be  honest  in  all  his 
conversation,  as  born  of  a  good  house,  and  issued  from  a  noble 
and  a  virtuous  father. 

Of  these  three  qualities  which  the  apostle  here  gives  the 
faithful,  the  first  is,  that  they  are  elected  of  God.  The  elec- 
tion of  God  is  the  choice  which  he  makes,  according  to  his 
good  pleasure,  of  certain  persons,  to  call  them  to  the  knowledge 
of  himself,  and  to  the  glory  of  his  salvation.  And  this  term 
election,  signifies  sometimes  the  resolution  he  has  taken  in  his 
eternal  counsel  to  choose  and  call  them,  which  the  Scripture 
elsewhere  calls  the  determinate  purpose  of  God,  Eph.  i.  11  ; 
sometimes  the  execution  of  this  eternal  determination,  when 
God  in  time  touches  the  men  of  his  good  pleasure  by  the  effi- 
cacy of  his  word  and  Spirit,  converting  them  to  the  faith  of 
his  gospel,  and  separating  them  by  this  means  from  the  rest 
of  men,  who  continue  in  the  miserable  state  of  their  nature, 
through  their  impenitence  and  unbelief  The  apostle,  in  my 
opinion,  comprehends  both  these  significations,  when  he  says 
here  that  we  are  elected  of  God  ;  that  is,  such  as  he  has  chosen 
and  effectually  separated  from  the  world,  according  to  his  de- 
terminate purpose,  calling  us  to  himself,  to  serve  him  accord- 
ing to  the  discipline  of  his  gospel.  Now  that  this  quality 
obliges  us  to  put  on  all  the  virtues  which  he  recommends  to 
us  in  the  words  following  is  evident.  For  this  very  thing  is 
the  aim  and  end  of  his  election,  as  the  apostle  elsewhere  in- 


CHAP.  III.]        THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS,  53? 

forms  us,  when  he  says  that  God  hath  chosen  us  in  Christ, 
"that  we  should  be  holy  and  without  blame  before  him  in 
love,"  Eph.  i.  4.  And  it  is  this  that  Moses  formerly  repre- 
sented to  ancient  Israel,  the  type  of  the  new:  "The  Lord," 
says  he,  "  has  avouched  thee  this  day  (that  is,  hath  raised  thee 
above  other  nations  by  his  election)  to  be  his  peculiar  people, 
and  that  thou  shouldest  keep  all  his  commandments,"  Deut. 
xxvi.  18.  Whence  it  appears  how  false  is  their  calumny  who 
accuse  the  doctrine  of  election  of  favouring  vice  and  impeni- 
tence. If  it  were  so,  what  could  have  less  of  reason  in  it 
than  the  apostle's  discourse,  who  alleges  our  election  to  incite 
us  to  the  studious  pursuit  of  holiness?  But  it  is  quite  con- 
trary to  what  these  men  pretend.  As  God's  election  is  the 
source  of  sanctification  and  good  works,  so  the  asserting  and 
teaching  it  is  an  establishing  and  a  founding  of  them.  And 
they  who  m.ake  their  boast  of  being  elected  of  God,  but  in 
the  mean  time  lead  a  licentious  and  profane  life,  mock  God 
and  men  ;  and  shall,  if  they  amend  not,  infallibly  perish  in 
this  false  and  vain  error.  For  since  God's  election  is  never 
executed  without  converting  and  sanctifying  a  man  ;  and  it  is 
impossible,  on  the  other  hand,  that  any  one  should  know  that 
he  is  elected,  except  by  feeling  the  real  execution  of  his  elec- 
tion ;  it  is  evidently  rashness  and  a  palpable  error  to  imagine 
that  one  is  elected,  except  he  is  truly  converted  to  God  and 
endued  with  piety  and  charity. 

Another  quality  which  the  apostle  here  gives  us  is,  that  we 
are  holy,  or  saints  ;  for  he  is  not  of  the  opinion  of  Eome,  who 
calls  none  saints  but  those  whom  she  has  canonized.  Paul 
acknowledges  none  for  believers  who  are  not  saints.  Accord- 
ingly, you  know,  that  in  the  Creed,  the  church  which  is  the 
body  of  all  true  christians,  and  not  of  the  canonized  only,  is 
called  holy,  and  the  communion  of  saints.  Indeed,  since 
there  is  not  a  christian  who  has  not  been  baptized  into  Jesus 
Christ,  and  received  the  Holy  Ghost,  according  to  the  apostle's 
saying  that  "  if  any  man  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is 
none  of  his,"  Eom.  viii.  9  ;  how  can  he  be  a  christian  who  is 
not  a  saint,  seeing  both  baptism  and  the  Spirit  of  Christ  sanc- 
tify all  those  to  whom  they  are  truly  communicated  ?  Now 
that  this  quality  of  saints  or  holy  ones,  also  obliges  us  to  all 
the  virtues  that  the  apostle  gives  us  in  charge,  in  the  follow- 
ing verses,  is  as  clear  as  the  sun  at  noon-day  ;  for  what  else  is 
holiness  itself,  but  a  piety  and  an  exquisite  charity,  complete 
in  all  its  parts,  and  adorned  with  every  virtue  ?  Besides,  by 
sanctification  we  are  dedicated  and  consecrated  unto  God,  so 
that  henceforth  we  ought  not  to  dispose  of  ourselves  but  for 
his  service  and  according  to  his  will  ;  which  is  nothing  else  than 
to  live  in  all  purity,  honesty  and  virtue.  And  this  is  what  the 
Lord  signifies,  when  he  so  often  charges  his  people  to  be  holy  ; 


688  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XXXIX. 

"  Ye  shall  be  holy  unto  me,"  says  he,  "  for  I  am  holy  ;  and 
have  separated  you  from  other  people,  that  ye  should  be  mine," 
Lev.  xi.  44  ;  xx.  26. 

The  third  quality  which  the  apostle  here  gives  us  is,  that  we 
are  the  beloved  of  God  ;  that  is  to  say,  those  of  all  men  whom 
he  most  loves  and  highly  esteems  in  his  Son  Jesus  Christ. 
Since  then  the  love  with  which  God  honours  us  obliges  us  to 
love  him,  and  that  we  cannot  fail  in  this  reciprocal  love  without 
horrible  ingratitude  ;  it  is  evident  that  our  being  the  beloved 
of  God  necessarily  requires  of  us  to  put  on  all  these  virtues 
which  the  apostle  is  about  to  give  us  in  charge.  First,  because 
it  is  a  necessary  and  infallible  effect  of  the  love  we  bear  to  God 
to  do  what  he  commands  us,  and  he  commands  us  nothing  else 
but  the  exerci.se  of  every  virtue.  "If  ye  love  me,"  says  he, 
"  keep  my  commandments,"  John  xiv.  15.  Secondly,  because 
true  love  transforms  him  who  loves  into  the  image  of  the  thing 
loved  ;  so  that  God  being  charity,  justice,  and  holiness  itself,  it 
is  impossible,  if  we  love  him  truly,  to  do  otherwise  than  put 
on  all  these  divine  virtues.  Thus  you  see,  believers,  that  the 
honour  we  have  to  be  elected  of  God,  holy  and  beloved,  most 
strictly  obliges  us  to  do  what  the  apostle  commands  us  ;  this 
is,  to  embrace  all  the  virtues  he  is  about  to  represent  to  us  ; 
which  he  expresses  in  one  word,  bidding  us  to  put  them  on, 
that  is,  that  we  seat  them  in  our  hearts,  and  show  them  in  our 
lives  ;  that  we  deck  our  souls  with  their  habits,  and  adorn  our 
manners  with  their  acts.  For  it  is  this  that  is  signified  by  the 
word  put  on,  here  figuratively  used,  according  to  the  usual 
style  of  Scripture  ;  as  we  informed  you  in  expounding  the 
preceding  text,  where  the  apostle  exhorted  us  to  put  off  the  old 
man,  and  to  put  on  the  new. 

II.  The  foremost  of  these  virtues  which  he  recommends  to 
us  are  those  five  which  he  expressly  nominates  in  the  present 
text,  mercy,  kindness,  humility,  meekness,  and  patience. 
Mercy  is  a  goodness  and  tenderness  of  spirit,  which  causes  us 
to  commiserate  the  miseries  of  others,  to  have  compassion  on 
them,  and  to  take  part  in  them,  as  if  we  suffered  them  our- 
selves. And  the  apostle,  to  show  us  how  quick  and  deep  this 
sentiment  should  be  in  us,  commands  us  to  put  on,  not  mercy 
simply,  but  bowels  of  mercy,  which  is  a  mode  of  expression 
taken  from  the  Hebrew  language,  in  which  the  word  bowels  is 
often  used  to  signify  the  emotions  of  pity  and  the  tenderness 
of  compassion  ;  and  this  not  without  reason,  it  being  clear  that 
compassion  affects  and  greatly  moves  the  heart,  the  principal 
of  our  internal  parts.  It  is  not  enough  that  we  lodge  pity  in 
our  looks,  externally  showing  the  movings  and  appearances 
of  it.  The  miseries  of  our  neighbours  must  descend  into  our 
hearts,  and  reach  the  depth  of  our  bowels  ;  they  must  affect 
them  with  a  real  grief,  that  may  move  them,  and  stir  up  all 


CHAP,  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  539 

that  is  in  our  power  to  afford  them  succour.  For  the  gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ  does  not  at  all  approve  of  the  rigidity  of  the 
Stoic  philosophy,  which  plucked  up  mercy  as  well  as  other 
passions  out  of  the  bowels  of  its  wise  men  ;  as  if  to  compas- 
sionate trouble  or  grief  were  a  thing  unworthy  of  a  virtuous 
person.  Let  him  remedy  the  miseries  of  others,  said  they,  but 
let  him  not  feel  them.  Let  him  succour  the  men,  but  let  him 
not  be  touched  with  their  passion.  First,  that  which  they 
presuppose  is  false;  namely,  that  to  suffer  oneself  to  be  touched 
with  sentiments  of  grief  is  a  defilement  or  pollution  of  virtue. 
There  is  nothing  unworthy  of  true  virtue  but  vice:  now  grief 
is  not  a  vice  ;  it  is  a  simple  sentiment  of  nature  :  and  in  order 
to  be  wise,  it  is  not  necessary  that  a  man  should  renounce  the 
sentiments  of  nature;  it  is  sufficient  to  govern  them,  and  keep 
them  within  their  bounds,  and  use  them  with  reason.  Again, 
this  insensibility,  which  is  a  chimera  and  a  fiction  of  their  own, 
cannot  take  place  in  the  soul  of  man,  which  God  has  formed 
unto  affection  and  tenderness  more  than  any  other  creature  ; 
as  is  evident  by  tears,  of  which  none  but  man  is  capable. 
Lastly,  whereas  they  would  have  the  wise  man  succour  the 
miserable  without  feeling  their  misery,  this  is  both  difficult  and 
dangerous.  For  it  takes  away  one  of  the  sharpest  incitements 
that  spurs  us  on  to  assist  them  ;  it  being  clear  that  nothing 
more  powerfully  moves  us  to  do  this  than  compassion.  We 
must  not,  as  those  people  said,  remedy  other  men's  miseries 
without  feeling  them,  which  is  both  difficult  in  our  nature,  and 
would  be  unprofitable  if  it  were  easy  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  we 
must  feel  them  that  we  may  remedy  them.  So  likewise  there 
is  nothing  more  cold  and  helpless  than  these  insensible 
persons.  For  eradicating  compassion  out  of  our  hearts,  they 
put  in  them  obduracy  and  inhumanity,  which  are  infinitely 
more  contrary  to  true  virtue  than  grief  and  emotion, 

Eenounce  we  then,  beloved  brethren,  this  rough  and  in- 
human philosophy.  Let  it  be  no  shame  to  us  to  be  tender  and 
sensible  of  our  neighbours'  miseries.  Let  us  hold  compassion, 
not  for  an  infirmity,  but  for  a  virtue,  unto  which  God  calls  us 
by  his  commands,  and  by  the  examples,  both  of  his  saints,  and 
of  his  Son  himself,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  :  "  Be  ye  merciful," 
saitli  he,  Luke  vi,  36,  And  one  of  his  apostles  exhorts  us  to 
be  full  of  mutual  "  compassion,  pitiful,  courteous,"  1  Pet,  iii,  8. 
And  our  Paul  goes  so  far  as  to  command  us  to  "  weep  with 
them  that  weep,"  Eom,  xii.  15  ;  and  the  truth  is,  our  tears  and 
our  sympathies,  if  we  can  do  nothing  else,  afford  some  ease  to 
the  afflicted.  The  saints  of  whom  we  are  told  in  Scripture 
have  all  this  character  of  sweetness  and  humanity.  They  were 
tender  and  full  of  compassion  towards  all  afflicted  persons  ; 
and,  to  produce  no  other  examples,  you  know  the  miseries  of 
men  touched  and  pierced  the  heart  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour, 


54(5  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXir* 

who  wept  when  he  saw  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  and  of  whom  it 
is  said,  that  he  "can  have  compassion  on  the  ignorant,  and  on 
them  that  are  out  of  the  way,"  Heb,  v.  2  ;  and  again,  tbat  he  is 
"  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities,"  Heb.  iv.  15.  But 
besides  the  law  of  God,  nature  itself  demands  of  us  these  sym- 
pathies ;  for  men  being  our  neighbours,  that  is,  of  one  and  the 
same  nature  with  us,  who  does  not  see  that  it  is  reasonable  that 
we  should  be  touched  with  their  miseries — and  this  the  rather, 
as  it  may  be  our  lot  to  be  similarly  afflicted  ourselves,  and  one 
day  to  need  that  compassion  and  succour  which  they  now  crave 
of  us  ? 

After  the  movings  of  compassion,  the  apostle  demands  of  us 
the  succour  and  offices  of  benignity,  which  is  a  goodness  of 
nature  that  takes  pleasure  in,  and  makes  it  its  study  to  serve 
and  oblige  every  one,  and  injure  or  disoblige  nobody  ;  that 
readily  stretches  out  its  helping  hand  to  the  afflicted,  and  freely 
communicates  its  goods  to  the  necessitous:  a  thing  which  God 
commands  us  everywhere  in  his  word,  desiring  us  there  to  be 
communicative,  to  break  our  bread  to  the  hungry,  and  impart 
our  substance  to  those  who  are  in  need.  The  charge  of 
stewards,  or  dispensers,  which  he  has  given  us,  obliges  us 
thereto  ;  for  he  has  put  into  our  hands  all  the  wealth  we  possess, 
to  the  end  that  we  should  prudently  and  charitably  dispense  it 
to  our  neighbours.  And  as  he  promises  great  benedictions 
and  recompenses,  as  well  in  this  life  as  also  in  the  next,  to  those 
who  acquit  themselves  faithfully  of  this  duty,  and  are  kind  and 
beneficent;  so  he  menaces  all  those  who  shall  fail  to  do  it  with 
grievous  and  eternal  punishments,  and  treats  them  at  very  turn 
as  persons  not  only  cruel  and  inhuman,  but  also  inequitable 
and  unjust. 

Unto  mercy  and  kindness  the  apostle  commands  us  to  add 
humility,  the  basis  and  foundation  of  all  christian  virtues,  the 
ornament  of  a  believing  soul,  the  mother  of  patience,  the  nurse 
of  charity.  There  is  no  disposition  of  soul  more  pleasing 
to  God  or  more  profitable  to  men.  I  confess  the  exercise  of 
it  is  difficult  to  man,  naturally  proud  and  wilful.  But  the 
light  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  the  power  of  his  grace, 
render  that  easy  to  us  which  is  hard  of  itself  The  pride  of 
man  surely  springs  only  from  his  ignorance.  If  he  knew 
himself  as  he  ought,  he  would  be  humble,  and  instead  of  glory- 
ing in,  would  be  ashamed  of  himself.  Why  then  do  not  we, 
who  know  the  vanity  of  our  being,  the  feebleness  of  our  bodies, 
the  malignity  of  our  hearts,  the  ignorance  and  folly  of  our 
minds,  the  perverseness  of  our  affections,  the  uncertaint}^  and 
misery  of  our  life,  the  demerit  of  our  sins,  and  the  eternal  woe 
of  which  they  arc  worthy,  completely  clothe  ourselves  with  a 
sincere  and  profound  humility?  After  these  considerations, 
how  can  we  have  any  puff  of  pride?     If  you  tell  me,  it  is 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   C0L0SSIAN3.  541 

true,  you  were  sucli  by  nature,  but  that  the  grace  of  Jesus 
Christ  has  made  you  otherwise  ;  I  answer,  that  in  this  you 
have  cause  indeed  to  acknowledge  and  glorify  his  bounty,  but 
none  to  lift  up  yourselves.  For  you  have  nothing  that  is  good 
but  what  you  received  from  God;  and  if  you  have  received  it, 
why  do  you  boast  of  it  ?  The  more  he  has  given  you,  the 
more  ought  you  to  humble  yourselves;  as  those  branches 
bow  most  and  bend  lowest  which  are  most  laden  with  fruit. 
Thus  you  see  that,  being  nothing  in  yourselves  and  having  re- 
ceived of  God  all  that  you  can  have,  it  is  just  that  you  should  be 
humble  ;  not  to  mention  here  either  the  command  for  it,  which 
God  gives  us  in  a  thousand  places,  the  graces  he  promises  to 
humility,  the  pattern  of  it,  which  he  sets  before  us  in  his  Son 
Jesus  Christ,  or  the  ruin  with  which  he  raenaceth  the  haughty. 

After  humility,  the  apostle  lodges  in  our  souls  two  of  its 
daughters,  namely,  meekness  and  long-suffering,  or  patience, 
Meekness  is  properly  that  which  we  call  gentleness  ;  the  great- 
est grace  of  our  behaviour,  and  the  most  amiable  ornament  of 
our  life.  It  receives  every  one  with  an  open  heart  and  a 
pleasing  countenance.  It  is  not  easily  provoked,  and,  as  far 
as  it  can,  takes  all  things  in  good  part.  It  is  affable,  and 
judges  not  with  rigour.  It  restrains  the  stirrings  of  anger, 
and  notwithstanding  the  occasions  offered  for  it,  keeps  and 
maintains  itself  in  a  sweet  calm,  without  becoming  angry, 
easily  receiving,  as  far  as  reason  permits,  the  excuses  of  those 
who  have  offended  it,  and  being  much  more  readily  appeased 
than  irritated.  As  this  virtue  is  very  grateful  to  others,  so  is 
it  exceedingly  profitable  and  beneficial  to  ourselves.  For 
living  with  men,  that  is  to  say,  with  weak  and  wretched  crea- 
tures, without  gentleness,  which  sweetens  all  things,  we  must 
needs  be  in  a  continual  irritation,  and  never  have  joy  nor  re- 
pose. Patience  is  the  sister  of  gentleness  ;  they  both  bear 
vexatious  things  without  exasperation  ;  only  with  this  differ- 
ence, that  gentleness  is  exercised  with  reference  to  the  sullen- 
ness,  the  ignorance,  and  the  impertinence  of  those  with  whom 
we  converse;  patience  undergoes  greater  evils,  such  as  out- 
rages and  affronts,  and  those  very  afflictions  which  are  sent  us 
of  God,  as  sicknesses,  losses,  and  the  like. 

But  for  the  better  clearing  of  the  nature  of  these  two  virtues, 
the  apostle  particularly  recommends  to  us  two  eminent  acts  of 
them,  extremely  necessary  for  christians,  and  of  singular  use  in 
our  whole  life,  when  he  adds,  "forbearing  one  another,  and 
forgiving  one  another,  if  any  man  have  a  quarrel  against  any." 
The  first  of  these  acts  pertains  as  well  to  meekness  as  to  pa- 
tience. For,  first,  if  there  be  any  defect  either  in  the  humour, 
or  in  the  person,  or  even  in  the  faith  and  piety  of  our  brethren, 
provided  it  is  not  a  capital  crime,  which  tends  to  the  overthrow 
of  religion  and  salvation,  we  ought  not  for  this  to  break  with 


542  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXIX. 

them,  nor  reject  nor  sadden  them,  but  bear  with  them  with  all 
kindness,  remembering  both  the  need  we  have  that  the  same 
equity  and  condescension  should  be  used  towards  us  in  many 
things  in  which  we  are  no  more  perfect  than  our  brethren  ; 
and  the  example  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  who,  according  to 
the  prophet's  prediction,  Matt.  xii.  20,  did  not  break  the 
bruised  reed,  nor  quench  the  smoking  flax.  Then,  in  the 
second  place,  if  our  neighbours  have  offended  us,  either  by- 
word or  deed,  we  must  not  forthwith  have  recourse  to  revenge, 
as  men  of  the  world  do  ;  but  endeavour  to  overcome  them  by 
gentleness,  bearing  their  wrongs  with  a  christian  and  generous 
resolution.  The  other  act  which  the  apostle  commands  us, 
and  which  likewise  respects  those  two  virtues,  is  our  pardoning 
one  another,  if  one  has  a  quarrel  against  the  other.  This  is 
more  than  that  bearing  with  one  another  which  he  first  required 
of  us  ;  for  there  are  people  found  who  bear  with  the  sullenness 
or  the  infirmities  of  their  neighbour,  yea,  with  his  offences, 
whether  it  be  that  they  have  not  the  means  to  avenge  them- 
selves, or  that  they  deem  it  not  expedient  to  do  so  for  the  pre- 
sent, who  in  the  mean  time  keep  and  brood  upon  their  resent- 
ments in  the  secret  of  their  hearts,  waiting  for  an  opportunity 
to  show  them  with  advantage.  Wherefore  the  apostle  is  not 
content  with  telling  us  that  we  should  bear  with  one  another  ; 
he  further  directs  us  to  pardon  one  another;  that  is,  efface 
out  of  our  souls  all  resentment  of  an  offence  received,  and 
eradicate  all  desire  of  revenge,  heartily  remitting  to  our  neigh- 
bours the  faults  they  have  committed  against  us,  as  our  Lord 
enjoins  us,  when  he  says  that  his  Father  will  irremissibly 
punish  us,  if  we  do  not  from  our  hearts  forgive  every  one  his 
brother.  Matt,  xviii.  35.  This  duty  reaches  universally  to  all 
the  faithful,  and  takes  place  in  all  kinds  of  subjects,  as  the 
apostle  signifies  when  he  adds  indefinitely,  "  if  any  man  have 
a  quarrel  against  any,"  whatever  the  occasion  of  the  quarrel 
be,  whether  injurious  speeches  given  or  actions  done,  either 
against  ourselves  or  any  one  of  ours. 

III.  But  because  Paul  was  not  ignorant  how  difficult  this 
piece  of  christian  piety  is,  our  flesh  having  no  passion  stronger 
and  more  difficult  to  be  subdued  than  the  resentment  of  offences 
and  the  desire  of  revenge,  to  reduce  us  to  this  forgiveness  and 
divine  patience,  and  to  beat  down  the  fierceness  of  our  hearts, 
he  proposes  to  us  the  example  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  Prince  of 
our  discipline  and  Pattern  of  our  life  ;  "As  Christ,"  says  he, 
"  forgave  you,  so  also  do  ye."  He  does  the  same  also  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  chap.  iv.  32,  where  he  sets  before  us 
the  example  of  God  forgiving  us  all  our  sins  for  his  Son's  sake. 
And  what  stronger  reason  than  this  could  the  apostle  urge  ? 
For  Jesus  Christ  being  our  Head  and  our  elder  Brother,  unto 
whose  image  we  ought  to  be  conformed,  according  to  the  pre- 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  543 

destination  of  God  ;  how  shall  we  be  his  members,  his  disciples, 
and  his  living  portraits,  if  we  have  nothing  in  us  of  that  great 
and  divine  goodness  which  he  has  showed  us  ?  If  he  had  only 
exercised  it  towards  others,  we  should  be  bound  to  imitate 
him.  But  it  is  ourselves  whom  he  has  pardoned,  and  not 
others  only;  so  that  his  example  much  more  strictly  binds  us: 
for  the  inhumanity  of  that  wretched  servant  in  the  parable, 
who,  when  he  himself  had  been  gratified  by  his  master,  would 
forgive  his  fellow  nothing,  is  much  more  detestable  than  if  his 
master  had  showed  such  kindness  only  to  some  other  man. 
Nor  does  the  Lord  omit  to  mention  to  him  that  circumstance 
expressly  :  "  Thou  wicked  servant,"  says  he  to  him,  "  I  forgave 
thee  all  that  debt  :  shouldest  not  thou  also  have  had  compas- 
sion on  thy  fellow  servant,  even  as  I  had  pity  on  thee?  Matt, 
xviii.  32,  33.  Judge  then  what  a  hell  our  obduracy  will  de- 
serve, if  we,  having  experienced  in  our  own  persons  the  won- 
derful goodness  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  mercifully  forgiving 
us  our  faults,  have  hearts  so  refractory  and  so  cruel  as  to  re- 
fuse to  forgive  our  brethren.  He  is  our  Master  and  our  God, 
and  we  are  but  his  servants  and  his  vassals  ;  or  rather,  we  were 
his  enemies,  his  fugitives,  and  his  rebels.  And  notwithstand- 
ing all  this,  he  forbore  not  to  receive  us  to  grace.  Our  faults 
were  infinite  in  number,  and  extremely  heinous  and  criminal, 
being  committed  against  God,  and  consequently  deserving 
eternal  punishment  ;  yet  this  hindered  him  not  from  pardon- 
ing them  all.  Think,  then,  if  our  pride  is  not  altogether  in- 
tolerable, who,  being  neither  gods,  nor  kings,  nor  rulers,  but 
poor  worms  of  the  earth,  and  brands  plucked  out  of  hell  by 
the  sole  clemency  of  our  God,  have  yet  the  stoutness  to  deny, 
not  to  our  vassals,  or  our  servants,  but  our  neighbours,  our 
brethren,  the  domestics  and  children  of  our  common  Master, 
the  pardon,  not  of  many  faults,  but  of  one  or  two  only  ;  not  of 
such  as  are  grievous,  but  of  slight  ones  ;  not  of  capital  ones, 
but  such  as  are  remissible  ;  yea,  sometimes  rather  pretended 
than  real.  Add  to  this,  that,  as  for  the  Lord  Jesus,  no  one 
prayed  him  to  forgive  us  ;  there  was  nothing  but  his  own  good- 
ness alone  that  induced  him  to  do  us  this  grace  :  whereas  he, 
and  his  Father,  and  his  Spirit  exhort  us  and  command  us  to 
forgive  our  brethren  ;  and  this  too  with  promise  to  render  us 
for  ever  happy  if  we  do  it,  and  threatening  to  condemn  us  to 
eternal  fire  if  we  fail  of  it.  Thus  you  see  how  proper  is  this 
example  of  our  Lord  for  the  apostle's  purpose  and  design. 

But  observe  yet,  in  passing,  that  the  comparison  he  makes 
between  our  duty  in  this  behalf,  and  the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ 
towards  us,  evidently  infers  that  the  pardon  of  our  sins  which 
the  Lord  gives  us  is  pure  and  simple,  and  without  reservation 
of  those  temporal  punishments  and  satisfactions  which  they  of 
Rome  pretend  he  exacts  of  them  after  he  has  remitted  their 


544  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXIX. 

faults.  For  as  to  us,  it  is  clear  that  as  often  as  our  brother  re- 
pents of  having  offended  us  we  ought  to  forgive  him,  according 
to  the  command  of  Christ  ;  a<.d  he  would  be  a  mocker  and  im- 
pious who  would  not  remit  him  his  fault,  but  on  condition  that 
he  should  be  for  some  time  punished  for  it  in  a  fire.  Since 
then  the  apostle  directs  us  to  forgive  our  brethren,  as  Jesus 
Christ  forgives  us,  who  does  not  see  that  this  unheard-of  rigour 
has  much  less  place  in  the  grace  which  we  receive  from  our 
Lord,  than  in  that  which  we  do  our  brethren,  by  forgiving 
them  when  they  have  offended  us  ? 

This,  my  beloved  brethren,  is  what  we  had  to  deliver  for  the 
exposition  of  this  exhortation  of  the  apostle.  Would  to  God 
the  practice  of  it  were  as  common  among  us  as  the  understand- 
ing of  it  is  easy,  and  the  justice  of  it  evident!  But  we  know 
well  what  he  requires  of  us,  and  are  not  ignorant  that  it  is  our 
Master's  will,  neither  can  we  deny  that  it  is  most  reasonable  ; 
and  yet  we  do  it  not.  He  commands  us  mercy  and  kindness, 
and  nothing  is  more  rare  among  us.  They  are  as  little  to  be 
seen  here  as  in  the  societies  of  the  world.  We  have  for  the 
most  part  little  or  no  compassion  for  the  miseries  of  our  neigh- 
bours ;  for  if  we  were  touched  with  a  true  compassion  for  them, 
we  should  visit  them  in  their  sickness,  we  should  succour  them 
in  their  necessities,  we  should  assuage  their  griefs  ;  at  least  our 
tears  would  declare  the  part  we  take  in  their  troubles  ;  whereas 
nearly  all  of  us  do  the  contrary.  We  shun  meeting  the  afflicted, 
as  if  misery  were  a  contagious  malady  ;  and  to  colour  our  hard- 
heartedness,  we  feign  that  they  are  wicked  and  have  verily  de- 
served the  evil  which  they  suffer.  So  far  are  we  from  allevi- 
ating their  unhappiness,  that  we  insult  it  ;  and  instead  of  oil 
and  balm,  we  pour  vinegar  into  their  wounds  ;  not  considering 
that  by  adding  calumny  to  rigour  we  do  not  justify,  but  re- 
double our  cruelty.  For  if  it  were  so,  that  the  afflicted  had 
been  worse  than  you  represent  him,  does  it  follow  that  you 
ought  not  to  have  pity  on  him  ?  Do  you  owe  compassion  to 
none  but  the  innocent  ?  Good  Lord  !  what  would  become  of 
us,  if  God  and  men  should  so  deal  with  us?  For  who  of  us  is 
not  culpable?  You  that  reproach  the  poor  afflicted  unseason- 
ably with  their  faults,  really  are  you  pure  and  without  reproach 
before  God  ?  If  you  look  narrowly  into  it,  you  will  see  that 
if  you  are  not  miserable,  it  is  not  because  you  have  not  de- 
served it  as  well  as  any  other,  but  because  God  spares  you,  or 
reserves  you  perhaps  for  some  sorer  chastisement.  But  it  is 
uncertain  also  whether  the  person  whom  you  treat  so  ill  is 
afflicted  for  the  faults  of  which  you  accuse  him  or  not  ;  for,  see- 
ing the  impenetrable  depth  of  the  judgments  of  God,  no  man 
can  know  of  a  truth  how  the  case  is  ;  and  in  the  uncertainty  in 
which  we  are  it  is  best  to  behave  ourselves  wisely  towards  the 
man,  and  to  judge  moderately  of  his  affliction.     After  all,  the 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS,  545 

Lord  has  not  made  you  inquisitor  or  judge  of  your  brethren, 
that  you  should  pity  none  but  those  whose  innocence  you 
should  justify.  He  reserves  the  judgment  of  them  to  himself, 
and  the  authority  to  make  it.  For  your  part,  who  are  infirm 
men  as  others  are,  he  gives  you  order  only  to  consider  whether 
.  your  neighbours,  and  especially  your  brethren,  are  afflicted, 
and  if  they  are,  to  have  pity  on  them,  to  feel  their  evils  as 
sensibly  as  they  do  themselves  ;  and  after  this  first  dressing  by 
compassion,  to  follow  the  curing  of  their  miseries  with  a  gentle 
hand  ;  liberally  imparting  to  them  your  alms,  if  they  be  neces- 
sitous ;  your  instructions,  if  they  be  ignorant  ;  your  credit  and 
assistance,  if  they  be  oppressed  ;  and  your  succour,  if  they 
need  it. 

But  as  we  have  little  or  no  concern  for  the  affairs  of  others, 
so  have  we  too  much  for  our  own  :  our  private  interest  swal- 
lows up  all  our  thoughts  and  affections.  "We  are  solicitous  for 
none  but  ourselves;  and  those  hearts  of  ours,  which  see  our 
brethren  pine  away,  and  languish,  and  die,  without  shedding 
so  much  as  one  tear,  cannot  endure  the  least  puncture  in  our 
own  skin  without  perturbation  and  being  pierced  through 
with  grief.  This  delicacy  makes  us  unable  to  bear  anything. 
The  heaviness,  the  simplicity,  the  least  defect  we  see  in  our 
people  about  us,  or  in  our  friends,  offends  us.  And  though  we 
have  more  occasion  than  any  for  the  equity  and  indulgence  of 
others,  yet  we  can  bear  nothing  from  them  ;  but  imitating  in 
this  part  of  our  lives  the  furious  and  extravagant  rigours  of 
Eome  in  her  councils,  excommunicate  and  anathematize  indif- 
ferently all  who  cross  us.  And  as  for  the  offences  which  are 
committed  against  us,  we  make  them  so  heinous,  that  if  we 
were  believed,  they  would  all  be  taken  for  treasons,  which  can- 
not be  pardoned  without  injustice,  and  considerable  prejudice 
to  all  human  society.  Hence  arise  those  hatreds  and  quarrels 
with  which  all  among  us  are  full,  and  which  are  kept  on  foot 
and  perpetuated,  to  the  reproach  of  the  gospel  and  scandal  of 
the  world,  between  great  and  small,  yea,  between  neighbours 
and  nearest  alliances,  not  so  much  as  brethren  and  sisters  ex- 
empted ;  neither  the  communion  of  grace  nor  of  nature  being 
sufficient  to  reduce  our  refractory  and  untractable  stoutness  to 
reason.  Now,  though  this  is  deplorable,  yet  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  ;  for  the  cause  of  it  is  very  evident,  even  pride, 
which  has  taken  up  the  place  of  that  humility  which  the  apos- 
tle commands  us.  It  is  this  arrogance,  and  that  haughty  opi- 
nion, which  every  one  has  of  himself,  that  renders  us  so  cruel 
and  unnatural,  insensible  to  the  miseries  of  the  afflicted,  and 
implacable  towards  those  who  have  offended  us.  This  is  the 
poison  that  kills  all  sweetness  and  gentleness,  all  tenderness 
and  humanity  in  us,  and  draws  out  of  our  bowels  all  the  senti- 
ments of  the  charity  of  Jesus  Christ.  Restore  humility,  and 
you  will  soon  recover  all  those  divine  virtues. 


546  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XXXIX 

But,  dear  brethren,  enough  of  complaints  ;  especially  on  so 
good  a  day,  in  which  we  have  communicated  at  the  Lord's  own 
table.  I  would  now  much  rather  praise  your  virtues  and  graces, 
than  reprehend  your  faults  and  vices,  I  shall  therefore  leave 
the  charge  of  examining  them  to  each  one  of  yourselves,  to  be 
performed  by  you  apart,  under  the  e_yes  of  God,  and  in  the  se- 
cret of  your  own  consciences  ;  and  will,  for  a  conclusion,  con- 
tent myself  with  exhorting  and  conjuring  you  to  obey  hence- 
forth this  command  of  the  apostle,  and  to  put  on,  as  he  enjoins, 
"bowels  of  mercy,  kindness,  humbleness  of  mind,  meekness, 
long-sutfering  ;  forbearing  one  another,  and  forgiving  one  ano- 
ther, if  any  man  have  a  quarrel  against  any,  even  as  Christ  for- 
gave you."  This  is  required  of  you  by  that  sacred  bread  and 
wine  which  you  all  have  taken  together  this  morning  at  the 
table  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  are  the  symbol  of  your  union,  and 
the  badge  of  your  concord.  Has  not  that  mystical  cup  indeed 
sweetened  your  hearts  ?  Has  it  not  mitigated  your  gall  and 
bitterness,  and  mollified  your  stoutness,  and  expelled  out  of 
your  minds  all  thoughts  contrary  to  charity  ?  This,  again,  that 
holy  and  glorious  Lord,  who  has  to-day  been  communicated  to 
you,  demands  of  you.  Christian,  saith  he,  I  have  showed  thee 
mercy,  that  thou  mightest  do  so  to  others  ;  I  have  had  pity 
upon  thee,  that  thou  mightest  have  compassion  upon  them;  I 
have  given  thee  my  flesh  and  blood,  that  thou  mightest  impart 
thy  good  things  to  my  poor  members  who  need  them  ;  I  have 
died  for  thee,  that  thou  mightest  live  for  them  ;  and  have  satis- 
fied thee  with  the  bread  of  heaven,  that  thou  mightest  distribute 
unto  them  that  of  the  earth  ;  I  have  pardoned  thy  crimes,  and 
drowned  them  all  in  my  blood,  that  thou  mightest  cheerfully 
forgive  the  offences  which  they  have  committed  against  thee. 
Thus,  my  brethren,  the  Lord  addresses  us. 

The  name  of  christians,  which  we  bear,  and  the  quality  of 
elect  of  God,  holy  and  beloved,  which  is  inseparably  annexed 
thereto,  also  oblige  us  to  the  same  service.  For  with  what 
fîice  can  we  say  that  we  are  elect  of  God,  if  we  still  abide  in 
the  commerce  of  the  world,  and  its  vices — or  his  saints,  if  we 
have  no  mark  of  his  sanctity — or  his  beloved,  if  we  despise 
his  commandments  ?  Finally,  the  interest  of  our  own  welfare 
and  salvation  likewise  demands  of  us  the  same  thing  :  for 
what  is  there  more  miserable  than  cruel,  haughty,  hard-hearted, 
and  implacable  souls;  whom  their  own  vices  torment,  night 
and  day,  in  the  present  life,  and  the  fire  of  hell  will  torment 
eternally  in  the  world  to  come  ?  And,  on  the  contrary,  what 
is  more  graceful  or  more  happy  than  a  church,  in  which  reign 
pity  and  benignity,  humility,  meekness,  and  patience,  those 
holy  virtues  which  laind  a»ll  the  faithful  together?  It  is  there 
that  the  Lord  has  commanded  life,  and  the  blessing  for  ever, 
as  the  psalmist  sings,  Psal.  cxxxiii.  3  ;  it  is  there  he  pours 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  547 

forth  the  graces  and  consolations  of  his  Spirit  in  this  world, 
and  will  in  the  next  distribute  the  crowns  of  his  glory  and  of 
his  immortality.     Amen. 


SERMON    XL  . 

VERSES    14,    15. 


And  above  all  these  things  put  on  chanty ,  which  is  the  bond 
of  perfectness.  And  let  the  peace  of  God  rule  in  your  hearts^ 
to  the  which  also  ye  are  called  in  one  body  ;  and  be  ye 
thankful. 

Dear  brethren,  hypocrisy,  that  piece  of  wickedness  which 
God  most  abhors,  prevails  to  a  great  extent  in  human  life.  It 
not  only  counterfeits  piety,  performing  external  actions  of  re- 
ligion, and  hiding  a  profane  and  impious  heart  under  this 
handsome  veil  ;  but  also  frequently  puts  on  a  false  show  of 
justice  and  goodness  towards  men,  that,  by  this  external  ap- 
pearance, it  may  deceive  them,  and  through  their  credulity 
accomplish  its  dishonest  and  vicious  designs.  By  this,  first,  it 
commits  an  iniquity  of  the  blackest  character  ;  it  being,  as  a 
wise  heathen  formerly  said,  one  of  the  most  unjust  actions  in 
the  world  to  make  a  wicked  wretch  pass  for  an  honest  man. 
And,  secondly,  it  unworthily  profanes  the  acts  of  virtue, 
which  are  most  holy  and  sacred  ;  making  them  serve  the  pas- 
sions and  interests  of  vice,  than  which  a  more  unclean  and 
baser  object  cannot  be  imagined.  For  a  hypocrite  does  good, 
not  out  of  any  affection  which  he  has  for  virtue,  but  to  get  re- 
putation, to  win  people's  hearts,  or  to  advance  his  own  affairs. 
Ambition,  or  avarice,  or  pleasure,  is  the  idol  to  which  he 
sacrifices  the  noblest  and  most  splendid  actions.  For  instance, 
when  he  gives  alms  to  the  poor,  it  is  not  because  he  cares  for 
them,  as  the  scripture  speaks  of  Judas,  but  he  does  it  only  to 
win  credit.  He  gives,  properly,  to  his  own  vanity,  and  not  to 
the  necessities  of  men.  Again,  when  he  acts  the  part  of  a 
merciful  man,  and  forgives  the  offences  of  those  who  have  in- 
jured him,  it  is  not  any  sentiment  of  goodness,  but  merely 
the  interest  of  his  glory,  that  sways  him  so  to  do.  There  are 
a  multitude  of  people  who  thus  abuse  beneficence  and  gentle- 
ness. Like  expert  tyrants,  they  make  them  the  instruments 
of  their  lust;  and  when  they  perform  any  virtuous  actions,  it 
is  not  at  the  command  of  those  virtues  themselves,  but  in  sub- 
serviency to  their  own  vices  ;  retaining  a  disposition  to  be 


548  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XL. 

cruel  and  inhuman,  if  their  interest  requires  it.  Such  as  are 
only  virtuous  in  this  manner  are  not  so  in  reality.  They  are 
subtle  and  dexterous,  but  not  good  men.  And  though  the  ex- 
ternal lustre  of  their  good  works  is  apt  to  deceive  men,  yet  it 
will  not  be  able  to  satisfy  their  own  conscience,  if  they  have 
any  ;  and  much  less  to  commend  them  in  the  eyes  of  God, 
who  judges  of  things  by  their  inside  and  their  reality,  not  by 
their  appearance.  For,  in  order  that  any  act  of  beneficence, 
of  clemency,  of  meekness  and  humanity,  may  be  holy  and  ac- 
ceptable unto  God,  it  is  requisite  that  it  should  proceed  from 
a  sincere  love  towards  our  neighbours.  If  it  come  from  any 
other  principle,  it  is  of  no  value  in  reality,  however  plausible 
and  pompous  it  may  be  in  appearance.  It  is  a  false  and  spu- 
rious production;  a  fruit  fair  without,  but  worm-eaten  and 
corrupt  within.  Besides  that  the  thing  speaks  for  itself,  Paul 
also  proclaims  it  in  the  13th  chapter  of  the  first  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  ;  "  Though  I  bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor, 
and  have  not  charity,  it  profiteth  me  nothing." 

Therefore,  brethren,  the  same  apostle,  having  before  charged 
us  to  bear  with  one  another,  to  forgive  one  another,  and  to 
perform  all  other  acts  of  kindness,  mercy,  meekness,  and  pa- 
tience, to  purge  our  hearts  and  works  from  all  the  venom  of 
hypocrisy,  now  adds,  very  pertinently,  that,  together  with 
these  virtues  to  which  he  has  exhorted  us,  we  are,  above  all, 
to  put  on  charity,  as  that  which  is  the  soul  of  every  true  vir- 
tue, and  without  which  the  fairest  and  most  esteemed  actions 
are  but,  as  an  ancient  doctor  well  said,  glittering  sins.  And, 
besides  all  this,  says  the  apostle,  "  put  on  charity,  which  is  the 
bond  of  perfectness.  And  let  the  peace  of  God  rule  in  your 
hearts,  to  the  which  ye  are  called  in  one  body  ;  and  be  ye 
thankful."  You  plainly  see  that  he  recommends  to  us  three 
christian  virtues,  charity,  the  peace  of  God,  and  thankfulness. 
Now,  as  for  the  last  of  these,  he  only  names  it,  without  saying 
anything  else  of  it  ;  whereas,  with  reference  to  the  other  two, 
he  briefly  sets  before  us  some  considerations,  to  urge  us  to 
take  up  the  studious  pursuit  of  them.  For  he  says  of  char- 
ity, that  it  is  the  bond  of  perfection  ;  and  of  the  peace  of 
God,  that  we  are  thereunto  called  in  one  body.  In  compli- 
ance then  with  the  order  of  our  text,  we  will  treat  of  three 
heads  in  this  discourse,  if  God  please  :  first,  of  charity  ;  se- 
condly, of  the  peace  of  God  ;  and  then,  for  a  conclusion, 
make  a  few  brief  remarks  upon  gratitude,  or  thankfulness, 
about  which  the  apostle  speaks  but  a  word. 

I.  There  is  no  person  in  the  church  who  does  not  know 
that  charity  is  that  pure,  sincere,  and  virtuous  love  which 
each  of  us  owes  to  other  men,  our  neighbours,  upon  the  ac- 
count of  that  communion  of  nature  we  have  with  them,  and 
principally  because  of  the   image  of  God,  after  which  they 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  549 

all  are  created,  according  to  the  express  command  wliicli  he 
has  given  us  to  love  them  as  ourselves.  I  grant  that  it  has 
various  degrees,  and  embraces  men  with  some  inequality,  these 
more  strictly,  and  those  less,  according  to  the  differences  of 
their  merit  and  worth,  as  also  of  the  union  we  have  with  them, 
either  in  a  state  of  nature  or  of  grace.  Nevertheless,  it  ex- 
tends itself  to  all,  and  does  not  account  any  one  a  stranger  ; 
but  obliges  and  serves  them  freely,  as  far  as  its  ability  permits, 
and  when  occasion  is  offered.  For  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
teaches  us,  in  the  parable  of  that  poor  man  whom  the  Samari- 
tan assisted,  finding  him  in  that  pitiful  state  in  which  the 
thieves  had  left  him,  on  the  way  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho, 
that  every  man  that  needs  our  help  is  our  neighbour,  Luke  x. 
36  ;  so  that  God  and  right  reason  obliging  us  to  love  every 
one  that  is  our  neighbour,  there  is,  doubtless,  no  man  whom 
we  ought  not  to  love.  But  as  charity  has  a  much  greater  ex- 
tent than  the  friendship  of  the  world,  so  is  its  flame  much 
more  pure  and  holy.  For,  to  say  the  truth,  men  of  the  world 
love  none  but  themselves  ;  it  being  evident  that,  if  they  affect 
any,  it  is  not  so  much  to  do  them  good,  as  to  draw  profit  or 
pleasure  from  them.  But  charity  sincerely  affects  its  neigh- 
bour, desiring  to  him  and  procuring  for  him  that  good  which  is 
necessary  to  make  him  happy.  And  the  difference  of  these 
two  affections  comes  from  their  causes.  For  charity  issues 
from  the  love  of  God  ;  whereas  worldly  friendship  proceeds 
from  that  vicious  and  inordinate  love  which  every  one  bears 
to  himself:  so  that  charity,  loving  our  neighbour  for  God's 
sake,  seeks  nothing  but  God's  glory,  and  the  welfare  of  the  per- 
son it  loves;  whereas,  a  man  of  the  world,  loving  only  for  his 
own  sake,  accordingly  seeks  nothing  but  his  own  interests. 
And  though  this  plainly  appears  in  the  whole  conduct  of  each 
kind  of  love,  yet  it  may  be  particularly  observed  in  this  one 
event,  namely,  that  that  affliction  and  misery  which  extin- 
guishes worldly  amity,  makes  the  affections  of  charity  to  flame 
more  than  ever  ;  an  evident  sign  that  the  one  is  neither  bred 
nor  fed  but  by  the  fruit  it  gathers  from  the  thing  it  loves  ; 
whereas  the  other,  on  the  contrary,  being  kindled  by  that  ray 
of  the  divine  image  which  it  sees  engraven  on  the  nature  of 
its  neighbour,  is  kept  always  burning,  and  the  more  it  sees  him 
need  its  compassions  and  good  offices,  the  more  it  increases 
and  redoubles  its  endeavours.  It  is  this  holy  and  christian 
charity  which  the  apostle  commands  us  to  put  on  :  "  And 
above  all  these  things,  put  on  charity." 

These  words,  as  they  lie  in  the  original,  may  be  taken  two 
ways,  both  of  them  apt  and  good,  and  such  as  have  their  au- 
thors. Some  interpret  them,  "  and  above  or  over  all  these 
things."  Others,  a  little  different,  "and  for  all  these  things." 
Both  agree  that  "  all  those  things  "  which  the  apostle  intends 


550  AN   EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XL. 

are  the  same  he  had  spoken  of  immediately  before  ;  namely, 
those  bowels  of  merc}'-,  that  kindness,  that  humility,  meekness, 
and  patience,  which,  in  the  preceding  verses,  he  commands  us 
to  put  on.  Now,  then,  after  the  sense  of  the  former  of  those 
interpreters,  he  means,  that  to  this  rich  garment  we  should  add 
charity  ;  putting  it  uppermost,  as  a  precious  and  useful  robe, 
to  cover  and  keep  all  the  rest.  Not  that  we  must  put  on  cha- 
rity last,  in  regard  of  time,  after  all  those  other  virtues  ;  on 
the  contrary,  it  ought  to  be  first  formed  in  us,  as  the  parent  by 
whom  the  greater  part  of  the  rest  are  to  be  brought  forth. 
But  the  apostle  makes  use  of  this  comparison  upon  the  account 
of  other  resemblances  which  these  things  have  with  one  an- 
other ;  and  the  authors  of  this  exposition  notice  three  of  that 
kind  :  one,  that  as  the  robe  we  put  over  our  clothes  is  greater 
and  larger  than  our  other  clothing,  so  charity  has  a  much 
greater  extent  than  any  of  the  before-mentioned  virtues.  For 
mercy  succours  only  the  miserable  ;  kindness  helps  them  only 
who  have  need  of  us  ;  sweetness  only  caresses  those  with 
whom  we  converse  ;  and  patience  only  bears  with  those  who 
oflend  us  :  but  charity  embraces  them  all  together,  and  is  af- 
fectionate towards  our  neighbours  generally,  both  those  that 
are  in  adversity,  and  such  as  are  in  prosperity  ;  persons  in  af- 
fluence, as  well  as  those  who  are  necessitous  ;  friends  and  foes  ; 
the  perfect  and  the  infirm  ;  those  who  oblige  us,  and  those  who 
offend  us  ;  and  those  likewise  who  look  upon  us  as  indifferent. 
Secondly,  as  that  last  piece  of  our  clothing,  which  also  covers 
all  the  rest,  and  is  most  in  sight,  is  commonly  fairest  and  the 
richest  ;  so  likewise  is  charity,  without  doubt,  more  excellent 
than  all  the  other  virtues  which  make  up  a  christian's  clothing. 
Lastly,  as  the  one  marks  out  and  distinguishes  men,  being  usu- 
ally the  character  of  their  rank  and  of  their  quality,  in  the 
town  or  in  the  state  ;  so  the  other  is  the  christian's  livery,  and 
a  mark  of  the  honour  they  have  to  be  the  children  of  God,  and 
disciples  of  his  Son  ;  as  our  Saviour  said,  "  By  this  shall  all 
men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  to  an- 
other," John  xiii.  35. 

These  considerations  are  pretty  and  pleasing  ;  but  I  doubt 
whether  they  are  not  over-fine,  and  somewhat  too  far-fetched. 
I  should  rather  say  that  the  apostle,  by  those  words,  "  And 
above  all  these  things  put  on  charity,"  purely  and  plainly 
means,  that  above  all,  that  is,  principally,  we  should  be  owners 
of  charity  ;  signifying  to  us  thereby,  as  he  elsewhere  teaches 
us  at  large,  that  it  is  the  most  excellent  of  christian  virtues  ; 
so  much  so,  that  all  the  rest  remain  useless  without  it,  being 
but  so  many  vain  and  fallacious  pictures,  which  have  nothing 
of  firmness  or  solidity  in  them.  For  instance,  mercy  without 
charity  is  but  a  weakness  of  nature.  Without  it  kindness  or 
benignity  is  but  indiscreet  profusion  ;  courtesy,  but  deceitful 


CHAP.  III.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  551 

tattle  ;  humility,  low-spiritedness  ;  and  patience,  stupidity. 
It  is  the  divine  fire  of  charity  that  animates  all  these  virtues, 
makes  them  perfect,  and  gives  them  all  the  nobility  and  ac- 
ceptableness  to  God  which  they  possess.  It  is  with  great  pro- 
priety, therefore,  that  after  the  apostle  had  recommended  them 
to  us,  he  adds,  that  above  all  we  have  charity,  as  that  which  is 
of  all  the  richest  and  most  excellent.  Not  to  speak  here  of 
the  advantage  he  elsewhere  gives  it  above  all  other  parts  of 
Christianity,  1  Cor.  xiii.,  even  to  preferring  it,  not  only  before 
the  gift  of  tongues  and  miracles,  before  the  grace  of  prophecy, 
and  all  the  other  wonders  with  which  Jesus  Christ  adorned 
the  beginnings  of  his  church,  but  even  before  faith  and  hope  ; 
as  that  which  will  endure  for  ever,  and  flourish  in  the  very 
sanctuary  of  immortality,  whereas  all  those  other  gifts  of  God, 
which  have  their  exercise  only  here  below,  shall  cease  ;  whence 
he  concludes  that  charity  is  greater  than  all  those  other  graces. 
The  other  exposition,  which  interprets  these  words  of  Paul, 
"And  for  all  these  things  put  on  charity,"  is  also  very  perti- 
nent, and  what  we  have  been  saying  sufficiently  explains  its 
sense.  For  since  charity  is  the  soul  and  the  perfection  of  all 
the  before-named  virtues,  which  gives  them  all  the  value  and 
worth  they  possess,  the  acts  of  them  being  vain  without  char- 
ity, as  the  apostle  says,  it  is  clear  that  for  the  possession  of 
them  charity  must  be  had.  Besides,  it  is  this  that  excites  them 
and  puts  them  into  operation,  and  also  with  a  kind  of  neces- 
sity produces  and  forms  them  in  our  souls.  For  it  is  im- 
possible that  the  man  who  truly  loves  his  neigbour  can  be  in- 
sensible to  his  distresses,  if  he  is  afflicted  ;  or  can  forbear  to 
gratify  him  with  his  beneficence,  if  he  needs  it  ;  or  stoop  to 
his  necessities,  and  humble  himself  about  him  ;  or  bear  with 
his  defects,  if  he  discover  any  ;  or  treat  him  kindly  ;  conde- 
scend to  his  infirmities,  and  seek  to  gain  him,  if  he  withdraw 
from  his  friendship  ;  and  patiently  take  his  offences,  if  he  .so 
far  forget  himself  as  to  do  him  any  ;  according  to  the  apostle's 
saying,  that  charity  is  patient,  and  kind,  not  envious,  "  is  not 
puffed  up  ;"  that  it  "endureth  all  things,  believeth  all  things, 
beareth  all  things,"  1  Cor.  xiii.  4,  5,  7.  Wherefore  he  affirms 
elsewhere,  Eom.  xiii.  8 — 10,  that  "  he  that  loveth  others  hath 
fulfilled  the  law,"  and  that  this  command,  "  Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbour  as  thyself,"  comprehends  in  it  and  summarily 
recapitulates  all  the  duties  enjoined  in  the  rest  of  the  com- 
mandments, and  concludes  that  charity  is  the  fulness  of  the 
law,  that  is,  the  thing  that  fills  up  all  the  articles  of  it.  Hence 
John,  the  beloved  disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  we  read  in  the 
church  history,  in  his  extreme  old  age,  having  no  longer  the 
strength,  as  formerly,  to  make  long  sermons  in  the  assemblies 
of  the  faithful,  contented  himself  with  saying  these  few  words, 
"  Little  children,  love  one  another  ;"  judging,  and  that  rightly, 


552  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XL. 

that  he  had  comprised  in  this  short  sentence  all  the  true  duties 
of  christians.  Since,  then,  the  nature,  fecundity,  and  efficacy 
of  charity  are  such,  you  see  what  good  reason  the  apostle  had 
to  recommend  us  to  put  it  on,  for  our  having  and  exercising 
that  mercy,  benignity,  humility,  meekness,  and  patience  he 
told  us  of  before. 

His  expression,  that  "  charity  is  the  bond  of  perfectness," 
has  the  same  tendency.  But  here  it  becomes  a  question  what 
that  perfection  is  of  which  charity  is  the  bond  ;  and  exposi- 
tors labour  to  explain  it  to  us.  Some  understand  it  of  the 
perfection  of  all  virtues,  which  this  one  binds  and  puts  to- 
gether, comprehending  and  embracing  them  all  as  we  said 
just  now  ;  and  the  Eomanists  thence  draw  an  argument  to 
confirm  their  doctrine  of  justification  by  works.  For,  say 
they,  those  who  perfectly  fulfil  the  law  are  justified  by  the 
works  of  the  law.  Now  since  charity  is,  in  this  sense,  the 
bond  of  perfection,  it  is  evident  that  those  who  have  true 
charity  perfectly  fulfil  the  law  ;  consequently,  they  are  justi- 
fied by  the  works  of  the  law.  But  letting  pass  for  the  present 
that  which  they  presuppose,  namely,  that  charity  is  here  called 
the  bond  of  perfection,  because  it  binds  together  and  compre- 
hends in  it  the  observance  of  all  the  commandments  of  the 
law,  it  is  clear,  however,  that  that  which  they  pretend  will  not 
follow.  First,  because  it  is  not  sufficient  for  a  man's  justifica- 
tion by  the  works  of  the  law  that  he  fulfil  it  only  after  some 
certain  time  to  his  life's  end.  It  is  necessary  that  he  should 
have  fulfilled  it  from  the  beginning,  and  been  exempt  from 
sin,  not  only  from  his  childhood  and  youth,  as  the  young  man 
pretended  to  be  in  the  gospel,  but  even  from  his  nativity. 
Supposing,  then,  but  not  granting,  that  he  who  has  charity 
perfectly  fulfils  the  law,  without  failing  so  much  as  in  one 
point,  this,  as  you  see,  would  be  done  only  from  the  time  he 
had  put  on  the  habit  of  charity,  and  could  not  alter  the  fact 
of  his  having  transgressed  in  various  ways  before.  Since, 
then,  the  law  justifies  none  but  those  that  never  violated  it  at 
any  time,  it  is  manifest  that  even  if  a  christian  should  never 
violate  the  law  after  he  has  charity,  yet  he  could  not  be  justi- 
fied by  his  works,  nor  would  he  be  exempted  from  needing 
the  grace  of  God  for  the  remission  of  the  sins  which  he  com- 
mitted before  he  had  charity.  But  where  grace  is,  there  jus- 
tification by  works  cannot  have  place,  according  to  Paul's  de- 
claration in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  chap.  xi.  6  :  "If  it  be 
by  grace,  then  is  it  no  more  of  works  :  otherwise  grace  is  no 
more  grace.  But  if  it  be  of  works,  then  is  it  no  more  grace  : 
otherwise  work  is  no  more  work." 

But  I  add,  in  the  second  place,  that  what  they  suppose, 
namely,  that  he  who  has  charity  perfectly  fulfils  the  law,  so  as 
never  to  fail  so  much  as  in  one  point,  is  evidently  false,  and 


CHAP.  III.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  653 

contrary  to  experience  and  Scripture.  To  experience  ;  for 
who  does  not  daily  perceive  how  often,  and  in  how  many 
ways,  those  very  men  among  the  faithful  offend,  who  have  the 
greatest  degrees  of  charity  ?  To  Scripture  ;  for  it  plainly 
tells  us  in  various  places,  that  "  if  we  say  (they  are  the  words 
of  an  apostle)  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves,  and  the 
truth  is  not  in  us,"  1  John  i.  8.  True  it  is,  that  charity  does 
not  cause  us  to  offend  ;  nay,  such  offending  is,  on  the  contrary, 
a  deviation  and  a  departure  from  charity.  However,  I  affirm, 
it  is  no  impossibility  for  a  man  who  has  true  charity  sometimes 
to  falter  in  it,  as  you  see  it  often  happens  in  all  habits  ;  he  who 
is  endowed  with  them  commits  some  actions  not  very  conso- 
nant with  them.  A  good  archer,  for  instance,  does  not  always 
hit  the  mark,  and  a  good  advocate  does  not  always  plead 
exactly  well.  It  happens  that  the  best  writers,  the  most 
CKquisite  painters,  and  the  most  accomplished  politicians,  com- 
mit errors  now  and  then  in  the  matters  of  their  profession. 
And  it  was  said  long  since  of  the  most  excellent  and  admired 
piece  of  heathen  poetry,  that  there  are  passages  in  it  at  which 
the  author  slept  ;  whence  others  have  derived  the  privilege  of 
forgetting  themselves  in  a  prolix  work.  The  same  event  at- 
tends the  habits  of  moral  virtues  ;  for  these  do  not  so  abso- 
lutely fill  up  the  souls  of  men,  that  actions  contrary  to  them 
do  not  sometimes  escape  those  who  have  obtained  them  to  an 
eminent  degree,  as  experience  shows,  and  philosophers  have 
expressly  noticed.  Therefore  neither  are  faults  incompatible 
with  the  habit  of  charity,  as  we  possess  it  here  below.  Only 
it  withholds  such  as  are  truly  endowed  with  it  from  commit- 
ting them  often  ;  and  when  they  are  overtaken,  it  quickly 
touches  them  with  regret,  and  moves  them  to  repent  of  what 
they  have  committed.  Since,  then,  that  to  be  justified  by 
works  a  man  must  present  such  works  to  God  as  have  no  need 
of  pardon,  it  is  still  evident  that  charity,  however  perfect  we 
may  have  it  here  below,  is  not  capable  of  justifying  us  before 
God.  If  our  adversaries  will  be  obstinate,  and  maintain  that 
charity  is  exempted  from  all  sin,  I  will  grant  it  of  that  char- 
ity which  reigns  on  high  in  the  heavens,  being  kindled  and 
kept  up  by  the  vision  of  the  glorious  face  of  God  ;  but  I  will 
say  with  St.  Augustine,*  that  no  man  has  such  a  charity  upon 
earth  ;  ours  here  is  but  begun  and  imperfectly  formed.  Yet 
the  law  requires  of  us  a  charity  full  and  entire,  and  perfect  in 
every  particular.  Surely,  then,  that  which  we  at  present  have 
is  not  able  to  satisfy  the  law,  and  consequently  cannot  jus- 
tify us. 

But  others  conceive  that,  by  this  perfection  of  which  char- 
ity is  the  bond,  the  integrity  and  unity  of  the  church  is  to  be 

*  Aug.  Ep.  29.  ad  Hieron. 
70 


554  AN  EXPOSITION  OP  [SERM.  XL. 

understood,  because  the  perfection  of  bodies  properly  consists 
in  the  collection  and  colligation  of  the  parts  of  which  they  are 
composed,  those  that  want  any  one  of  them  being  not  in  a 
condition  to  be  called  perfect.  These  authors,  therefore,  con- 
sider that  charity  is  here  styled  the  bond  of  perfection,  because 
it  is  this  that  joins  and  binds  all  the  faithful  together,  by  means 
of  the  mutual  love  which  they  bear  each  other.  For  my  part, 
dear  brethren,  I  think  we  must  join  together  these  two  expo- 
sitions, and  reduce  them  to  one  ;  and  understand  the  apostle's 
words,  the  bond  of  perfection,  as  simply  importing  that  char- 
ity is  a  perfect  bond,  by  a  Hebraism  very  frequent  through 
the  whole  Scripture  ;  as  when  it  speaks  of  a  man  of  sin,  or  a 
man  of  peace,  to  signify  a  sinful  man,  or  one  who  is  peaceable 
or  pacific  ;  affections  of  infamy,  for  "  vile  affections,"  Eom.  i. 
26  ;  and  so  in  a  multitude  of  other  places.  Here  then,  in  like 
manner,  the  apostle  says  a  bond  of  perfection,  instead  of  a 
perfect  bond  ;  an  exquisite  bond,  capable  of  binding  up  in 
perfection  both  all  christian  virtues  in  every  faithful  soul,  and 
all  the  faithful  in  the  church  with  each  other.  For  as  concern- 
ing virtues,  charity  binds  them  together,  both  by  that  common 
principle  from  which  it  causes  them  to  spring,  namely,  love 
of  our  neighbour,  and  by  that  common  end  to  which  it  directs 
them,  namely,  his  benefit  and  edification.  It  gathers  up  and 
puts  all  of  them  together  in  its  bosom,  not  leaving  one  out 
of  its  enclosure,  because  they  are  all  necessary  for  it  ;  mercy 
to  comfort  those  whom  it  loves,  benignity  to  succour  them, 
humility  to  win  them,  gentleness  to  please  them,  patience  to 
preserve  them,  and,  in  short,  all  the  rest,  to  acquit  itself  of 
those  duties  it  would  perform  towards  them.  And  as  for  the  faith- 
ful, who  does  not  know  that  charity  is  the  perfect  bond  of  their 
union?  The  considerations  of  blood,  of  state,  of  interest,  and 
of  pleasure,  sometimes  bind  other  men  together,  but  it  is  with 
a  great  deal  of  imperfection,  these  uncertain  bonds  being  daily 
broken,  and  so  badly  compacting  the  persons  they  enclose, 
that  they  are  soon  separated,  and  sometimes  even  fall  out  with 
and  injure  each  other.  But  charity  is  in  very  deed  a  perfect 
bond,  that  unites  those  whom  it  ties  together  so  closely,  and 
with  such  firmness,  as  neither  the  accidents  of  fortune,  (as  they 
call  them,)  nor  the  mutations  of  the  earth,  nor  death  itself, 
which  dissolves  all  other  unions  and  conjunctions  in  the  world, 
can  loosen  them,  or  separate  them  from  each  other.  It  was 
this  sacred  bond  that  formerly  made  all  the  believers  at  Jeru- 
salem to  be  "  of  one  heart  and  of  one  soul,"  Acts  iv.  32.  It 
is  a  bond  that  all  the  force  of  men  and  elements  can  neither 
break  nor  untie  ;  a  bond  stronger  than  death  and  the  grave, 
as  the  mystical  spouse  sings  in  that  excellent  Song.  It  does 
not  only  join  the  souls  of  the  faithful;  it  mingles  and  unites 
them,  changes  them  into  one  body  and  one  spirit,  gives  them 
the  same  will  and  the  same  affections. 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  555 

II.  Now,  further,  it  is  to  form  and  preserve  this  holy  union 
among  us,  that  the  apostle  recommends  to  us  the  peace  of  God 
in  the  second  part  of  this  text  :  "  Let  the  peace  of  God,"  says 
he,  "  rule  in  your  hearts,  to  the  which  also  ye  are  called  in 
one  body."  For  this  peace  of  God  is  not  that  which  we  have 
with  God  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  his  Son  ;  being  appeased 
by  the  satisfaction  of  his  cross,  he  looks  upon  us  in  him  with 
a  propitious  and  favourable  eye,  as  a  Father,  and  not  as  a 
Judge,  not  imputing  our  sins  to  us,  which  may  be  termed 
peace  of  conscience.  But  it  is  the  peace  which  we  ought  to 
have  with  each  other,  all  of  us  living  amicably  together,  aa 
children  of  one  and  the  same  Father,  and  heirs  of  one  and  the 
same  grace  and  glory.  It  is  the  daughter  of  charity,  and  a 
fruit  of  that  holy  and  christian  love  which  binds  us  perfectly 
together.  The  apostle  calls  it  the  peace  of  God  ;  first,  because 
he  loves  it  above  all  things,  and  upon  this  account  he  is  often 
styled  in  the  Scriptures  the  God  of  peace,  hating  nothing  in 
the  world  more  than  trouble  and  discord,  contentions  and 
wars.  Secondly,  because  he  commands  it  everywhere  in  hia 
word.  And  lastly,  because  he  is  the  author  of  it,  who  givea 
it  and  inspires  it  by  his  Spirit  into  all  those  who  are  truly 
his  children.  And  the  apostle  has  expressly  given  it  thia 
title  in  this  place,  for  the  more  effectually  recommending  it  to 
us,  and  that  he  might  induce  us  to  receive  it  with  the  greater 
respect,  as  a  thing  of  God,  holy,  sacred,  and  divine,  which  we 
cannot  violate  without  offending  grievously  that  sovereign 
Majesty  to  whom  in  so  many  ways  it  belongs. 

He  directs  that  this  peace  of  God  may  rule  in  our  hearts. 
The  term  which  he  uses  in  the  original  is  admirably  expres- 
sive and  elegant;  for  it  properly  signifies,  to  have  the  super- 
intendence of  a  thing,  to  be  the  judge  and  arbiter  of  it,  to 
govern  and  regulate  it,  and  give  it  law.  That  is,  the  apostle 
means  that  this  divine  peace  should  be  the  queen  of  our  hearts, 
the  mistress  and  governess  of  all  our  motions  ;  which  keeps 
them  in  due  respect,  and  withholds  them  from  ever  attempting 
anything  that  tends  to  violate  or  disturb  it  ;  and  if  the  re- 
senting an  offence,  for  instance,  or  an  opinion  of  our  own 
worth,  or  any  other  such  consideration,  begin  to  kindle  wrath, 
or  hatred,  or  animosity  against  our  brethren,  or  to  excite 
some  other  passion  of  a  similar  nature  in  our  hearts,  that  this 
peace  should  forthwith  advance,  and  stay  the  commotion  and 
agitation  of  our  minds,  calming  the  storm,  and  speedily  repel- 
ling all  these  sentiments  of  the  flesh,  as  so  many  incendiaries, 
or  evil  spirits,  without  giving  them  entrance  or  audience; 
that  it  should  enjoin  and  inspire  into  us  humility  and  pa- 
tience when  we  have  been  offended,  regret  and  the  making 
of  satisfaction  when  we  have  offended  any  other  ;  and  cause 
us  to  seek  carefully  after  all  that  it  shall  judge  necessary  to 


S5B  AN  EXPOSITION  OP  [SEEM.  XL. 

maintain  amity  and  good  fellowship  among  us,  as  kind  words 
and  obliging  deeds  ;  banishing  both  from  our  mouths  and 
from  our  manners  all  that  is  apt  to  cause  or  keep  up  a  division 
from  our  neighbours. 

The  intelligence  which  he  communicates,  that  this  is  the 
peace  of  God,  is  enough  to  persuade  us  to  give  it  such  a  place 
in  our  hearts.  But  that  the  apostle  might  overcome  all  possible 
obstinacy,  he  here  further  represents  to  us  two  other  considera- 
tions which  should  constrain  us  to  give  it  this  superinten- 
dence over  our  souls.  The  one  is,  that  we  are  thereunto 
called  ;  and  the  other,  that  we  are  one  body.  As  to  the  first, 
you  know  that  our  Lord  and  Master  Jesus  Christ  everywhere 
calls  us  to  this  peace  of  God,  and  that  he  has  given  us  precepts 
for  it  in  his  gospel,  and  examples  of  it  in  his  life.  For  what 
was  there  ever  in  the  world  more  meek  and  peaceable  than 
this  divine  Lamb  ?  He  contended  not,  nor  cried,  and  his 
voice  was  not  heard  in  the  streets,  Matt.  xii.  19,  as  the  pro- 
phets foretold  of  him.  He  was  gentle  and  lowly  in  heart. 
He  never  repulsed  any  ;  and  received  sinners  with  open  arms, 
however  bad  and  abominable  they  had  been.  He  invited  his 
greatest  enemies  to  his  salvation,  and  offered  his  grace  to  the 
most  obstinate,  and  bore  their  contradictions  without  answer- 
ing again,  and  their  reproaches  with  silence,  and  their  rage 
without  exasperation  ;  and  wept  bitterly  for  Jerusalem,  be- 
cause that  rebellious  city  would  not  know  the  things  of  her 
peace.  Such  is  the  pattern  he  gave  us  ;  commanding  us  like- 
wise expressly  to  be  gentle,  and  harmless  as  doves,  without 
gall  and  without  bitterness,  and  to  be  in  peace  among  our- 
selves, Mark  ix.  50.  And  his  apostles  repeat  this  lesson  to 
us  in  various  places  :  "  If  it  be  possible,"  says  Paul,  "  as  much 
as  lieth  in  you,  live  peaceably  with  all  men,"  Rom.  xii.  18. 
And  it  is  for  this  that  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world,  even 
to  pacify  heaven  and  earth,  Jews  and  Gentiles;  to  extinguish 
enmities  and  wars,  and  change  swords  into  ploughshares, 
and  spears  into  pruning-hooks  ;  to  take  away  the  poison  of 
asps,  and  the  cruelty  of  wolves,  and  the  fierceness  of  lions, 
and  transform  bears  and  the  most  savage  beasts  into  lambs, 
and  make  them  all  live  and  dwell  peaceably  and  amicably 
together,  Isa.  ii.  4  ;  xi.  6 — 8  :  finally,  to  make  peace  overflow 
as  a  river,  Isa.  Ixvi.  12,  as  the  ancient  oracles  had  magnifically 
foretold  ;  in  consequence  of  which  he  is  also  expressly  styled 
"The  Prince  of  peace,"  Isa.  ix.  6.  And  you  know  it  was  the 
legacy  he  bequeathed  us,  when  he  was  preparing  to  die  for  us  : 
"  Peace  I  leave  with  you,"  said  he,  "  my  peace  I  give  unto 
you,"  John  xiv.  27;  not  to  speak  of  the  blessing  and  the  dig- 
nity he  promises  those  who  shall  love  peace  :  "Blessed  are  the 
peace-makers:  for  they  shall  be  called  the  children  of  God," 
Matt.  V.  9.     After  all  this,  who  can  doubt  that  he  calls  all  his 


CHAP.  III.]        THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  557 

people  unto  peace,  as  the  apostle  here  affirms,  since  he  forms 
them  to  it  by  his  voice,  by  his  life,  by  his  promises,  and  by 
the  whole  design  of  his  mediatorial  office? 

But  besides  the  command  and  order  he  has  given,  the  very 
state  and  condition  in  which  by  his  vocation  he  has  placed 
us  manifestly  requires  it  ;  and  this  the  apostle  represents  to  us, 
in  the  second  place,  when,  having  told  us  that  we  are  called 
to  peace,  he  adds,  "  in  one  body,"  or,  to  express  the  full  and 
whole  force  of  the  Greek  words,  in  one  only  body.  It  is  a 
doctrine  universally  received,  and  most  expressly  asserted  in 
various  places  of  Scripture,  that  the  whole  church  makes  up 
but  one  only  mystical  body,  of  which  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Head, 
and  the  faithful  are  the  members,  being  animated  under  him 
with  one  and  the  same  Spirit,  and  knit  together  by  one  and 
the  same  faith,  hope,  and  charity.  No  one  has  part  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  who  lives  not  in  the  communion  of  this 
body.  Surely  then  it  should  be  one  of  our  chief  concerns  to 
maintain  peace  among  ourselves  ;  and  to  put  it,  as  the  apostle 
directs,  in  the  highest  place  of  our  hearts,  that  it  may  govern 
with  supremacy  all  our  thoughts,  motions,  and  sentiments. 
For  there  are  no  natural  bodies  whose  members  do  not  agree 
and  live  with  each  other  in  a  perpetual  and  inviolable  peace. 
The  societies  of  states  and  families,  which  are  bodies,  but  of 
another  kind,  namely,  political  and  economical,  are  governed 
in  the  same  manner  ;  their  primary  and  most  sacred  law  is, 
that  all  the  orders  and  persons  of  which  they  are  composed 
have  peace  with  each  other.  Now  if  this  has  place  both  in 
nature  and  in  the  societies  of  mankind,  how  much  more  ought 
it  to  be  observed  in  the  church,  which  is  a  divine,  celestial, 
and  supernatural  body  !  Our  own  interest  naturally  requires 
it;  for  as  war  weakens  and  ruins  the  states  into  which  it 
thrusts  itself,  and  whose  members  it  divides  ;  so,  on  the  con- 
trary, peace  establishes,  fortifies,  and  preserves  them,  accord- 
ing to  that  saying  of  our  Saviour,  "  Every  kingdom  divided 
against  itself  is  brought  to  desolation  ;  and  every  city  or  house 
divided  against  itself  shall  not  stand,"  Matt.  xii.  25. 

III.  The  apostle  adds,  in  the  close,  "  and  be  ye  thankful  ;" 
which  some  refer  to  the  same  scope  which  the  rest  of  the 
text  has  ;  as  if  he  intended  that  those  thanks  we  owe  to  God 
for  the  free  favour  he  has  showed  us,  in  receiving  us  unto 
peace  with  him,  also  evidently  requires  us  to  maintain  peace 
with  our  brethren.  And  I  acknowledge  that  the  argument  is 
good  and  pertinent.  Yet  it  is  better  to  take  this  clause  for 
an  exhortation,  which  he  gives  us  in  general,  to  be  thankful 
towards  God  and  towards  men.  For  as  ingratitude  is  one  of  the 
blackest  and  most  detestable  vices,  expressly  enrolled  by  the 
apostle  among  the  marks  of  those  wretched  times,  whose  ex- 
treme corruption  he  foretells  in  the  second  Epistle  to  Tim- 


558  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XL. 

otby,  chap.  iii.  2  ;  so  is  it  certain  that  gratitude  or  thankful- 
ness, is  a  most  necessary  virtue:  and,  in  my  opinion,  he  went 
not  very  wide  from  the  truth,  who  called  it  the  mother  of  all 
other  virtues*  It  enkindles  piety  in  our  hearts,  raises  up 
the  love  of  God  and  of  his  Christ,  and  urges  us  to  serve  and 
obey  him,  and,  by  consequence,  to  exercise  all  honesty  and 
virtue.  It  is  certain  that  upon  this  account  no  man  sins  with- 
out ingratitude.  Add  to  this,  that  thankfulness  is  the  source 
of  all  the  services  and  duties  which  we  perform  to  our  princes, 
to  our  country,  to  our  parents,  to  our  superiors,  and  all  who 
have  obliged  us  ;  offices,  as  you  know,  which  have  a  great  ex- 
tent in  human  life  ;  so  that  it  is  with  much  propriety  that  the 
apostle,  after  charity  and  peace,  gives  us  charge  also  touching 
thankfulness. 

Dear  brethren,  these  are  the  three  virtues  of  which  he  tells 
us  in  this  text.  Let  us  not  neglect  any  one  of  them  ;  but  em- 
brace them  all  three,  and  deck  our  lives  internally  and  exter- 
nally with  them.  In  the  first  place,  above  all,  let  us  put  on 
charity  ;  as  the  soul  of  Christianity,  the  perfect  bond  of  our 
union,  the  mark  of  God's  children,  the  abridgement  of  all  our 
duties,  and  the  mother  of  all  virtues.  Having  it,  you  have 
all  and  without  it,  you  have  nothing.  Without  it,  all  the  pro- 
fession you  make  of  the  gospel,  your  prayers,  your  religion, 
and  your  services,  are  but  an  empty  noise,  "  a  sounding  brass," 
as  the  apostle  says,  and  "a  tinkling  cymbal,"  1  Cor.  xiii.  1. 
Because  the  Israelites  wanted  this,  God  held  all  their  devotions 
and  sacrifices  in  abomination.  How  much  more  will  he  reject 
yours,  if  you  have  the  impudence  to  present  him  any  without 
charity,  now  that  his  Son  Jesus  has  so  clearly  shown  you  the 
necessity  and  excellency  of  it!  For  what  can  you  allege  any 
longer  to  excuse  yourselves  from  this  duty  ?  Truly  nature 
itself  sufficiently  obliged  you  before  to  love  your  neighbours, 
since  they  are  your  brethren,  even  after  the  flesh,  issued  from 
the  same  Adam,  and  the  same  Noah,  animated  by  the  same 
spirit,  clothed  with  the  same  body,  born  and  bred  upon  the 
same  earth  ;  and  if  you  divest  yourself  of  all  the  difference 
which  vanity  and  opinion  have  created,  you  will  see  that  in 
truth  there  is  none  at  all  between  you  and  them.  You  are 
subject  to  the  same  accidents  as  they,  and  the  death  which  at 
last  brings  them  down  will  no  more  spare  you  than  it  does 
them.  Having  so  intimate  a  connection  with  them,  you  ought 
to  look  upon  them  as  your  other  selves,  and  love  them  as  your 
near  relations,  and  not  account  anything  that  concerns  them 
foreign  or  indifferent.  The  heathen,  who  knew  no  more,  had 
the  understanding  to  draw  this  conclusion  from  it.  But  the  cross 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  has  afforded  us  other  reasons  for 

*  Cicero. 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  559 

charity,  which  are  much  more  excellent  and  pressing.  For  he 
so  loved  men,  that  he  died  to  save  them.  Christian,  how  can  you 
hate  or  despise  persons  whom  your  Master  has  so  much  loved 
and  esteemed,  upon  whom  you  see  his  blood,  by  which  they 
have  been  washed  and  purified  together  with  yourselves — his 
Spirit,  with  which  they  have  been  sealed  as  well  as  you — the 
first-fruits  and  earnests  of  that  heavenly  inheritance  unto 
which  they  and  you  are  called  to  live  eternally  together  ?  It 
is  by  this  that  they  are  to  be  considered,  and  not  by  what 
they  are  upon  this  earth,  which,  with  the  whole  heap  of  all  its 
pomps,  and  riches,  and  nobility,  and  honours  and  other  pieces 
of  vanity,  is  but  a  figure  which  passes  away  and  perishes.  If 
your  neighbour  has  nothing  on  the  earth,  if  he  is  despised  and 
accounted  the  filth  and  off-scouring  of  the  world,  as  the  apos- 
tle speaks,  remember  that  he  has  his  share  in  heaven,  that  he 
is  an  heir  of  this  eternal  kingdom,  the  child  of  God,  and  bro- 
ther of  Jesus  Christ.  Let  this  his  dignity,  which  is  so  high 
and  so  precious  in  the  sight  of  God  and  his  angels,  induce 
you  to  love  him,  to  regard  him,  and  to  befriend  him  ;  let  it 
mitigate  your  resentments,  if  he  has  offended  you  ;  let  it 
stretch  forth  your  hands  to  a  ready  communication  of  the 
succour  of  your  alms,  of  your  consolations,  and  of  your  good 
offices,  if  his  necessity  calls  for  them.  For  such  is  the  na- 
ture of  true  charity  ;  it  loves  not  in  words  and  with  the  tongue, 
but  in  deed  and  in  truth.  Let  ours  then  abound  in  alms  and 
in  beneficence  to  the  poor,  in  consolations  and  in  good  offices 
to  the  afflicted.  Let  it  be  firm  and  constant.  Let  not  our 
brethren's  ill  successes,  no,  nor  their  offences,  (if  they  happen 
to  commit  any,)  be  ever  able  to  break  this  sacred  bond  of 
perfection,  which  spiritually  joins  us  and  them  together  in  our 
Lord. 

Let  us  also  heedfully  keep,  as  committed  to  our  trust,  that 
peace  which  Jesus  Christ  has  left  us  at  his  death,  and  unto 
which  he  calls  us  in  one  body,  by  all  his  religious  mysteries. 
This,  says  the  apostle,  is  the  peace  of  God  ;  and  he  that  keeps 
it  may  be  sure  to  have  God  with  him,  according  to  the  promise 
which  the  same  apostle  elsewhere  makes  :  "  Live  in  peace  ;  and 
the  God  of  love  and  peace  shall  be  with  you,"  2  Cor.  xiii.  11. 
Object  not  those  petty  reasons  which  flesh  and  blood  inspire. 
Nothing  must  be  heard  against  the  peace  of  God.  The  apostle 
requires  that  it  should  rule  in  our  hearts,  that  it  should  be  the 
governess  and  superintendent  of  them.  Account  then  every 
thought  that  would  disturb  it  as  rebellious,  drive  it  out  of 
your  hearts  and  crush  it  as  an  infernal  thought,  which  cannot 
come  from  any  but  the  enemy,  since  it  is  contrary  to  the  peace 
of  Christ.  Now  here,  dear  brethren,  I  might  make  large  com- 
plaints upon  that  rebellion,  of  which  most  of  us  are  guilty, 
against  this  peace  of  God  which  the  apostle  sets  up  to  rule  in 


560  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM,  XLI. 

our  hearts.  We  have  shaken  off  its  yoke.  Flesh  and  blood, 
and  their  interests  have  driven  it  out  from  among  us.  It  is  so 
far  from  possessing  the  first  place  here,  that  it  has  scarcely  any 
at  all  ;  and  it  seems  that,  offended  with  our  contempt,  it  has 
quitted  the  church  as  well  as  the  world,  and  is  altogether  re- 
tired into  heaven.  For  all  among  us  are  full  of  divisions  and 
discord,  of  suits,  of  quarrels,  of  little  wars,  which  we  make 
upon  one  another,  with  a  scandalous  eagerness  and  obstinacy. 
In  the  name  of  God,  let  us  recall,  beloved  brethren,  into  our 
communion,  this  holy  and  blessed  peace  of  God,  unto  which 
Jesus  Christ  and  his  gospel  with  so  much  importunity  invite 
us,  and  henceforth  give  it  that  place  in  our  hearts  which  the 
apostle  assigns  it.  This  is  the  best  thanks  we  can  render  this 
great  Saviour  for  the  kindness  he  has  showed  us.  And  if  we 
deny  him  that  peace  he  demands  of  us  for  our  brethren,  I 
know  not  how  we  can  ask  his  peace  for  ourselves,  or  clear  our- 
selves of  the  foulest  ingratitude.  But  I  hope  better  things,  and 
do  beseech  the  Lord  that  he  himself  would  shed  abroad  his  peace 
into  our  hearts,  and  absolutely  settle  it  in  them  ;  that  we  may 
see  all  his  blessings  abound  in  the  midst  of  us,  both  those  of 
the  present  life,  and  those  of  the  life  to  come.    Amen. 


SERMON    XLI 

VERSE    16. 


Let  the  word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you  richly  in  all  wisdom  ;  teaching 
and  admonishing  one  another  in  psalms  and  hymns  and  spirit- 
ual songs,  singing  with  grace  in  your  hearts  to  the  Lord. 

Dear  brethren,  experience  shows  us  that  most  things  are 
sustained  by  the  use  of  the  same  means  which  gave  them  being. 
Thus  in  nature  we  see  that  nothing  more  confirms,  nor  better 
preserves,  the  arts  and  sciences,  than  those  very  actions  and 
exercises  which  formed  them,  and  that  nothing  better  maintains 
estates  than  the  same  prudence  and  valour  which  raised  them. 
Also,  as  frequent  converse  with  virtuous  persons  commonly 
enkindles  in  our  hearts  a  love  of  an  aim  at  probity,  so  does  it 
advance  our  constant  perseverance  in  it.  Accordingly,  in  re- 
ligion, the  word  of  God,  which  produces  faith  and  holiness  in 
our  souls,  is  the  very  thing  which  preserves  and  perpetuates  it 
there.  This  word  is  the  power  of  God,  both  to  form  the  piety 
of  his  elect  at  first,  and  to  keep  it  in  them  for  ever  after  its 
formation.     It  is  the  parent,  the  nurse,  and  the  guardian  of  the 


CHAP.    III.]      THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  ANS.  56Ê 

new  man.  It  administers  both  the  seed  of  our  regeneration,  and 
the  milk  of  our  spiritual  nutrition.  It  is  this  that  gives  us 
spiritual  life  ;  it  is  this  also  that  preserves  it.  It  is  upon  this 
that  both  the  beginnings  and  the  progressions,  the  production 
and  the  perseverance  thereof  depend.  Wherefore  the  holy 
apostle,  having  before  exhorted  the  Colossians  to  christian 
sanctification,  and  pointed  out  the  principal  fruits  of  it,  as 
mercy,  benignity,  patience,  charity,  and  peace;  now,  to  abridge 
this  discourse,  and  comprise  all  in  a  few  words,  recommends  to 
them  the  word  of  God,  as  the  only  means,  not  only  to  maintain  • 
and  preserve,  but  even  to  perfect  and  complete,  all  the  parts 
of  their  piety,  as  a  living  and  plentiful  spring  from  which  they 
might  draw  both  those  virtues  which  he  had  named,  and 
all  others  that  were  necessary  for  the  perfection  of  their 
Christianity.  There  is  no  need,  says  he,  that  I  should  take  the 
pains  to  point  out  particularly  to  you  all  the  graces  which 
ought  to  beam  forth  in  your  actions,  nor  recommend  singly 
those  perfections  which  the  name  and  profession  of  Jesus  Christ 
requires  of  you.  You  have  a  good  master  near  you  that  will 
teach  them  and  excellently  form  them  in  you  ;  I  mean  the 
word  of  Christ,  which  I  deem  it  sufficient  merely  to  recommend 
to  you.  Hear  it,  and  practise  it,  and  let  it  be  familiar  with 
you.  To  direct  you  to  it,  is  to  say  all.  You  will  want 
nothing  if  you  hear,  and  study,  and  believe  its  intimations 
with  that  attention  and  respect  which  you  owe  it.  "  Let  it 
dwell  richly  in  you  in  all  wisdom,"  &c. 

This  is  the  advice,  beloved  brethren,  which  the  apostle  before 
gave  the  Colossians;  advice  so  much  the  more  necessary  for  us 
now,  because,  besides  the  negligence  and  disgust  of  our  nature, 
there  are  people  found  in  this  unhappy  age  who  decry  the 
word  of  God  and  do  all  they  can  to  make  christians  suspect  it, 
and  to  wrest  out  of  their  hands  this  precious  treasure  of  faith- 
ful souls  ;  an  attempt  unheard  of  in  all  the  first  ages  of  the 
church,  and  not  to  be  believed,  did  not  our  eyes  and  senses 
testify  it.  Therefore,  christians,  if  you  have  any  zeal  for  your 
Master's  glory,  upon  whose  wisdom  all  the  blame  that  is  laid 
upon  his  word  evidently  reflects,  if  you  have  any  love  for  the 
edification  of  your  neighbours,  and  if  you  have  any  affection 
for  your  own  salvation,  hear  with  attention  the  apostle's  in- 
struction. Take  home  to  you  and  keep  with  you  this  heavenly 
word,  which  he  would  lodge  and  have  to  dwell  there.  Defend 
these  divine  springs  of  life,  of  which  all  our  fathers  drank, 
against  the  attempts  of  these  new  doctors,  who  would  by  all 
means  stop  and  fill  them  up  ;  doing  the  house  of  Jesus  Christ 
such  wrong  as  the  Philistines  formerly  did  the  family  of  Isaac, 
whose  wells,  as  the  sacred  historian  tells  us,  they  closed  up 
and  filled  with  earth,  to  render  them  useless.  Gen.  xxvi. 
15.  Now,  to  guide  you  in  this  meditation,  I  will  (if  it  please 
71 


562  AN   EXPOSITION   OP  [SERM.  XLI. 

God)  consider  in  order,  the  two  points  that  offer  themselves  in 
the  apostle's  text  :  First,  that  in  which  he  recommends  to  us 
the  study  of  the  word  of  God,  in  these  terms,  "  Let  the  word 
of  Christ  dwell  in  you  richly  in  all  wisdom,"  Secondly,  that 
in  which  he  represents  to  us  some  of  the  principal  uses  we 
ought  to  make  of  it  :  "  Teaching  and  admonishing  one  another 
in  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  singing  with  grace 
in  your  hearts  to  the  Lord." 

I.  All  the  terms  which  he  uses  in  the  first  part  are  worthy 
of  much  consideration.  First,  his  calling  the  word  of  God, 
which  was  delivered  by  the  prophets  and  apostles,  and  is 
contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
"  the  word  of  Christ."  It  is  the  word  of  Christ,  both  because 
he  is  the  subject  and  the  end  of  it,  and  also  the  author  of  it, 
who  inspired  it  by  his  Spirit  into  his  servants  ;  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  apostle  elsewhere  terms  all  the  afflictions  of  the 
new  and  of  the  ancient  church  even  to  those  which  Moses  and 
the  Israelites  suffered  in  Egypt,  the  affliction  and  reproaches  of 
Christ,  Heb.  xi.  25,  26,  because  Christ  is  both  the  cause  for 
which  the  faithful  are  afflicted,  and  also  the  director  of  their 
affliction  who  sends  and  governs  them  by  his  providence. 
Whence  it  clearly  follows  that  he  is  God,  since  all  Scripture 
is  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  that  he  subsisted  in  the  time  of 
the  patriarchs,  and  of  all  the  ancient  church,  contrary  to  the 
impious  doctrines  of  those  heretics  who  deny  the  divinity  of 
our  Lord,  and  pretend  that  he  had  no  subsistence  in  nature  until 
he  was  born  of  the  blessed  virgin. 

In  the  next  place,  we  are  to  consider  in  what  manner  the 
apostle  recommends  to  us  the  study  of  this  word.  He  says  not. 
Let  it  be  among  you,  let  it  be  read,  let  it  be  known  of  you  ; 
but  using  a  term  of  much  more  force  and  efficacy  than  all  that 
amounts  to,  he  directs  that  this  word  of  Christ  may  dwell  in 
us.  Dwelling,  you  know,  is  properly  affirmed  of  men,  and 
implies  their  taking  up  their  abode,  or  living  in  this  or 
that  place,  and  being  ordinarily  and  almost  always  there. 
Hence,  as  the  most  learned  of  the  Jewish  doctors  has  well 
observed,*  the  Scripture  uses  this  word  figuratively  to  signify 
the  constant  and  settled  abiding  of  one  thing  in  another  ; 
though  the  thing  which  is  said  to  dwell  in  the  other  may  not 
be  animate,  and  the  other,  in  which  it  is  said  to  dwell,  may 
not  properly  be  a  place  or  a  space  that  contains  it.  As  when 
Job,  execrating  the  day  of  his  birth,  wishes,  among  other 
things,  that  clouds  may  dwell  upon  it;  meaning  that  that  day 
may  be  continually  covered  with  clouds,  that  it  may  never  be 
without  that  sable  and  sad  veil,  and,  as  he  explains  himself, 
that  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death  may  for  ever  pollute 

*  R.  Moses  Ben.  Maim,  iu  More  Nevochim.  1.  1.  c.  25. 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  563 

it  ;  though,  to  speak  properly,  it  cannot  be  said  that  clouds, 
which  are  inanimate  things,  dwell  anywhere,  and  much  less 
dwell  in  a  day  or  upon  a  day,  which  is  not  a  place  or  compre- 
hensive space,  but  a  part  of  time.  And  it  is  also  in  this 
figurative  way  that  we  must  take  all  those  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture in  which  God's  dwelling  is  spoken  of;  as  when  he  pro- 
tests in  Exodus,  and  frequently  elsewhere,  that  he  will  dwell 
in  the  midst  of  the  children  of  Israel,  Exod.  xxix.  45  ;  Lev. 
xxvi.  12  :  a  particular  which  the  apostle  applies  also  to  the 
church  of  the  New  Testament,  1  Cor.  vi.  16  :  the  meaning  is, 
that  his  majesty  and  his  providence  should  always  be  with 
the  faithful,  and  never  forsake  them,  though,  to  speak  properly, 
the  Lord,  who  is  an  infinite  essence,  and  fills  heaven  and  earth 
without  being  enclosed  by  them,  dwells  nowhere.  It  is  in 
this  figurative  sense  that  the  apostle  here  uses  the  world  dwell, 
and  truly  with  much  grace  and  emphasis,  when  he  says,  "  Let 
the  word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you."  His  intention  is,  that  it  be 
constantly  in  you,  and  settled  there,  that  it  be  an  inmate  of 
your  hearts  and  lips,  that  it  never  leave  them  ;  and  as  our 
souls  dwell  in  our  bodies,  to  quicken  them,  and  to  govern  all 
their  motions,  in  the  same  manner,  that  this  divine  word  be 
the  soul  of  your  hearts,  abiding  day  and  nigth  there  to  con- 
duct and  regulate  all  your  actions,  that  it  be  as  well  known 
and  as  familiar  to  you  as  the  persons  who  dwell  in  your  house, 
and  pass  their  whole  time  with  you. 

But  the  apostle,  not  content  with  so  vivid  an  expression, 
adds  another  term,  to  signify  more  fully  how  studiously  we 
ought  to  fill  all  the  faculties  of  our  souls  with  this  word  of  the 
Lord  ;  "  Let  it  dwell  in  you,"  says  he,  "  richly  ;"  that  is,  abun- 
dantly, and,  as  the  French  Bibles  have  it,  plenteously,  in  such 
a  manner  as  that  there  may  be  no  part  of  its  mysteries  which  is 
not  found  in  you  ;  that  its  promises,  its  commands,  its  assertions, 
its  prophecies,  its  instructions,  may  be  all  entertained,  and  not 
one  of  them  excluded  ;  and  that  there  may  be  no  part  of  your- 
selves in  which  this  divine  guest  is  not  admitted  to  lodge  and 
to  abide;  your  understanding,  memory,  will,  affections,  deport- 
ment ;  that  it  appear  in  your  whole  life,  and  shine  forth  there 
in  such  a  manner  as  every  one  may  perceive  it.  It  is  also  to 
this  that  the  last  words  which  he  adds,  "in  all  wisdom,"  refer; 
in  which  he  shows  us  the  end  and  the  immediate  effect  of  this 
dwelling  of  the  word  of  God  in  us  ;  namely,  the  rendering  us 
wise  unto  salvation,  and  the  giving  us  all  the  wisdom  that  is 
necessary  to  glorify  God,  and  obtain  eternal  happiness.  He 
would  have  it  dwell  so  abundantly  in  us,  that  we  might  derive 
from  it  all  the  knowledge  it  imparts,  both  of  the  things  we 
should  believe,  and  of  the  things  which  we  should  do  to  be  saved. 
For  it  is  this  that  he  usually  means  by  that  wisdom  which  he 
recommends  to  us.     And  because  this  knowledge  has  many 


&64  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLI. 

parts,  some  of  wliich  are  useless  without  the  rest,  he  says  not 
simply,  "Let  the  word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you  richly  in 
wisdom,"  but  "  in  all  wisdom,"  to  show  us  that  it  is  not  enough 
to  study  some  part  of  this  heavenly  knowledge.  This  pro- 
bably might  have  been  sufficient  for  men  under  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, who  were  but  in  their  minority  ;  a  christian,  being  come  to 
mature  and  full  age,  ought  to  know  all  the  will  of  God,  all  his 
counsel,  and  all  that  admirable  wisdom  which  he  has  revealed 
to  us  by  his  Son  and  unfolded  in  his  Scriptures. 

Thus  you  see,  dear  brethren,  what  is  the  meaning  of  this 
precept  of  the  apostle.  In  it  now  we  have  a  great  many  things 
to  observe.  And,  first,  his  procedure,  in  that  having  com- 
menced his  discourse  upon  our  sanctification,  and  not  being 
inclined  to  enlarge  upon 'it  further  for  the  present,  he  refers 
the  faithful  for  the  rest,  not  to  the  voice  of  the  church,  but  to 
the  word  of  Christ  ;  an  evident  sign  that  it  is  not  the  church, 
as  those  of  Eome  pretend,  but  divine  Scripture,  which  is  the 
supreme  directress  of  the  faithful.  It  is  true,  that  pastors  are 
serviceable  for  their  instruction,  but  it  is  as  ministers  only,  and 
not  as  masters  ;  nor  do  they  minister  of  their  own,  but  out  of 
the  stock  of  this  divine  word;  beside  which  they  ought  to 
teach  nothing  of  themselves  ;  and  if  they  do,  they  are  not  to 
be  heard.  Secondly,  the  express  order  which  the  apostle  gives 
us,  that  the  word  of  Christ  should  dwell  richly  in  us,  shows 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  pastors  sedulously  to  exhort  their  flocks 
to  the  study,  reading,  and  meditation  of  the  divine  Scriptures, 
and  that  it  is  incumbent  on  their  flocks  to  addict  themselves 
assiduously  to  it.  Whence  it  follows,  in  the  third  place,  that 
this  word  of  Christ  ought  to  resound  continually  everywhere  ; 
in  the  church  in  its  public  assemblies,  in  private  families,  and 
the  very  closets  of  its  members  :  otherwise  how  would  it  dwell 
plenteously  in  us?  Moreover,  since  the  apostle  speaks  here  to 
all  the  faithful  in  general,  as  well  people  as  ministers,  this  Epis- 
tle being  directed  by  him  to  all  "  the  faithful  brethren  in  Christ 
which  are  at  Colosse,"  it  is  evident  his  intention  is,  that  not 
only  should  all  christians  hear  this  word  in  the  church,  but 
that  they  should  also  read  it  each  one  in  private  if  they  can  ; 
and  that  such  reading  is  not  only  permitted,  but  commanded, 
as  profitable  and  necessary.  Again,  the  apostle's  requiring 
that  it  should  dwell  in  them,  yea,  dwell  richly  in  them,  neces- 
sarily implies  that  it  is  not  enough  to  know  some  general 
points  of  this  heavenly  doctrine  ;  but  that  men  ought  to  be 
fully  and  distinctly  instructed  in  it,  and  in  such  a  manner  as 
that  there  may  be  no  part  of  this  divine  treasure  of  which  we 
are  not  possessed.  The  same  appears  further  from  the  effect 
which  the  apostle  would  have  us  draw  from  it,  namely,  our 
abounding  by  means  of  this  word,  "  in  all  wisdom  ;"  a  thing 
which  has  no  place  in  those  who  have  but  a  superficial,  and,  as 


CHAP.  Ill,]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  565 

they  say,  an  implicit,  that  is,  a  confused,  involved,  and  en- 
tangled, knowledge  of  it.  Whence  it  clearly  follows  that  the 
word  of  Christ  contains  all  things  necessary  to  salvation  ;  it 
being  evident  that  he  who  is  ignorant  of  any  part  of  them  is 
not  owner  of  wisdom,  and  much  less  of  all  wisdom;  which  yet 
the  apostle  intimates  that  we  shall  have,  if  the  word  of  the  Lord 
dwells  richly  in  us. 

Compare  now  the  law  and  the  discipline  of  Eome  with  this 
doctrine  of  Paul,  and  you  will  find  such  a  difference,  or  rather, 
so  palpable  a  contrariety,  between  them,  as  that  the  night  and 
darkness  are  not  more  contrary  to  the  day  and  its  light.  First, 
the  apostle  refers  his  scholars  to  the  word  of  Christ,  to  learn 
there  all  the  duties  of  Christianity.  Rome  directs  hers  to  the 
pope  and  his  officers,  to  be  instructed  about  their  salvation. 
The  apostle  declares  that  the  word  of  Christ  is  capable  of  giving 
us  all  heavenly  wisdom,  if  it  dwell  in  us.  Rome  asserts,  that 
it  is  not  sufficient  for  this  end,  and  that  it  contains  but  some 
parts  of  saving  wisdom,  for  the  completion  of  which  unwritten 
tradition  must  be  added.  The  apostle  would  have  this  divine 
word  dwell  in  us.  Rome  would  not  that  it  should  ;  and  intro- 
duces in  its  place  I  know  not  what  kind  of  fabulous  legends, 
with  which  she  fills  the  world,  giving  them  to  her  votaries  for 
instructing  and  feeding  their  souls.  The  apostle  directs  that 
this  word  be  read,  both  in  public  and  in  private,  among  the 
faithful  ;  Rome  ordains  that  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  shall 
be  done.  As  for  the  public,  if  she  show  her  assemblies  any 
pieces  of  it,  she  shows  them  hidden,  and  wrapt  up  in  a  language 
not  understood  ;  that  is,  she  reads  them,  and  reads  them  not  ; 
it  being  evident  that  proclaiming  the  laws  and  ordinances  of  a 
sovereign  to  a  people  in  a  language  which  they  do  not  under- 
stand, is  the  same  in  effect  as  if  they  were  not  proclaimed.  It 
is  holding  out  a  candle,  but  a  candle  hid  under  a  bushel  ;  that 
is,  a  holding  it  not  out.  It  is  presenting  the  face  of  Christ  to 
his  people  ;  but  presenting  it  veiled  and  disguised,  under  such 
a  form  as  they  discern  nothing  of  it.  And  as  to  private,  you 
know  with  what  indignity  Rome  treats  christians,  and  how 
she  forbids  them  to  read  their  Father's  Testament,  and  judges 
it  a  crime  that  they  should  handle  books  which  were  made  for 
them,  or  see  those  letters  which  are  expressly  directed  to 
them.  And  that  the  permission  of  this  reading,  which  they 
give  some  tradesmen  of  this  city,  and  that  the  boldness  of  some 
doctors,  who  deny  even  the  clearest  things,  may  not  deceive 
you,  I  think  it  pertinent  to  represent  to  you  here  the  doctrine 
of  Rome  touching  this  matter.  Know  then  that  in  the  Treatise 
and  Index  of  prohibited  Books,  drawn  up  by  the  authority  of 
the  council  of  Trent,  approved  and  published  by  the  authority 
of  Pope  Pius  IV.,  and  of  all  his  successors,  one  of  their  first 
rules  runs  expressly  in  these  words:  "Since  it  is  manifest  by 


566  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLI. 

experience,  that  if  the  holy  Bible  be  commonly  and  indiffer- 
ently permitted  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  there  is  derived  from  it 
more  damage  than  profit,  in  consequence  of  the  temerity  of 
men;  the  judgment  of  the  bishop  or  the  inquisitor  must  be 
abided  by  in  this  case  ;  so  that  they  by  the  counsel  of  the  parish 
priest,  or  of  the  confessor,  may  grant  the  reading  of  the  Bible 
in  a  translation  made  by  some  Catholic  author  unto  such  as 
they  shall  find  capable  of  drawing  from  such  reading,  not 
damage  or  prejudice,  but  increase  of  faith  and  piety  ;  and  this 
license  they  must  have  in  writing.  As  for  those  who  shall 
presume  to  read  it  without  such  license,  they  must  not  receive 
absolution  of  their  sins  without  having  first  rendered  up  their 
Bible  into  the  ordinary's  hands."*     Thus  far  the  papal  law. 

Was  there  ever  ordinance  more  injurious  to  the  word  of 
God,  and  to  his  apostle's  authority?  First,  their  position  at 
the  entrance,  namely,  that  the  common  reading  of  the  Bible 
does  more  hurt  than  good,  and  causes  more  damage  than  profit, 
is  horrible,  and  directly  contrary  both  to  the  wisdom  and  good- 
ness of  God,  and  also  to  Paul's  declaration.  For  who  can  be- 
lieve that  God  would  give  such  books  to  his  church  as  are  more 
apt  to  hurt  them  than  to  help  ?  And  how  does  his  apostle  re- 
commend them  to  all  christians  indifierently,  directing  that 
this  word  dwell  plenteously  in  them,  if  this  is  dangerous  for 
them,  and  rather  pernicious  than  profitable?  And  why  does 
he  promise  us  from  it  the  fruit  of  wisdom,  yea,  of  all  wisdom, 
if  the  reading  be  so  perilous  ?  Is  wisdom  an  evil  and  perni- 
cious thing  ?  But  it  is  easy  to  comprehend  the  thoughts  of 
Rome  ;  she  means  assuredly  that  reading  the  Bible  is  prejudi- 
cial to  her  ;  that  it  discovers  her  impostures,  and,  giving  wis- 
dom to  the  simple,  arms  and  fortifies  them  against  her  corrup- 
tions and  pretended  traditions.  This  is  in  truth  the  damage 
and  loss  she  fears,  and  which  makes  her  so  careful  to  extinguish 
or  set  aside  all  glimpses  of  this  heavenly  light,  to  the  end  that 
she  may  reign  at  her  ease  by  the  favour  of  darkness.  And  if 
she  would  have  sincerely  represented  her  motives  in  this  ordi- 
nance of  hers,  there  would  not  have  been  the  preface  which  we 
have  just  read,  but  such  a  one  as  this, — '  It  being  evident  by 
experience  that  the  reading  of  the  Bible  is  very  prejudicial  to 
the  church  of  Rome,  giving  men  the  hardiness  to  reject  the  au- 
thority and  doctrine  of  her  pope,  who  not  only  is  not  found  any- 
where in  this  word  of  God,  but  even  opposes  it  in  various  in- 
stances ;  for  these  reasons  it  has  seemed  good  to  her  to  shut  up 
and  restrain  the  knowledge  of  it  as  much  as  she  can,  since  the 
abolition  of  it  altogether  is  both  impossible  and  scandalous.' 
This  is  their  true  meaning,  this  their  true  motive.  And  indeed 
you  see  how  in  conclusion  they  straiten  this  reading  as  much  as 

*  Index  Libr.  Piohibitor.  Reg  4. 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  567 

they  possibly  can.  First,  they  will  not  allow  men  to  read  any 
version  of  the  Scripture,  though  never  so  good  and  faithful, 
and  exactly  translated  from  the  original  texts,  except  it  has  (as 
they  say)  some  Catholic  for  its  author  ;  that  is,  one  or  other  of 
those  people  who,  being  passionate  for  the  Roman  cause,  would 
weaken  the  words  of  the  Scripture  as  much  as  possible,  and 
sometimes  even  audaciously  corrupt  them  for  their  own  advan- 
tage ;  as  you  may  plainly  perceive  by  the  example  of  him  who, 
passing  the  bounds  of  the  modesty  of  all  others,  has  not  long 
since  put  the  express  term  mass,  a  stranger  to  all  Scripture, 
into  the  book  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  ;  and  written  at  the 
third  chapter,  that  the  prophets  and  teachers  which  were  in  the 
church  of  Antioch  did  say  mass,  against  the  warrant  of  the  ori- 
ginal, and  of  all  ancient  versions,  the  Syriac,  the  Arabic,  and 
the  Latin,  which  is  itself  canonized  by  the  Council  of  Trent, 
every  one  of  which  says  agreeably  with  the  original,  that  those 
persons  served  or  ministered  to  the  Lord;  contrary  to  the  ex- 
ample of  the  vulgar  versions  of  the  Roman  communion,  as  that 
of  the  doctors  of  Louvain,  of  Benedict,  of  Frison,  and  others  ; 
and,  in  fact,  against  the  evidence  of  the  thing  itself,  this  latter 
version  falsely  supposing  that  there  could  be  no  divine  service 
but  its  pretended  mass.  Judge  by  this  sample  what  the  ver- 
sions of  the  Bible,  made  by  these  good  catholics,  are  likely  to 
be.  But  however  altered  and  disguised  these  versions  are  in 
their  own  favour,  they  still  fear  them  ;  well  knowing  that  it  is 
not  easy  so  to  sophisticate  this  heavenly  word,  as  that  it  will 
not  always  have  virtue  enough  left  to  confound  their  errors. 
Therefore  they  add  another  restriction,  that  for  the  reading  of 
such  Bibles  there  must  be  had  a  license,  and  in  writing,  not 
from  the  parish  priest,  (this  is  not  sufficient,)  but  from  the 
bishop  of  the  diocess,  or  from  the  inquisitor  (an  office  in  the 
modern  church,  which  is  no  more  found  in  holy  writ  than  the 
office  of  their  mass).  And  yet  they  do  not  leave  them  an  abso- 
lute disposal  of  the  matter  ;  but  oblige  them  to  assure  them- 
selves first,  by  conference  and  deliberation  with  the  curates 
of  the  petitioners,  that  they  are  persons  to  whom  the  word  of 
Ood  will  do  no  hurt  ;  that  is,  will  not  give  them  a  distaste  for 
the  Roman  religion,  which  is  in  reality  all  the  danger  they  ap- 
prehend. 

Christians,  do  you  not  tremble  to  hear  that  these  masters 
forbid  what  the  apostle  gives  you  orders  to  do — a  thing  that 
Jesus  Christ  himself  commands  you,  when  he  says,  "  Search 
the  Scriptures  !"  and  that  their  dispensation  must  be  had  to  do 
that  which  Jesus  Christ,  and  his  apostle  enjoin  you?  The 
apostle  says,  "  Let  the  word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you  ;"  and  these 
gentlemen  cry  on  the  other  side.  No,  meddle  not  with  it.  Cast 
not  your  eyes  on  it.  Have  not  so  much  as  the  book  in  your 
houses,  (which  is  far  indeed  from  getting  it  to  dwell  in  your 


568  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XLI. 

hearts,)  except  one  of  our  bishops  or  inquisitors  give  you  per- 
mission for  it.  Oh,  new  and  unheard-of  theology  !  that  a 
christian  must  have  a  dispensation  from  Rome,  or  one  of  her 
ministers,  to  obey  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  cannot  do  what  Paul 
commands  him,  except  the  pope's  officers  give  him  a  permission 
in  writing.  Can  men  more  openly  debase  the  authority  of 
Christ  and  his  apostle  ?  Surely,  what  is  commanded  is  a  duty 
and  that  which  is  permitted  (especially  that  for  which  one  is 
obliged  to  have  a  permission  in  writing)  is  a  thing  contrary  to 
our  duty,  as  every  one  knows,  and  as  you  may  see  by  the 
practice  of  Rome  itself,  where  permission  to  eat  flesh  in  Lent 
is  indeed  demanded,  but  not  to  eat  fish  in  the  carnival  ;  be- 
cause, according  to  their  laws,  the  first  is  contrary  to  a 
christian's  duty,  and  not  the  second.  If,  then,  a  christian 
must  have  a  permission  to  read  the  Bible,  it  is  evident  that 
the  reading  of  it  is  a  matter  of  some  contrariety  to  a  chris- 
tian's duty,  that  of  itself  it  is  unlawful  and  prohibited. 
Again,  if  such  reading  be  duly  commanded,  it  must  of  neces- 
sity be  said  that  every  one  is  obligated  to  read  it,  (at  least 
every  faithful  man  or  woman  that  can  read,)  and  that  they 
no  more  need  any  one's  permission  to  read  the  Bible,  than 
to  give  an  alms,  or  to  comfort  an  afilicted  person,  or  to 
obey  their  father  or  their  prince,  Paul's  command,  as  you 
see,  is  express,  "  Let  the  word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you."  It  is 
then  our  duty  to  read  it  and  meditate  upon  it.  It  is  then  a 
manifest  invasion  of  the  apostle's  authority  to  restrain  us  from 
reading  it  without  any  man's  permission,  whoever  he  might 
be.  It  is  a  changing  what  Paul  has  ordained.  It  is  a  taking 
it  out  of  the  rank  of  duties  where  he  had  set  it,  and  placing  it 
among  transgressions.  It  is  a  making  that  to  pass  for  prohi- 
bited which  the  holy  apostle  has  commanded  ;  there  being  no 
place  for  a  permission,  but  in  things  which  the  laws  of  God  or 
of  men  have  forbidden. 

Can  a  stranger  thing  be  ordained?  Yet  they  stop  not  here. 
For,  fearing  lest  such  a  permission,  though  difficult  and  strait, 
and  depending  upon  the  will  of  their  officers,  should  yet  pre- 
judice their  religion,  if  any  use  were  made  of  it,  they  with- 
draw nearly  altogether  the  power  to  grant  it,  which  they  be- 
fore gave  the  bishop  and  the  inquisitor.  For,  in  the  observa- 
tion which  they  add  upon  this  fourth  rule,  they  declare  ex- 
pressly, that  "the  meaning  is  not  that  there  is  by  it  any  new 
power  attributed  to  bishops  or  inquisitors,  or  to  the  superiors 
of  regular  societies,  to  give  leave  to  any  to  read,  or  buy,  or 
keep  the  Bible,  or  any  piece  either  of  the  Old  or  of  the  New 
Testament,  or  so  much  as  summaries  or  historical  abridgments 
of  the  books  of  holy  Scripture,  in  any  vulgar  tongue  what- 
ever ;  because  (say  they)  they  have  hitherto  been  deprived  of 
the  power  of  giving  such  permissions  by  the  Roman  holy 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  569 

general  Inquisition,  and  it  must  be  inviolably  observed."*  See, 
I  beseech  you,  a  most  manifest  illusion  !  They  forbid  all 
christians  to  read  the  Bible  without  the  bishop's  or  the  inqui- 
sitor's permission  ;  but  they  presently  declare  that  no  bishop 
or  inquisitor  has  power  to  give  any.  Thus  there  shall  no  per- 
son be  permitted  to  read  it.  Is  not  this  an  evident  mockery 
of  the  world  ?  But  these  men  so  greatly  dread  the  Scripture, 
that  they  had  rather  become  guilty  of  thus  shamefully  and 
openly  deluding  Christendom,  than  sufifer  any  one  to  possess 
or  to  read  so  dangerous  a  book.  They  would  rather  favour 
their  interest  than  their  honour.  And,  indeed,  such  is  the 
practice  in  Spain  and  Italy,  and  in  the  territories  of  the  Inqui- 
sition, where  this  permission  to  read  the  Bible  is  not  given  to 
any  man,  whoever  he  may  be  ;  and  where  it  is  held  for  a  capi- 
tal crime,  and  a  sure  mark  of  heresy,  to  have  in  the  house  but 
a  volume  of  the  Old  or  New  Testament  in  the  vulgar 
tongue.  So  that  of  necessity  those  who,  in  these  parts,  permit 
this  reading  to  some,  are  either  guilty  of  violating  the  general 
ordinances  of  that  church  of  which  they  profess  to  be  mem- 
bers, or  have  some  particular  and  extraordinary  power  from 
the  pope  to  do  as  they  do,  which,  however  does  not  appear  to 
be  the  case. 

This  crime  would  be  less  strange  if  it  clashed  only  with 
this  passage  of  the  apostle.  But  it  also  overturns  various 
other  most  express  instructions  which  occur  in  the  holy 
Scriptures.  For  God  commands  the  king  of  Israel,  who  was 
a  layman,  not  a  clergyman,  to  write  a  copy  of  his  law,  and  to 
have  it  by  him,  and  read  it  diligently,  Deut.  xvii.  18,  19  ;  and 
generally  all  his  people  to  lay  up  all  his  words  in  their  hearts 
and  in  their  minds  ;  to  bind  them  for  signs  upon  their  hands, 
and  for  frontlets  between  their  eyes,  that  is,  to  have  them  as 
familiar  as  their  own  hands  and  eyes  ;  to  teach  them  to  their 
children,  and  discourse  of  them  at  home  and  abroad,  lying 
down  and  rising  up  ;  and  write  them  on  the  posts  of  their 
houses,  and  on  their  gates,  Deut.  xi.  18 — 20  ;  vi.  7 — 9  ;  which 
is  just  the  same  thing  as  Paul  here  briefly  calls  having  the 
word  of  God  to  dwell  in  them.  In  fact,  Luke  praises  the 
Ethiopian  eunuch,  because  he  read  the  Scriptures  ;  and  the 
men  of  Berea,  because  they  consulted  them  daily,  to  know  if 
the  things  which  Paul  and  Silas  preached  to  them,  were  so, 
Acts  viii.  28  ;  xvii.  11.  Yet  we  nowhere  read  that  they  had 
leave  of  any  papal  bishops  or  inquisitors.  And  David  pro- 
nounces that  man  blessed  who  meditateth  day  and  night  in  the 
law  of  God,  Psal.  i.  1,  2.  Again,  the  word  of  God  being  writ- 
ten, "  that  we  might  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  and  that 
believing  we  might  have  life  through  his  name,"  as  says  John, 

*  Index  Libr.  Prohibit,  observ.  circa  Refful.  4. 
72 


570  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  XLI. 

cTiap.  XX.  31  ;  and  "  for  our  learning,"  as  says  Paul,  "that  we 
through  patience  and  comfort  might  have  hope,"  Rom.  xv.  4  ; 
it  must  of  necessity  be  concluded,  that,  to  forbid  christians  to 
read  the  Scriptures  is  evidently  either  to  frustrate  the  intention 
of  the  Lord,  or  to  accuse  him  of  having  been  unable  to  give 
us  Scriptures  proper  for  his  aim  and  our  aid.  I  say  as  much, 
and  that  more  positively,  of  the  apostolical  Epistles  ;  which, 
being  directed  to  the  faithful  clergy  and  laity,  indifferently, 
there  is  no  reason  to  restrain  any  of  them  from  reading  that 
which  the  first  ministers  of  God  wrote  to  them  all. 

The  fault  of  our  adversaries  is  so  much  the  more  inexcusa- 
ble, as  the  ancient  doctors,  whom  they  so  highly  extol,  are  di- 
rectly contrary  to  them  in  this  particular.  As  Origen  for  one, 
who  would  have  christians  not  only  hear  the  word  of  God  in 
the  church,  but  exercise  themselves  in  reading  it  at  home,  and 
in  meditating  on  it  night  and  day.*  St.  Hierom  for  another, 
who  would  have  women  and  maids  themselves  to  learn  the 
Scriptures  by  heart.f  St.  Augustine  for  a  third,  who  most 
earnestly  recommends  the  reading  of  the  word  of  God  to  the 
very  catechumen i,  that  is,  christians  of  the  lowest  form,  such 
as  had  not  yet  received  holy  baptism.:}:  St.  Gregory  the  Great, 
that  famous  bishop  of  Rome,  for  a  fourth,  who  gravely  re- 
proves a  physician  of  the  court  because  he  took  not  the  pains 
to  read  the  words  of  our  Redeemer  every  day.  "  For  what  is 
holy  Scripture,"  says  he,  "  but  a  letter  from  God  to  his  crea- 
ture ?  If  you  were  in  a  far  country,  and  there  received  letters 
from  the  emperor  your  master,  you  would  not  be  at  rest  nor 
sleep  at  your  ease  till  you  had  read  them,  and  perceived  what 
your  earthly  prince  should  have  vouchsafed  to  write  you.  The 
Monarch  of  heaven,  the  Lord  of  men  and  angels,  has  sent  and 
conveyed  to  your  hands  his  letters  about  the  concerns  of  your 
life.  And  yet,  my  son,  you  deign  not  to  read  them.  Apply 
to  them,  I  beseech  you,  and  meditate  daily  upon  your  Creator's 
sayings."§  Thus  wrote  Gregory,  more  than  a  thousand  years 
ago.  Judge  how  far  the  language  of  later  popes  is  from  his 
spirit,  and  from  his  principles.  I  pass  by  other  doctors  of  an- 
tiquity, who  are  no  less  contrary  to  this  modern  abuse,  and 
will  only  mention  further  John  of  Antioch,  bishop  of  Con- 
stantinople, to  whom  the  church  has  given  the  name  of  Chrj- 
sostom,  that  is,  golden-mouth,  because  of  the  richness  and 
sweetness  of  his  incomparable  eloquence  ;  he  alone  would  fur- 
nish a  man  with  enough  to  make  a  small  volume,  if  any  would 
put  together  all  the  passages  of  his  works,  in  which  he  exhorts 
all  the  faithful,  and  especially  those  of  the  people,  to  an  assi- 
duous reading  of  the  holy  Scripture  ;  and  particularly  in  the 

*  Homil.  9.  on  Levitic.  f  Hierom,  Ep.  14.  et  30. 

X  August,  lib.  de.  Catech.  rud.  c.  6,  8. 
g  Gregor.  in  his  Epistles,  lib.  4.  Ep.  40. 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  571 

sermon  whicli  he  wrote  upon  this  very  text  of  the  apostle 
which  we  are  expounding.  "  Hear,"  says  he,  "  you  that  live 
in  the  world,  and  have  wife  and  children,  hear  how  he  orders 
you,  yea,  you  principally,  to  read  the  scriptures,  not  slightly, 
and  heedlessly,  but  with  great  care  and  diligence."  He  would 
have  them  heed  no  other  master  :  "  You  have,"  says  he  to 
them,  "  the  oracles  of  God,  and  no  one  can  teach  you  so  well 
as  these  divine  books."  And  a  little  after,  "  Have,"  says  he, 
"  the  books  of  the  Bible,  the  true  medicines  of  the  soul.  Get, 
at  least,  the  New  Testament,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the 
Gospels.  Let  these  be  your  perpetual  masters  and  teachers. 
If  any  affliction  befall  you,  loss  of  goods,  of  children,  or  of 
friends  ;  if  death  itself  present  itself  to  you  ;  make  search 
forthwith  in  this  book,  as  in  the  storehouse  of  celestial  medi- 
cines, and  fetch  out  of  it  the  remedies  that  are  necessary  for 
the  mitigation  of  your  miseries  :  or  rather,  that  you  may  not 
be  put  to  the  trouble  of  such  search,  lay  them  all  up  in  your 
soul,  and  have  them  ready  upon  all  occasions.  Ignorance  of 
the  Scriptures  is  the  cause  of  all  our  evils."*  Thus  far,  Chry- 
sostom.  And  truly,  as  you  see,  he  was  not  of  the  opinion  of 
the  latter  popes  of  Rome,  who  accuse,  as  you  heard  before, 
the  reading  of  the  word  of  God  of  doing  more  harm  than 
good. 

If  the  reading  of  them  must  be  interdicted  upon  the  pretence, 
that  some  unstable  spirits  wrest  them  to  their  destruction,  it 
should  be,  in  the  first  place,  prohibited  to  bishops,  priests,  and 
monks  ;  it  being  clear,  if  my  memory  does  not  deceive  me, 
that  those  who  have  forged  heresies  by  a  misunderstanding  of 
the  Scripture  were  all  of  one  of  those  three  orders,  and  not  of 
the  common  people.  But  it  is  a  very  wild  expedient,  and  a 
remedy  altogether  extravagant,  to  condemn  the  use  of  things 
because  of  the  abuse  of  them  by  some  certain  persons.  By 
this  account  the  best  and  most  innocent  things,  and  things 
most  necessary  for  the  life  of  men,  should  be  taken  from  them  ; 
the  light  of  the  sun,  the  savour  of  meats,  the  excellency  of 
wines,  and  fruits,  iron,  silver,  gold,  and  other  metals,  the  accom- 
plishments of  learning,  and  the  wonders  of  eloquence.  For 
which  of  these  gifts  of  God  does  not  the  intemperance  or  the 
malice  of  men  abuse  ?  And,  as  the  prince  of  pagan  philoso- 
phers has  rightly  observed,  there  is  nothing  they  so  perniciously 
abuse  as  that  which  is  of  itself  best  and  most  profitable.f  To 
conclude  :  since  the  same  God,  who  knows  the  nature  and  the 
efiicacy  of  his  own  Scriptures  better  than  any,  commands  us 
all  to  read  them,  it  is  an  insufferable  temerity  for  a  man  to  in- 
trude with  his  advice,  and  change  what  the  Lord  has  appointed, 
as  if  he  were  wiser  than  the  Most  High. 

*  Chrysost.  Homil.  9.  in  Ep.  ad  Coloss.  f  Aristot.  Rhet. 


572  AN  EXPOSITION"  OF  [SERM.  XLh 

II.  But  the  apostle  clearly  refutes  this  calumny  of  Eome 
against  Scripture  in  the  other  part  of  this  text,  where  he  sets 
before  us  the  fruits  and  uses  we  ought  to  draw  from  it  : 
"  Teaching,"  says  he,  "  and  admonishing  one  another  in  psalms 
and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  singing  with  grace  in  your 
hearts  to  the  Lord."  Elsewhere  he  informs  us  that  "all  Scrip- 
ture is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for 
instruction  in  righteousness,"  2  Tim.  iii,  16.  Here,  in  like 
manner,  he  sets  down,  for  the  first  fruit  we  are  to  gather  from 
this  rich  knowledge  of  the  word  of  God,  that  mutual  teaching 
we  owe  to  each  other  ;  for  the  second,  admonition  ;  for  a  third, 
consolation  by  the  singing  of  psalms  and  spiritual  hymns.  As 
to  the  first,  I  grant  the  charge  of  teaching  in  the  church  prin- 
cipally pertains  to  pastors  appointed  for  this  purpose;  yet 
there  is  not  the  most  private  believer  who  does  not  also  in 
some  measure  participate  in  this  function,  when  he  has  the 
gift  and  the  opportunity,  to  edify  men  in  the  knowledge  of 
true  religion.  Particularly  fathers  and  mothers  owe  this  duty 
to  their  children,  husbands  to  their  wives,  masters  to  their 
households,  the  elder  to  the  younger,  and,  in  short,  each  one 
to  his  neighbour,  when  he  has  the  convenience.  Whence  it 
appears  again  how  far  distant  the  apostle's  sentiment  is  from 
Rome's.  Paul  would  have  the  faithful  entertain  and  instruct 
one  another  in  the  things  of  the  word  of  God.  Rome  will 
not  let  any  but  the  clergy  have  power  to  speak  of  them. 

The  second  use  we  ought  to  make  of  the  word  of  God  is  to 
admonish  each  other.  Teaching  properly  respects  faith  ;  ad- 
monition has  reference  to  manners.  The  Scripture  furnishes 
us  with  that  which  is  necessary  to  discharge  both  these  duties  ; 
informing  us  plainly  and  plentifully,  as  well  of  things  which 
are  to  be  believed  as  those  which  are  to  be  done.  And  it  is 
incumbent  on  the  believer  to  acquit  himself  in  the  matter  ac- 
cording to  the  knowledge  he  has,  instructing  the  ignorant  and 
reproving  the  faulty,  with  a  spirit  of  sweetness  and  discretion, 
as  the  apostle  elsewhere  prescribes.  For  every  man  ought  to 
look  upon  his  neighbour  as  his  brother  ;  to  reclaim  him,  if  he 
stray  ;  to  raise  him  up,  if  he  fall  ;  to  clear  things  to  him,  if  he 
doubt  ;  and  to  have  as  much  care  of  his  welfare  as  of  his  own. 
Far  be  from  us  the  cruelty  of  those  proud  spirits,  who  would 
not  be  solicitous  in  the  least  for  their  brethren's  concerns  ;  and 
who,  if  God  should  demand  an  account  of  them  at  their  hands, 
would  be  ready  to  say,  as  Cain  formerly  answered,  "  Am  I 
my  brother's  keeper,"  or  schoolmaster?  Now  as  we  are  to 
be  charitable  and  prudent  for  the  performance  of  this  service 
to  our  brethren  ;  so  ought  we  again,  in  our  turn,  to  receive  it 
from  them  with  patience  and  meekness;  remembering  how 
the  psalmist  says,  "  Let  the  righteous  smite  me  ;  it  shall  be  a 
kindness  :  and  let  him  reprove  me  ;  it  shall  be  an  excellent 
oil,"  Psal.  cxli.  5. 


CHAP.  III.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  57S 

The  third  and  last  use  the  apostle  directs  us  to  make  of  the 
word  of  Christ  is  in  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  to 
sing  from  our  hearts  with  grace  unto  the  Lord.  The  so  doing 
respects  partly  the  glory  of  God,  which  we  ought  to  celebrate 
by  our  singing,  and  partly  our  own  consolation  and  spiritual 
rejoicing.  For  the  Lord  is  so  good,  that  he  has  provided  even 
for  the  recreation  of  his  children  ;  and  knowing  that  song  is 
one  of  his  most  natural  means,  extremely  proper  both  to  dilate 
the  contentment  of  our  hearts,  and  render  it  full  blown,  as  also 
to  alleviate  and  mitigate  their  sorrows,  he  has  not  only  per- 
mitted, but  even  commanded,  us  to  sing  to  him  spiritual  songs. 
And  to  assist  us  in  so  holy  and  profitable  an  exercise,  he  has 
given  us  in  his  word  a  great  number  of  these  divine  canticles, 
as  the  Psalms  of  David,  and  the  hymns  of  various  other  faith- 
ful and  religious  persons,  dispersed  in  various  parts  of  the 
books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament. 

The  apostle  names  three  sorts  of  them,  psalms,  hymns  or 
praises,  and  odes  or  songs.  Now  though  there  is  no  occasion 
to  take  much  pains  in  exactly  distinguishing  these  three  sorta 
of  sonnets  ;  nevertheless  I  think  their  opinion  very  probable, 
who  put  this  difference  between  them  ;  that  a  psalm  is  in  gen- 
eral any  spiritual  poem,  whatever  may  be  its  subject  ;  that  a 
hymn  particularly  signifies  sonnets  composed  to  the  praise  of 
God  ;  and  that  an  ode,  or  song,  is  a  kind  of  hymn  of  more  art 
and  variety  of  composition  than  others.  You  have  various 
examples  of  them  all  in  the  Book  of  Psalms.  First,  all  the 
compositions  there  are  called  psalms  in  general.  But  it  is  very 
evident  they  are  not  all  of  a  sort.  There  are  some  in  which 
are  celebrated  the  goodness,  the  wisdom,  and  the  power  of  the 
Lord,  either  towards  David  or  towards  the  church,  or  with 
reference  to  all  creatures.  These  are  properly  hymns,  and 
such  is  the  18th  Psalm,  the  104th,  the  145th,  and  many  others. 
There  are  others  in  which  are  mystically  and  elegantly  repre- 
sented, with  excellent  skill,  either  the  wonders  of  Christ,  as  the 
45th,  the  72nd,  the  110th,  and  the  like;  or  the  histories  of  the 
ancient  people,  as  the  78th,  the  105th,  and  106th.  To  these 
properly  the  name  of  odes,  or  songs  belongs.  It  is  with  these 
sacred  lyres,  of  which  the  word  of  Christ  affords  us  both  the 
matter  and  the  form,  that  the  apostle  would  have  us  solace 
ourselves.  James  gives  us  orders  for  it  :  "  Is  any  among  you 
merry  ?  let  him  sing  psalms,"  chap.  v.  13. 

The  apostle  calls  all  these  sonnets  spiritual,  both  on  account 
of  their  author,  who  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  also  of  their  mat- 
ter, which  concerns  only  divine  and  heavenly  things,  the  glory 
of  God,  and  our  salvation,  not  the  vanities,  passions,  and  fol- 
lies of  men,  as  carnal  poems.  He  adds,  "  with  grace;"  signi- 
fying by  that  expression  the  sweet  and  saving  effect  of  these 
spiritual  songs,  which  profit  and  refresh  at  the  same  time.     He 


574  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SBRM.  XLI. 

would  have  us,  in  tlie  third  place,  to  sing  from  the  heart  ;  that 
is,  not  barely  with  the  mouth,  as  hypocrites,  but  with  the  at- 
tention and  affection  of  the  heart.  In  conclusion,  he  directs 
us  to  sing  to  the  Lord,  that  is,  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  Christ, 
who  is  ordinarily  signified  by  that  term,  the  Lord,  when  it  is 
couched  singly,  as  it  is  here. 

This  is  the  rule  he  gives  us  for  this  holy  and  spiritual 
melody  ;  a  rule  which  Rome  has  as  little  spared  as  the  other, 
which  we  have  seen  him  prescribe,  about  our  being  studious 
of  the  word  of  God  in  general.  For,  first,  she  has  banished 
from  the  church  the  singing  of  faithful  people,  and  that  so 
far,  that  those  who  are  of  her  communion  openly  declare  that 
to  sing  the  Psalms  of  David,  as  we  do,  is  great  scandal  to  chris- 
tians. Strange  Christianity!  which  is  scandalized  by  singing 
that  which  the  apostle  commands  ;  singing  what  celebrates  the 
glory  of  God  ;  singing  what  was  indited  by  his  Spirit,  com- 
posed by  his  prophets,  and  tends  only  to  the  edification  and 
consolation  of  faithful  souls.  Certainly,  besides  the  authority 
of  the  book  of  God,  it  appears  also  by  the  writings  of  men, 
that  formerly,  in  the  ancient  church,  the  christian  people  bore 
a  part  in  the  singing  of  psalms,  and  did  it  both  in  public  and 
in  private.  Again,  as  to  that  which  our  adversaries  make 
their  clergy  sing,  with  what  conscience  can  they  say  that  they 
sing  it  with  the  heart,  since  they  who  hear  it,  and  the  greater 
part  of  those  who  sing  it  understand  it  not  ?  all  their  anthems 
being  in  Latin,  a  tongue  long  since  dead  and  unknown  to  the 
people.  Consider,  too,  whether  the  pomp,  and  the  nicety,  and 
the  curiosity  of  their  singing,  and  such  a  multiplicity  of  in- 
struments as  they  mingle  with  it,  and  all  the  other  artifices  of 
their  music,  be  not  more  proper  for  the  pleasing  of  the  ear 
than  the  edification  of  the  spirit. 

But,  dear  brethren,  let  us  lay  aside  the  defaults  of  others, 
and  mind  ourselves.  First  let  us  bless  our  good  God  that  he  has 
set  up  the  word  of  his  Christ  again  among  us,  in  its  light,  and 
in  its  genuine  use  ;  and,  acknowledging  this  grace  from 
the  bottom  of  our  hearts,  improve  his  favour.  Let  this  word 
be  the  only  governess  of  our  hearts  and  lives.  Let  us  hear  its 
voice  in  public,  consult  it  in  private.  Let  us  have  these  di- 
vine books,  to  which  the  Holy  Spirit  has  consigned  his  in- 
structions. Read  them  Avithout  scruple,  and  without  fear  of 
finding  anything  that  is  dangerous  or  venomous  in  them. 
They  are  the  paradise  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  which  the  tree  of  life 
grows,  and  whence  flow  the  streams  of  holiness,  joy  and  im- 
mortality, but  a  paradise  where  the  old  serpent  never  entered, 
where  his  breath  and  poison  are  unknown.  Fathers  and 
mothers,  instruct  your  children  in  this  wholesome  study. 
Young  ones,  addict  yourselves  to  it  betimes.  Fill  your  mem- 
ories out  of  this  treasury  of  wisdom.     Men  and  women,  old 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  575 

and  young,  rich  and  poor,  learned  and  unlearned,  receive  ye 
all  this  divine  guest  whom  the  apostle  has  now  lodged  at  your 
house.  Let  it  dwell  there  (as  he  has  ordered)  richly  and  abun- 
dantly in  all  wisdom.  If  you  receive  and  treat  it  with  the  re- 
spect it  merits,  it  will  cure  your  souls  of  all  their  maladies  ;  it 
will  inform  your  understandings  of  all  heavenly  truth,  and 
purge  them  of  all  earthly  errors  and  superstition.  It  will  fill 
your  hearts  with  love  to  God,  and  charity  towards  your  neigh- 
bour, and  by  the  efficacy  of  its  truth  extinguish  all  those 
petty  passions  that  tie  you  to  the  world.  It  will  com.fort  you 
in  your  troubles  ;  it  will  fortify  you  in  your  weaknesses  ; 
it  will  sustain  you  in  your  conflicts  ;  it  will  arm  you  against 
all  sorts  of  enemies,  and  guide  you  in  all  your  ways.  It  will 
sweeten  your  adversities,  and  govern  your  prosperity  ;  and,  to 
comprise  all  in  a  few  words,  it  will  conduct  you  to  the  haven 
of  eternal  salvation,  notwithstanding  all  the  storms  of  this 
wretched  life.  Employ  likewise  this  word  of  the  Lord  to 
those  uses  which  the  apostle  recommends  to  you,  even  to  those 
mutual  teachings  and  admonishings  which  you  owe  each  other, 
giving  and  receiving  them,  as  there  is  occasion,  with  a  sincere 
and  truly  christian  charity. 

Finally,  possess  the  liberty  he  gives  you,  of  singing  from 
the  heart  with  grace  unto  the  Lord  psalms,  and  hymns,  and 
spiritual  songs.  This  Book  of  Psalms  alone,  if  you  learn  it 
aright,  is  able  to  make  you  for  ever  happy.  0  God  !  of  what 
a  source  of  blessing  and  joy  do  they  deprive  themselves  who 
reject  or  neglect  it!  It  is  a  public  magazine  of  heavenly  wis- 
dom, in  which  every  one  may  find  that  which  is  meet  for 
him  ;  the  ignorant,  instruction  ;  the  learned,  materials  for 
study  ;  the  afflicted,  comfort  ;  and  the  contented,  recreation. 
There  are  repentant  tears  for  the  guilty,  and  songs  of  thanks- 
giving for  the  faithful  ;  preservatives  against  vice,  attractives 
and  excitements  to  piety,  and  lessons  for  all  kinds  of  virtues. 
And  the  wonder  is,  that  these  high,  useful,  and  necessary 
things  are  all  presented  to  us  there  in  the  delicious  sonnets 
of  a  graceful  and  a  pleasing  poetry,  as  in  so  many  vases  of  pearl, 
and  diamonds,  and  emeralds,  to  induce  us  to  receive  them  the 
more  readily.  O  wise  invention  of  our  great  Master  !  in 
which  we  have  together  pleasure  and  profit,  refreshment  and 
instruction  of  soul,  at  once  singing  and  learning  what  is  most 
necessary  for  us.  May  it  please  him  to  bless  this  divine  arti- 
fice, by  which  he  invites  and  allures  us  to  himself,  and  so 
touch  our  hearts  by  the  efficacy  of  his  Spirit,  that  as  he  draws 
us  to  him  with  these  holy  cords  of  his  sweetness  and  love,  we 
also  may  freely  and  cheerfully  run  after  him,  to  the  end,  that 
having  faithfully  followed  him  in  this  world,  he  may  in  the 
next  lodge  us  with  himself,  in  the  sanctuary  of  his  glory, 
where,  bearing  our  part  with  the  angels,  we  shall  bless  and 
glorify  him  eternally.  Amen. 


676  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLII. 

SERMON    XLII. 

VERSE    17. 

And  whatsoever  ye  do  in  word  or  deed,  do  all  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  giving  thanks  to  God  and  the  Father  by 
him. 

Dear  brethren,  the  love  which  the  Lord  Jesus  has  towards 
us  is  so  great,  and  the  benefits  which  he  has  conferred  upon 
us  are  so  various  and  precious,  that  we  are  evidently  con- 
strained to  give  ourselves  entirely  to  him,  and  we  cannot  with- 
hold from  him,  without  ingratitude,  any  part  of  what  we  are 
or  have.  He  has  laid  down  his  life  for  us.  It  is  just,  there- 
fore, that  we  again  consecrate  ours  unto  him.  He  has  re- 
deemed us  at  the  price  of  his  blood,  and  by  this  admirable 
ransom  delivered  from  death  and  hell,  not  only  our  souls,  but 
also  our  bodies  and  our  whole  nature.  We  are  therefore 
wholly  his,  and  have  no  more  any  other  master  but  him  ; 
neither  is  there  any  justice  in  the  world  that  will  not  adjudge 
him  the  propriety  and  possession  of  what  costs  him  so  dear. 
But  though  of  right  we  are  his  vassals,  yet  it  has  pleased  his 
love  that  we  should  belong  to  him  under  another  and  much 
more  glorious  title.  For  he  has  made  us  his  brethren,  having 
obtained  of  his  Father  that  he  should  adopt  us  for  his  children, 
and  accumulated  this  grace  with  all  the  highest  favours  to 
which  creatures  can  be  exalted.  I  mean,  he  has  made  us  par- 
takers of  his  inheritance,  and  communicated  to  us  his  nature 
and  his  Spirit,  and  crowned  us  with  his  immortality  and  with 
his  glory.  If  he  had  not  shed  his  blood  for  us  as  he  did,  who 
does  not  see  that  this  his  great  and  divine  liberality  would 
have  purchased  him  all  the  life,  and  being,  and  motion  we 
can  have — and  that  to  divert  any  part  of  it  from  his  service, 
would  be  robbing  him,  and  bereaving  him  with  abominable 
sacrilege  of  a  thing  so  legitimately,  and  for  so  many  just  and 
weighty  reasons,  belonging  to  him?  If  we  are  not  the  most 
unjust  and  ungrateful  persons  in  the  world,  we  ought  all  to 
have  such  sentiments,  and  consequently  to  look  upon  our  na- 
ture and  our  life  as  things  no  longer  ours,  but  Jesus  Christ's  ; 
and  dispose  of  them,  not  after  our  own  fancy,  and  for  our  own  in- 
terest, but  at  his  pleasure  and  for  his  glory.  And  as  you  see 
that  the  servants  of  a  prince  (above  all,  those  whom  he  has 
particularly  obliged  and  favoured)  set  up  his  arms  through 
all  their  houses,  and  adorn  their  halls  and  chambers  with  his 
picture,  and  have  his  praises  always  in  their  mouth,  and  fill 
up  their  whole  life  with  his  name  and  glory  ;  so  should  we  do 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  577 

to  Jesus  Christ,  and  with  so  much  the  more  zeal,  as  he  is  a  Lord 
infinitely  more  rich,  more  clement,  more  liberal,  and  more  be- 
neficent, than  any  monarch  of  the  earth.  Let  our  souls  and 
bodies  therefore  bear  his  badges  ;  let  his  glory  appear  exalted 
in  all  our  actions  ;  let  the  words  of  our  mouths  be  dedicated  to 
him,  and  our  whole  lives  full  of  his  name,  breathing  through- 
out nothing  but  his  honour  and  service,  without  ever  swerv- 
ing from  his  will  or  from  his  interests.  This,  beloved  breth- 
ren, is  the  lesson  which  the  apostle  Paul  now  gives  us,  in  the 
words  that  you  have  heard.  "And  whatsoever  ye  do,  whether 
in  word  or  deed,  do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  giving 
thanks  to  God  and  the  Father  by  him." 

By  these  words  he  concludes  that  excellent  exhortation 
which  he  makes  to  all  christians  in  general,  of  whatever  sex, 
age,  or  condition.  He  began  it  at  the  1st  verse  of  this  chapter, 
and  continues  it  on  to  our  text,  pointing  out  briefly,  but 
divinely,  as  you  have  heard  in  the  preceding  exercises,  our 
principal  duties  ;  on  one  hand,  the  mortifying  of  the  flesh 
with  its  lusts,  as  fornication,  covetousness,  wrath,  and  the 
like  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  study  and  exercise  of  all  christian 
virtues,  as  humility,  kindness,  patience,  gentleness,  charity, 
and  peace.  To  all  these  he  adds  our  knowledge  of  and  con- 
tinual meditation  upon  the  word  of  God,  with  psalms  and 
spiritual  hymns.  Upon  this  we  dwelt  in  our  last  discourse. 
Now  that  he  might  not  stay  to  treat  severally  of  all  the  other 
duties  of  christians,  which  would  be  prolix,  and  even  infinite, 
and  a  discourse  of  too  great  extent  for  an  epistle,  before  he 
passes  to  that  particular  exhortation,  which  he  addresses  in 
the  following  verses  to  certain  ranks  of  believers,  as  to  mar- 
ried persons,  to  fathers,  children,  servants,  and  masters,  he 
closes  his  first  matter  with  the  precept  which  he  here  gives 
us  ;  a  precept  truly  excellent,  and  well  worthy  to  crown  his 
exhortation,  since  it  comprehends  in  a  few  words  all  the  duties 
of  a  christian,  both  those  which  the  apostle  has  expressly 
pointed  out,  and  those  Avhich  his  design  of  brevity  caused  him 
to  pass  over  in  silence,  without  speaking  of  them  by  name. 
To  the  end  that  we  may  give  you  an  exposition  of  it,  we  will  en- 
deavour, by  the  grace  of  our  Lord,  to  explain,  in  order,  the 
two  parts  which  offer  themselves  in  it  ;  First,  that  whatever 
we  do,  either  in  word  or  deed,  we  do  it  all  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus.  Secondly,  that  we  give  thanks  by  him  to  God 
and  the  Father. 

1.  When  the  apostle  pronounces,  that  all  we  do.  in  word  or 
deed,  be  done  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  he  clearly  gives 
him  our  whole  life.  For  these  two  things  which  he  subjects 
to  him,  words  and  works,  comprehend  all  the  other  parts  of 
our  life;  it  being  evident  that  nothing  issues  from  us,  but  what 
may  be  referred  to  the  one  or  other  of  them  ;  they  are  either 
73 


578  AX  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLII. 

words  or  works.  Words  are  the  fruits  of  our  mouths  ;  works 
are  the  effects  or  actions  of  our  other  parts  and  faculties.  I  ac- 
knowledge, that,  besides  this,  our  spirit  also  acts  within  us 
when  it  knows  or  considers  things,  and  desires  or  rejects  them. 
But  besides  that  these  internal  actions  might  be  put  into  the 
rank  of  our  works,  by  extending  the  word  a  little  beyond  its 
ordinary  signification  (as  in  effect  some  interpreters  do  give  it 
such  meaning  here)  ;  besides  this,  I  say,  it  is  evident  that  most 
of  the  conceptions,  and  affections,  and  resolutions  of  the  soul 
refer  to  words  and  external  works,  as  being  the  principles  and 
motives  of  them.  For  it  is  impossible  that  our  words  and 
works  should  be  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  except 
our  understandings  and  wills  so  address  them  ;  and  it  is  pro- 
perly this  action  of  the  soul  which  the  apostle  signifies,  when 
he  orders  that  we  do  all  in  the  name  of  Christ.  The  tongue 
indeed  pronounces  the  words,  and  the  hands  and  other  parts 
of  our  bodies  execute  those  actions  which  are  called  works  ; 
but  it  is  the  spirit  that  moves  them  all,  and  directs  and  guides 
their  functions  to  the  end  or  design  which  it  has  proposed  to 
itself,  and  draws  them  from  such  motives  as  it  has  conceived 
and  formed  within  itself.  And  it  is  properly  upon  this  that 
the  difference  of  men's  actions  depends.  It  is  this  character 
that  gives  them  the  name  and  title  they  have  in  christian 
morality.  Works  that  are  the  same  as  to  the  external  action 
sometimes  prove  nevertheless  very  different,  and  even  con- 
trary ;  one  good,  another  bad  ;  because  the  spirit  that  produces 
them  is  not  the  same.  As,  for  instance,  the  alms  of  an  ambi- 
tious man  and  of  a  true  believer  have  no  external  difference  ; 
the  act  of  one  in  this  respect  is  the  same  as  the  other  ;  yet  if 
you  consider  the  inward  springs  of  them  both,  you  will  find 
that  the  one  is  a  piece  of  vanity,  and  the  other  a  fruit  of  charity. 
Consequently,  notwithstanding  all  their  external  resemblance, 
they  are  in  reality  works  of  quite  a  different  nature  ;  the  one 
evil  and  condemned  of  God,  the  other  good  and  acceptable  to 
the  Lord.  The  one,  with  all  its  outside  paint  and  colour,  is 
an  act  of  vice,  the  other  of  virtue.  The  same  is  to  be  said  of 
those  two  kinds  of  preaching  which  the  apostle  mentions  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  chap.  i.  15 — 17  :  the  one,  of 
those  that  preached  Christ  through  envy  and  of  contention  ; 
the  other,  of  such  as  preached  him  of  good  will  and  of  love. 
The  language  of  them  both  was  the  same  ;  but  the  diversity 
of  their  designs  render  their  actions  so  different,  that  those  of 
the  one,  to  say  the  truth,  were  a  sacrilege  and  an  abomination; 
those  of  the  other,  one  of  the  best  and  most  excellent  works 
of  christian  piety  and  charity.  Thus  you  see  the  rule  which 
Paul  gives  us  to  order  all  the  external  actions  of  our  lives, 
our  words,  and  works  ;  even  that  we  "  do  all  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus." 


CHAP.  III.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIAIJ^S.  579 

The  rule  is  short  and  easy,  but  of  vast  and  almost  infinite 
use.  As  a  little  square  serves  an  artificer  to  design  and  mark 
out  a  multitude  of  lines,  and  to  discover  and  correct  all  those 
which  are  amiss  ;  so  by  this  little  rule  which  the  apostle  puts 
in  our  hands,  there  is  no  human  action  respecting  which  we 
may  not  certainly  ascertain,  whether  it  is  right  or  wrong, 
good  or  evil,  and  conformable  to  the  will  of  God  or  otherwise; 
neither  is  there  any  part  of  our  lives  which  this  rule,  if  we 
take  care  to  adjust  them  by  it,  is  not  capable  of  guiding  and 
forming  to  perfection.  Now  as  the  name  of  God  in  Scripture 
signifies  sometimes  that  Hebrew  word  of  four  letters  which 
the  Lord  takes  for  his  name  and  memorial,  distinguishing 
himself  by  that  appellation  from  all  those  gods  to  whom  the 
error  of  nations  wrongfully  gave  that  quality,  and  the  honours 
due  to  it  ;  so  likewise  the  name  of  Jesus  is  sometimes  taken 
for  this  very  word  Jesus,  which  (as  you  know)  is  the  name 
that  was  given  to  him  by  the  express  command  of  God,  And 
so  those  of  the  communion  of  Eome  seem  to  understand  it, 
in  that  passage  of  Paul,  where  it  is  said,  "  That  at  the  name 
of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven,  and 
things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth,"  Phil.  ii.  20  ; 
uncovering  as  oft  as  they  hear  the  word  Jesus  pronounced  ;  as 
if  the  apostle's  meaning  were,  that  all  creatures,  celestial,  ter- 
restrial, and  infernal,  should  do  reverence  when  those  two 
syllables  Jesus  are  uttered.  In  which  truly  they  are  much 
mistaken  ;  the  import  of  that  passage  being  quite  the  contrary. 
It  is  not  thus  either  that  Paul  takes  the  name  of  Jesus  in  our 
text  ;  as  if  he  simply  intended  that  in  our  actions  and  dis- 
courses we  should  not  fail  to  intermix  always  the  word  Jesus, 
having  it  incessantly  in  our  mouths,  and  never  doing  nor 
saying  anything  without  pronouncing  it  first.  Far  be  it  from 
us  to  imagine  that  such  a  thought  should  fix  upon  the  apostle's 
mind.  It  is  not  the  word,  nor  the  letters  or  syllables,  of  this 
name  that  he  recommends  to  us.  I  grant,  we  cannot  have  it 
too  much  in  our  mouths,  provided  it  flow  into  them  from  the 
heart,  and  that  it  be  a  religious  and  respectful  consideration 
which  makes  us  mention  it,  and  not  a  vain  and  childish 
superstition,  as  if  there  were  some  secret  virtue  annexed  to 
words. 

We  are  to  note  then,  in  the  second  place,  that  as  the 
name  of  God  is  very  often  taken  in  Scripture  for  the  power, 
the  authority,  the  will,  respect,  and  consideration  of  God  ; 
so  in  like  manner  is  the  name  of  Jesus.  Thus  Moses,  foretel- 
ling the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  says,  "  And  it  shall  come  to 
pass,  that  whosoever  will  not  hearken  unto  my  words,  which 
he  shall  speak  in  my  name,  I  will  require  it  of  him,"  Deut. 
xviii.  19.  "  Which  he  shall  speak  in  my  name,"  that  is,  by 
my  order  and  authority,   and  in  acquitting   himself  of  the 


680  AN  EXPOSITION  OP  [SEBM.  XLII. 

charge  which  I  have  committed  to  him  ;  and  it  is  thus  we  fre- 
quently read  that  the  prophets  spake  in  the  name  of  God; 
that  is,  by  his  express  command,  they  being  sent  and  dis- 
patched from  him.  And  it  is  said  of  Elisha,  that  he  cursed 
the  children  that  reviled  him  "  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  that 
is,  by  his  authority,  2  Kings  ii,  24.  And  this  form  of  speech 
was  so  common  among  the  Jews,  that  the  priests  and  elders 
demanded  of  the  apostles,  in  whose  name  they  had  done  that 
miracle.  Acts  iv.  7;  meaning  upon  whose  authority  and  by 
whose  order  they  had  undertaken  it.  The  same  exposition 
is  to  be  given  of  that  which  the  psalmist  sings,  "  "We  will 
remember"  or  boast  in  "the  name  of  the  Lord  our  God," 
Psal.  XX.  7  :  that  is,  in  his  help  and  power  ;  and  speaking  of 
God's  faithful  people,  "  They  shall  rejoice,"  says  he,  "  in  thy 
name,"  that  is,  in  the  confidence  they  have  in  thy  power  and 
goodness  ;  of  the  same  import  is  that  which  he  adds,  that  the 
horn  of  his  anointed  shall  be  exalted  in  his  name,  Psal. 
Ixxxix.  16,  24  ;  that  is,  by  his  might,  and  by  the  virtue  and 
order  of  his  providence.  So  David,  entering  into  combat 
with  the  Philistine,  "Thou  comest  to  me,"  says  he,  "  with  a 
sword,  and  with  a  spear,  and  with  a  shield  ;  but  I  come  to 
thee  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  God  of  the  armies 
of  Israel,  whom  thou  hast  defied,"  1  Sam.  xvii.  45.  "  In  the 
name  of  the  Lord  ;"  that  is,  for  his  glory,  which  thou  hast  re- 
proached, and  in  assurance  of  his  protection  and  succour  ;  iu 
the  same  sense  that  king  Asa  meant  it  on  a  like  occasion  : 
"  Help  us,"  says  he,  "  O  Lord  our  God  ;  for  we  rest  on  thee, 
and  in  thy  name  we  go  against  this  multitude,"  2  Chron.  xiv. 
11  ;  that  is,  in  thy  quarrel,  and  with  confidence  in  thee. 

It  is  therefore  in  the  same  manner  we  are  to  take  this 
phrase,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  which  often  occurs  in  the  books 
of  the  New  Testament,  as  in  Matthew,  prophesying  and  casting 
out  devils  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  that  is,  by  his  authority 
and  in  his  might  ;  and  when  men  are  said  to  come  in  his  name, 
Matt.  vii.  22  ;  xxiv.  5  ;  that  is  to  declare  themselves  his,  and 
to  afiirm  themselves  sent  by  his  order  :  to  speak  and  teach  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  Acts  v.  28  ;  and  likewise  to  be  as- 
sembled in  his  name.  Matt,  xviii.  20  ;  that  is,  for  his  cause, 
and  unto  his  honour,  and  with  confidence  in  him.  It  is  in 
this  sense  the  apostle  takes  these  words  in  our  text  :  "  Do  all 
things  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  He  means,  first, 
that  we  refer  all  we  do  to  his  glory,  and  take  his  honour  for 
the  end  of  all  our  actions  ;  and  secondly,  that  we  act  according 
to  his  will  and  order  ;  and  lastly,  with  an  entire  confidence  in 
him  :  not  presuming  anything  of  ourselves,  as  if  we  were  able 
to  do  anything  by  our  own  strength  ;  nor  expecting  any  suc- 
cess, but  only  from  his  favour  and  benediction.  Such  is  the 
rule  which  the  apostle  here  gives  us. 


CHAP.  III.]        THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  581 

By  this  you  see,  first,  that  he  banishes  from  our  lives  all 
the  unfruitful  works  of  darkness,  that  is,  all  vicious  actions, 
actions  contrary  to  justice,  to  charity,  and  to  other  christian 
virtues  ;  it  being  evident,  that  if  we  do  nothing  but  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  we  shall  do  none  of  these  things  ; 
since  they  are  all  opposed  to  his  will,  his  commands,  and  his 
glory.  Secondly,  by  the  same  means  he  perfects  and  en- 
livens all  those  of  our  works,  which  of  themselves  and  in  their 
nature  are  good  and  commanded  of  God  ;  ingrafting  them  by 
this  rule  upon  the  true  motive  from  which  they  ought  to  pro- 
ceed, and  directing  them  to  the  true  end  to  which  they  ought 
to  tend,  which  is  without  doubt  the  name  of  Christ,  and 
cleansing  them  from  all  that  impurity  and  vice  with  which 
vanity  or  self-love  might  taint  them.  Good  will  be  truly  good, 
if  we  do  it  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ;  that  is,  for  his  sake, 
upon  consideration  of  him  alone,  without  seeking  the  approba- 
tion and  acceptance,  or  the  interest  and  service,  of  any  other. 
Lastly,  by  the  same  rule,  the  apostle  sanctifies  those  of  our 
words  and  actions  which  are  in  their  own  nature  indifferent, 
purifying  them  by  the  name  of  the  Lord  from  the  filth  and 
abuse  with  which  the  vices  of  men  pollute  them,  and  elevating 
them  to  a  degree  of  moral  goodness  which  they  had  not  of 
themselves,  in  that  he  consecrates  them  to  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  and  makes  them  to  serve  grace,  whereas  of  themselves 
they  were  instituted  only  for  the  uses  of  nature.  For  instance, 
if  you  observe  this  rule  of  the  apostle  in  your  eating  and 
drinking,  which,  as  every  one  knows,  are  actions  indifterent 
in  their  own  nature  ;  first,  this  sacred  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
will  purge  the  exercise  of  them  of  the  excesses  of  intemperance 
and  drunkenness  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the  vain  and  foolish 
scruples  of  superstition  on  the  other.  Secondly,  being  re- 
ferred to  the  honour  of  God,  and  accompanied  with  invocation 
of  his  grace,  and  thankful  acknowledgment  of  his  bounty,  from 
indifferent,  as  they  were  in  themselves,  they  become  good,  and 
holy,  and  acceptable  unto  God. 

I  willingly  grant,  however,  that  we  must  not  so  take  the 
apostle's  precept,  as  if  we  were  obliged  in  every  act,  even  to 
the  least  word  we  utter,  to  raise  our  thoughts  actually  to  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  expressly  implore  his  assistance  by 
a  particular  prayer,  and  formally  eye  his  glory.  It  is  suffi- 
cient that  we  frequently  and  ordinarily  make  this  application 
of  mind  to  the  name,  to  the  command,  to  the  help,  and  to  the 
glory  of  our  Lord.  But  it  is  necessary  that  we  have  the  habit 
of  this  holy  disposition  so  formed  and  radicated  in  our  hearts, 
that  even  when  time,  or  place,  or  some  other  necessity  sur- 
prises us,  and  gives  us  not  the  leisure  to  think  actually  on  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  our  souls  may  still  lean  that  way,  as  of 
themselves  being  so  habituated  to  it,  as,  without  other  dis- 


582  Aîî  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XLII. 

course  or  consideration,  they  may  as  to  the  substance  dis- 
charge this  duty  ;  and  never  do  nor  say  anything  that  tends 
not  to  the  glory  of  our  Saviour,  and  is  not  conformable  to 
his  will,  and  consistent  with  the  resolution  we  all  ought  to 
have,  of  relying  on  Jesus  Christ  alone,  and  referring  none  of 
our  actions  to  any  other  end  than  to  his  honour. 

II.  But  I  come  to  the  other  part  of  our  text,  which  the 
apostle  adds,  that  we  give  thanks  by  Jesus  Christ  unto  God 
and  the  Father.  These  words  may  be  taken  two  ways  ;  either 
for  another  precept  apart  added  to  the  former,  or  for  some 
part  and  dependence  of  it.  In  the  first  relation,  it  is  a  new 
order  the  apostle  gives  us,  to  thank  God  for  the  benefits  he 
has  vouchsafed  to  us  in  his  Son,  He  gives  the  same  order  to 
the  faithful  at  Ephesus,  in  nearly  the  same  words  :  "  Giving 
thanks  always  for  all  things  unto  God  and  the  Father  in  the 
name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  Eph.  v.  20.  Under  the  second 
consideration,  the  words  are  a  reason  of  what  he  recommended 
before,  and  the  title,  under  which  we  ought  to  do  all  things  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  namely,  for  rendering  unto  God 
the  Father  by  his  Son  the  thanks  we  owe  him  :  so  that  our 
whole  life  may  be  only  homage,  and  a  perpetual  act  of  grati- 
tude to  God  by  Jesus  Christ  his  Son  our  Lord.  For  it  is  not 
to  be  doubted  that  the  best  and  most  proper  means  of  thanking 
God  the  Father  for  those  infinite  benefits  he  has  conferred 
upon  us,  by  the  communion  of  his  Son,  is  so  to  frame  our 
lives,  that  we  neither  do  nor  say  anything  but  in  the  name  of 
his  Son  ;  that  is,  as  we  have  explained  it,  according  to  his 
will,  and  for  his  glory.  Now  though  it  is  not  of  much  conse- 
quence which  of  these  two  expositions  we  follow,  since  in 
reality  the  thing  is  still  the  same  ;  yet  it  seems  to  me  the  lat- 
ter is  more  pertinent,  because  it  better  and  more  clearly  con- 
nects the  apostle's  words. 

Thanksgiving  is  one  of  the  most  necessary  and  universal 
offices  of  a  christian.  For  if  it  is  ingratitude  to  receive  a 
kindness  from  any  one  with  indifference,  and  without  giving 
him  thanks  for  it,  what  moment  of  our  lives  is  there  in  which 
we  ought  not  to  perform  this  duty  to  God  ?  First  of  all,  this 
being  of  ours,  this  life,  this  body,  this  soul,  and  all  the  faculties 
of  our  nature,  are  his  largesses,  which,  notwithstanding  they 
are  common  to  us  with  other  men,  are  not  to  be  despised,  but 
ought  to  be  considered  as  effects  of  an  infinite  goodness.  Then, 
again,  to  what  thankfulness  does  not  the  sending  of  his  Son 
into  the  world,  and  the  death  he  suffered  for  us  by  the  will  of 
his  Father,  constrain  us?  What  shall  I  say  of  those  infinite 
blessings  he  has  obtained  for  us,  the  remission  of  our  sins,  our 
adoption  to  the  number  of  his  children,  the  glory  and  immor- 
tality for  which  we  hope?  Add  to  this,  his  continual  provi- 
dence, both  over  his  church  in  ojeneral,  and  over  each  of  us  ia 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS.  588 

particular  ;  his  favourable  bearing  with  us,  however  great  are 
not  only  our  infirmities  and  imperfections,  but  even  infidelities 
and  ingratitudes  ;  the  admirable  constancy  of  his  divine  grace, 
which  our  indignities  can  neither  overcome  nor  put  oft";  and 
though  often  refused,  or  ill  received,  yet  ceases  not  to  follow 
us;  but  he  comes  again  towards  us  every  morning,  and 
despatches  daily  some  new  herald  to  solicit  us  to  repentance  : 
this  sun  that  shines  about  us;  this  air  with  which  he  refreshes 
us  ;  so  many  various  fruits  of  the  earth,  with  which  he  feeds 
us;  the  word  of  his  gospel,  by  which  he  instructs  us;  his 
sacraments,  at  which  he  feasts  us;  the  voice  of  his  Spirit,  either 
to  comfort  us,  or  awaken  us  in  our  evils  ;  the  strokes  of  his 
paternal  discipline,  which  he  so  aptly  administers,  tempering 
them  in  such  a  manner  that  it  is  easy  to  see  he  scourges  us  for 
our  amendment,  to  win  us,  not  to  destroy  us.  And  if  we  love 
our  neighbours  as  we  ought,  what  ample  matter  of  thanksgiving 
does  God's  dealing  with  them  afford  us  !  His  forbearance  to 
some,  waiting  for  and  inviting  them  to  repentance  ;  the  grace 
which  he  exercises  towards  others,  either  in  bringing  them  to 
or  preserving  them  in  his  Son  :  the  admirable  gifts,  so  richly 
and  so  wisely  diversified,  which  he  imparts  to  one;  and  the 
prosperous  success  with  which  he  favours  the  employment  of 
others  ;  there  being  not  a  person  in  the  church  however  ignor- 
ant and  inconsiderable  in  our  eyes,  to  whom  this  good  Master 
has  not  given  one  or  other  of  his  talents.  If  we  had  the  tongues 
and  voices  of  all  the  angels  of  heaven,  yet  could  we  not 
worthily  acknowledge,  or  repay  with  sufficient  thanks,  a  good- 
ness so  inestimable,  and  in  every  way  so  infinite. 

But  observe,  that  it  is  to  God  and  the  Father  the  apostle 
orders  us  to  make  our  thanksgivings  ;  and  reasonable  it  is  that 
the  glory  of  it  should  be  given  to  him,  since  he  is  the  first  and 
head  spring  of  all.  Not  but  that  we  may  rightly  address  our 
praises  as  well  as  our  petitions  to  the  Son  also,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit,  according  to  the  examples  of  it  which  the  apostles 
themselves  have  left  us  in  various  places  of  Scripture.  But 
both  in  the  creation,  and  also  in  the  restoration  of  the  world, 
the  Father  is  still  represented  to  us  as  the  first  principle  of 
the  action,  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit  acting  next;  as  persons 
who  subsist  in  such  order,  that  the  Father  is  the  first,  the  Son 
the  second,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  the  third  ;  though,  setting 
aside  this  order,  and  the  distinction  of  their  persons,  their 
nature  is  in  all  things  and  every  way  the  same,  with  respect 
both  to  essence  and  properties  or  attributes,  and  to  all  essential 
operations. 

The  apostle  prescribes  yet  further,  that  it  be  by  Jesus  Christ 
we  render  thanks  to  God  the  Father.  First,  for  that  he  is  as  it 
were  the  first  and  the  chiefest  channel  by  which  all  this  good- 
ness of  God  is  poured  forth  upon  upon  us.     For  it  is  he  alone 


684  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XLII. 

who  has  acquired  all  the  graces  which  mankind  possess  ;  in 
consequence  of  which  he  is  called  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  the 
Light  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  the  Prince  and  the  Author 
of  life,  in  whom  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily. 
And  secondly,  because  our  thanks  themselves  cannot  be  grate- 
ful to  the  Father,  nor  come  into  his  presence  before  the  throne 
of  his  grace,  except  they  are  addressed  and  presented  by  Jesus 
Christ,  who  alone  is  able  to  perfume  both  our  persons  and  our 
poor  performances  with  that  odour  which  is  necessary  for  all  that 
would  appear  without  confusion  before  this  Supreme  Majesty. 
Thus,  beloved  brethren,  we  have  endeavoured  to  deliver  to  you 
an  exposition  of  these  words  of  Paul, 

There  remains  now  the  chiefest  point  of  all,  even  that  you 
engrave  them  deeply  on  your  hearts,  and  take  them  for  the 
rule  of  your  whole  lives,  applying  them  to  each  one  of  your 
actions,  and  making  those  wholesome  uses  of  them  for  which 
this  great  apostle  gave  them.  I  will  point  out  some  of  them 
at  present,  beseeching  God  to  bless  them  to  your  edification,  and 
leave  the  rest  to  your  own  pious  meditation.  Observe  then, 
first,  for  the  confirmation  of  your  faith,  that  excellent  proof 
the  apostle  gives  us  here  of  the  divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
For  as  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  concludes  it,  from  the 
Father's  calling  him  his  Son,  and  treating  him  differently  from 
what  he  does  the  angels,  the  highest  of  all  creatures,  Heb.  i.  5, 
6;  so  may  we  reason,  in  like  manner,  from  this  passage  of  Paul, 
and  say  as  that  Epistle  says  of  the  angels  :  of  which  of  the 
prophets  or  the  martyrs,  or  the  apostles,  or  of  the  angels  of 
heaven,  was  it  ever  said  to  the  faithful,  Do  all  things  in  his 
name  ?  Surely  the  faithful,  both  in  the  Old  Testament  and  in 
the  New,  neither  believe,  nor  hope,  nor  rejoice,  nor  speak,  nor 
act,  but  in  the  name  of  God  ;  and  there  is  not  one  to  be  found 
in  the  divine  records  whose  piety,  and  the  exercises  which  de- 
pend upon  it,  are  addressed  to  a  mere  creature.  Here,  as  you 
see,  the  apostle  requires,  that  not  only  some  part  of  our  faith, 
but  that  our  whole  life,  and  all  our  sanctification,  should  be 
referred  to  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  It  must  be  therefore 
necessarily  concluded,  that  he  is  not  a  mere  creature,  but  very 
God,  of  an  infinite  goodness,  power,  and  wisdom,  eternally 
blessed  with  the  Father.  It  is  impossible  that  an  inferior 
nature  should  be  the  support,  the  foundation,  the  last  and 
highest  end  of  all  the  works  and  words  of  all  the  faithful. 
Either  all  the  Scriptures  of  God  are  to  be  effaced,  and  new 
ones  made  after  the  fancies  of  heretics,  or  it  must  be  confessed 
that  this  Jesus  is  God,  to  whom  they  give  a  name  capable  of 
being  both  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  all  parts  of  the  lives 
of  all  the  faithful  that  are  or  ever  shall  be  in  the  world,  con- 
formably with  their  own  assertion  elsewhere,  that  he  is  the 
Father  of  eternity,  the  Prince  of  peace,  our  great  God  and 
Saviour. 


CHAP.    III.]      THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  585 

Judge  again,  my  brethren,  if  it  is  not  an  outrage  to  him,  and 
an  investing  of  creatures  with  some  part  of  his  glory,  to  re- 
quire, (as  those  of  the  communion  of  Rome  do,)  that  part  of  the 
piety,  the  good  works,  and  the  very  faith  of  christians,  be  in 
the  name  of  saints  of  both  sexes  ;  who,  however  sublime  and  ex- 
cellent the  dignity  you  give  them,  cannot,  after  all,  be  set  above 
the  rank  of  creatures.     We  daily  hear  them  repeat  their  orisons 
count  their  beads,  ask  and  give  alms,  one  of  the  choicest  sacri- 
fices of  christian  religion,  make  their  pilgrimages  for  devotion 
build  their  temples,  consecrate  their  images,  and  their  holy 
places,  and  their  most  precious  possessions,  and  indeed  their 
own  persons,  to  the  name  of  the  blessed  Virgin,  of  St.  Peter 
of  St.  Denis,  and  a  multitude  of  other  creatures  ancient  and 
modern.     Adversaries  !  where  find  you  the  institution  of  these 
devotions  ?     In  what  prophet  or  in  what  apostle  have  you  read 
a  command  for  them  ?     In  what  Gospel,  or  in  what  Acts,  and 
in  what  divine  histories  have  you  observed  examples  of  them? 
What  would  Paul  say,  if  he  were  in  the  world,  to  see  his  dis- 
cipline so  strangely  forgotten  among  men  who  make  profession 
to  hold  him  for  one  of  their  principal  apostles?     He  recom- 
mends to  us  not  one  of  these  names  to  which  you  devote  your- 
selves.    He  speaks  of  none  but  that  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  it  is  in 
that  name  alone  he  commands  us  to  do  all,  whether  in  word  or 
deed  ;  because  indeed  "  there  is  none  other  name  under  heaven 
given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved,"  as  said  Peter, 
Acts  iv.  12,  the  same  Peter  whom  you  pretend  to  be  the  head 
and  the  foundation  of  your  popes.     Paul  surely  gave  and  pre- 
served this  glory  to  his  Lord's  name  alone  with  so  much  zeal 
and  jealousy,  that  understanding  how  some  in  the  church  of 
Corinth  joined  in  some  measure  the  names  of  his  servants  with 
it,  calling  themselves,  some  of  Paul,  others  of  Apollos,  others 
of  Cephas,  and  others  of  Christ,  1  Cor.  i.  12  ;  as  you  see  among 
our  adversaries  at  this  day,  some  call  themselves  of  Augustine, 
others  of  Francis,  and  others  of  Jesus  ;  this  holy  man  exclaims 
against  it  as  a  sacrilege,  and  an  utter  overthrow  of  religion. 
"  Is  Christ  divided  ?"  says  he,  "  was  Paul  crucified  for  you  ?  or 
were  ye  baptized  in  the  name  of  Paul  ?"  1  Cor.  i,  13  ;  prescribing 
by  these  words,  or  rather  by  this  flash  of  lightning,  that  the 
faithful  ought  not  either  to  call  or  distinguish  themselves,  or 
to  glory  in,  or  to  speak,  or  do  anything  in  religion  in  any 
other  name  than  that  of  this  holy  and  merciful  Lord,  who  was 
crucified  for  them,  and  in  whose  name  alone  they  were  bap- 
tized.    Yea,  he  thanks  God  that  he  had  administered  baptism 
but  to  few  of  them,  lest  any  one  should  thence  take  occasion  to 
believe  or  to  say  that  he  had  baptized  in  his  own  name.     Then, 
shortly  afterwards,  resuming  the  discourse,  so  much  took  he 
the  thing  to  heart,  he  says,  "Are  ye  not  carnal,  while  one  of 
you  says,  I  am  of  Paul  ;  and  another,  I  am  of  Apollos  ?     Who 


686  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.  XLII. 

then  is  Paul,  and  who  is  Apollos,  but  ministers  by  whom  ye 
believed,  even  as  the  Lord  gave  to  every  man  ?  Ye  are  God's 
husbandry,  ye  are  God's  building,"  1  Cor.  iii.  4,  5,  9.  Is  not 
this  telling  us  plainly  that  we  ought  neither  to  bear  the  name 
of  any  other  than  God,  nor  act  in  matters  of  piety  in  any  name 
but  that  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  which  likewise  he  here  commands 
us  to  do  and  say  all  that  we  shall  act  in  word  or  deed. 

But  having  considered  what  the  apostle  affords  us  here 
against  error  for  the  instruction  of  our  faith,  let  us  now  observe 
what  he  teaches  us  for  the  correction  of  our  manners,  which  is 
his  principal  intention.  He  teaches  us,  my  brethren,  that  if 
we  will  be  truly  faithful  persons  and  christians,  as  we  profess 
to  be,  we  must  have  Jesus  Christ  continually  before  our  eyes  ; 
must  examine,  address,  and  suit  our  actions,  our  speeches  and 
purposes,  unto  the  name  of  Christ  ;  take  it  for  the  north  star 
in  our  course,  and,  in  one  word,  for  the  rule  of  our  whole  life. 
That  we  never  do  anything,  little  or  great,  otherwise  than  in 
his  name.  That  his  name  be  the  only  motive  inducing  us  to 
speak  and  act,  and  the  only  mark  to  which  our  words  and  ac- 
tions tend.  Think  now,  first,  how  great  our  confusion  ought 
to  be.  The  apostle  directs  that  whatever  we  do  in  word  or 
deed,  we  should  do  it  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  and 
most  of  us,  on  the  contrary,  do  almost  nothing  in  his  name. 
Heaven  and  earth  are  witnesses  that  the  name  of  Jesus  has  no 
part  in  our  works  or  words.  They  are  all  consecrated  to  his 
enemies  ;  they  are  inspired  by  their  spirit,  and  aim  at  nothing 
but  their  interests.  Tell  me,  ye  covetous,  is  it  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ  that  ye  toil  night  and  day  to  heap  up  dross?  Is 
it  he  who  taught  you  those  black  arts  and  inhuman  dexterities, 
to  spoil  the  orphan  and  the  widow  to  enrich  yourselves?  Have 
you  had  the  confidence  to  call  upon  the  name  of  Jesus,  that  he 
might  teach  you  and  guide  your  hands  to  work  deceit  and  bless 
your  violence?  Is  it  to  advance  his  glory  and  give  his  name 
a  good  odour,  that  you  make  yourselves  famous  among  the 
vassals  of  mammon  ;  not  disdaining  any  part  of  his  drudgery, 
however  distasteful  to  God  and  man  ?  And  you  that  are  am- 
bitious, can  you  indeed  persuade  yourselves  that  those  vanities 
which  absorb  your  attention  are  so  important  to  Jesus  Christ — 
or  that  it  is  in  his  name  you  lose  your  time  about  them  ?  You 
also  whom  the  flesh  and  its  pleasures  drown  in  their  filth,  I 
ask,  is  it  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  you  are  employed?  Is 
it  for  his  glory,  or  according  to  his  will  ?  I  say  as  much  of 
the  revengeful,  and  the  drunken,  and  of  all  those  that  serve 
any  one  of  the  other  vices,  which  Jesus  Christ  has  expressly 
condemned  and  forbidden.  Not  one  of  all  these  acts  in  his  name. 
Dear  brethren,  let  us  renounce  these  things  if  we  will  be  chris- 
tians. Let  us  never  make  any  enterprise,  never  commence  any 
action,  without  first  considering  whether  it  may  be  done  in  the 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  587 

name  of  the  Lord  Jesus;  that  is,  whether  it  is  such  as  we  may 
with  a  good  conscience  implore  his  help  to  finish,  and  judging 
whether  it  is  proper  to  advance  his  glory,  and  is  conformable, 
or,  at  least,  not  contrary,  to  his  will  and  interests.  Hereby  we 
are  constrained  to  banish  out  of  our  lives,  first,  all  vicious  ac- 
tions, of  which  none  can  be  done  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ, 
since  they  are  all  displeasing  to  him.  And  they  who,  in  de- 
signs of  such  nature,  have  the  impudence  to  ask  assistance  of 
him  (as  some  there  are,  into  whom  superstition  has  inspired 
this  foolish  conceit,  that  they  may  do  evil  for  a  good  end)  ;  these, 
I  say,  offend  Jesus  Christ  excessively,  rendering  him  guilty  of 
their  crimes  as  much  as  in  them  lies,  and  inviting  him  to  take 
part  in  their  vices.  But  this  rule  of  the  apostle  not  only  obliges 
us  to  eschew  evil  and  abstain  from  sin,  it  requires,  also,  that 
what  good  we  do  must  be  done  for  Christ's  sake,  and  in  his 
name  ;  that  in  our  alms,  and  in  our  devotions,  and  in  all  the 
acts  of  our  piety  and  charity,  we  should  seek  nothing  but  his 
glory,  the  fulfilment  of  his  will,  and  the  advancement  of  his 
kingdom,  and  not  the  praise  of  men,  or  the  interest  of  our  own 
affairs.  It  is  taking  his  name  in  vain  to  do  otherwise.  It  is 
profaning  the  actions  of  virtue  by  employing  them  in  the  ser- 
vice of  fiesh  and  blood  ;  which  actions  of  their  own  nature,  and 
by  God's  intention,  are  to  be  done  only  for  his  glory,  and  for 
the  name's  sake  of  his  Son. 

Again,  this  maxim  of  the  apostle's  embracing  generally  all 
the  actions  of  a  christian,  both  in  word  and  deed,  it  is  evident 
that  it  ought  to  regulate  those  also  which  are  in  their  own 
nature  indifferent,  and  to  restrain  us  from  doing  any  such  acts, 
except  when  they  may  be  done  in  the  name  of  Christ.  For 
though  the  nature  of  them  is  indifferent,  the  use  of  them  is 
not  so,  but  must  be  governed  by  the  good  and  the  evil  that 
may  thence  redound  either  to  or  against  the  glory  of  God  and 
the  edification  of  men,  as  the  apostle  says  elsewhere  ;  "  All 
things  are  lawful  for  me,  but  all  things  are  not  expedient  :  all 
things  are  lawful  for  me,  but  all  things  edify  not,"  1  Cor.  x.  23. 
Whence  you  see,  how  vain  is  the  pretext  of  those  who  excuse 
the  excess  of  their  dress,  of  their  tables,  and  of  their  houses, 
by  the  liberty  which  they  pretend  the  Lord  has  given  them  to 
clothe,  and  feed,  and  lodge  themselves  as  they  think  proper, 
alleging  that  he  has  not  forbidden  them  velvet,  or  silks,  or 
gold,  or  silver,  or  precious  stones,  or  tapestry,  or  any  sort  of 
furniture,  nor  excluded  from  their  tables  any  kind  of  meats  or 
services,  they  being  received  with  thanksgiving.  I  grant  the 
use  of  these  things,  generally  speaking,  is  free,  they  all  being 
created  of  God  for  man  ;  yet  each  of  you  ought  to  observe 
certain  rules  about  them,  and  this  one  particularly,  namely, 
that  you  consider  whether  the  thing  is  such  as  you  may  do  it 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  whether  the  money  you  waste  in 


588  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLII. 

it  might  not  be  better  employed  in  the  service  of  his  poor,  or 
of  his  sanctuary  ;  whether  your  making  men  believe  that  you 
are  vain-glorious,  or  intemperate,  or  voluptuous,  by  clothing, 
or  lodging,  or  treating  yourselves  more  richly  and  more  mag- 
nificently than  becomes  your  condition  ;  whether  this  opinion 
of  yourselves,  I  say,  which  you  give  your  neighbours  does  not 
scandalize  them,  and  is  not  prejudicial  to  the  name  and  inter- 
ests of  our  Saviour. 

Hence,  again,  appears  how  inexcusable  are  they  who  marry 
with  persons  of  a  contrary  religion.  I  confess  that  marriage 
is  honourable,  and  that  it  is  not  prohibited  to  any  ;  but  this 
action,  as  well  as  all  others  of  a  christian,  must  be  done  *'  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ;"  and  so  much  the  rather,  as  it  is 
more  important,  and  continues  as  long  as  our  lives.  Where- 
fore the  apostle  expressly  modifies  the  liberty  he  gives  to  the 
believing  widow  by  this  exception  ;  She  is  at  liberty,  says  he, 
to  marry  again  ;  "  only  in  the  Lord,"  1  Cor.  vii.  39.  Now 
judge  if  it  be  a  marrying  in  the  Lord,  when  you  make  alliance 
with  a  person  alienated  from  your  communion  ;  who  will  be 
a  snare  to  pervert  you  from  it,  will  pluck  the  name  of  Christ 
out  of  your  house,  and  consecrate  your  offspring  to  error  ;  and 
be  so  far  from  helping  you  in  the  exercises  of  your  piety,  that 
the  person  will  disturb  them. 

Finally,  this  saying  of  the  apostle  shows  us  also  what  we 
are  to  think  of  dances  and  balls,  and  such  other  vain  pomps 
of  the  world.  If  you  can  truly  say  that  it  is  in  the  name  of 
Christ  you  mask  and  dance,  I  will  acknowledge  that  you  fail 
not  of  your  duty  in  it.  But  if  it  is  clear,  and  manifestly 
known,  as  it  is,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  has  no  part  in  these  fol- 
lies ;  that  in  them  his  name  is  blasphemed  rather  than  glori- 
fied ;  that  his  Spirit  breathes  not  in  them,  but  indeed  the  spirit 
of  Satan  and  the  world  ;  that  scandal  is  given  in  them,  but  no 
edification  received  ;  confess  it  a  thing  contrary  to  your  duty. 
Add  not  impudence  to  guilt  ;  acknowledge,  if  you  are  a  chris- 
tian, that  it  is  a  violation  of  the  apostle's  command  to  partici- 
pate in  such  things,  which  neither  are  nor  can  be  done  in 
the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  warn  you  particularly 
of  it,  because  we  are  entering  on  the  season  in  which  the 
world  is  wont  to  give  itself  the  greatest  license  for  such  indul- 
gences. Dear  brethren,  let  not  its  ill  example  seduce  you. 
Let  not  the  custom  of  the  age,  nor  the  pleasing  of  men,  induce 
you  to  forget  the  respect  which  you  owe  to  the  apostle's  voice, 
and  the  church's  consolation.  Seek  your  joys  in  the  service 
of  your  Lord  and  Saviour,  and  in  the  meditation  and  imita- 
tion of  his  life;  and  having  always  before  your  eyes  the  love 
he  bears  for  you,  the  death  he  suffered  for  you,  and  the  heaven 
to  which  he  calls  you,  love  him  with  all  your  heart  ;  and  what- 
ever you  do,  whether  in  word  or  deed,  do  it  all  in  the  name 


CHAP.  III.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  589 

of  this  sweet  and  merciful  Saviour,  rendering  thanks  to  God 
and  the  Father  by  him,  unto  his  glory,  and  the  edification,  of 
your  neighbours,  and  your  own  salvation.     Amen. 


SERMON    XLIII. 

VERSES  18,   19. 

Wives,  submit  yourselves  unto  your  own  husbands,  as  it  is  Jit  in 
the  Lord.  Sushands,  love  your  wives,  and  be  not  bitter  against 
them. 

Dear  brethren,  as  man  is  subject  to  a  twofold  consideration  ; 
first,  with  regard  to  his  nature  simply,  as  he  is  a  reasonable 
creature  ;  secondly,  with  reference  to  his  condition,  or  the 
rank  he  holds  in  human  society  ;  that  is,  as  either  a  master  or 
a  servant,  a  magistrate  or  a  subject,  or  the  like  :  so  there  de- 
volve upon  him,  according  to  these  two  respects,  two  different 
duties  ;  those  of  the  first  description  are  general  and  common 
■universally  to  all  men  ;  the  others,  of  the  second,  relate  only 
to  some  certain  order  of  persons.  I  place  in  the  first  rank 
piety  towards  God,  honesty,  temperance,  justice,  and  charity, 
and  such  other  virtues,  from  which  neither  sex,  age,  nor  con- 
dition is  exempt,  because  every  man,  whatever  he  is  other- 
wise, being  a  reasonable  creature,  is  bound  upon  that  account 
to  practise  all  those  virtues,  as  a  perfection  and  ornament  meet 
for  such  a  nature.  I  include  among  the  duties  of  the  second 
order,  the  service  that  bondmen  owe  their  masters,  the  obedi- 
ence of  children  to  their  fathers,  the  dependence  of  wives  in 
relation  to  their  husbands,  and  the  like  ;  which  pertain,  as  you 
see,  only  to  persons  in  such  conditions,  and  not  to  all  men 
generally.  This  difference  has  produced  in  the  schools  of  hea- 
then sages  the  distinguishing  of  active  philosophy  into  various 
parts  :  the  first,  which  they  call  moral  philosophy,  or  ethics, 
explains  that  first  description  of  common  and  general  duties  ; 
the  others  treat  of  the  second,  namely,  the  economics,  which 
regulate  and  form  the  several  different  conditions  which  con- 
stitute a  family,  namely,  husband  and  wife,  parents  and  chil- 
dren, master  and  servants  ;  and  the  politics,  whose  task  is  to 
expound  the  duties  of  all  the  various  orders  which  compose 
an  estate,  as  the  prince  and  the  subject,  the  magistrate  and 
the  citizen,  men  of  the  long  robe,  and  of  the  sword  and  the 
like. 

The  apostles   of  our   Lord,  in  those  writings  which  they 


590  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XLIII. 

have  left  us,  where  they  have  unfolded  to  us  the  divine  phil- 
osophy of  their  Master,  have  also  followed  the  same  order, 
though  their  difference  is  otherwise  very  great.  For  they  set 
before  us,  in  the  same  manner,  some  general  duties,  which 
oblige  all  christians  of  whatever  quality,  and  in  whatever 
degree  of  society  they  are  placed,  whether  civil,  domestic,  or 
religious.  And  though  this  part,  being  once  well  comprehended, 
has  in  it  a  great  and  almost  sufficient  light  to  direct  and  gov- 
ern all  the  rest  ;  yet  they  forbear  not  to  descend  to  the  par- 
ticular duties  of  each  of  those  states  and  conditions  which  the 
faithful  occupy  in  human  society.  Thus  the  apostle  Paul  has 
done  in  this  Epistle  ;  for  after  having  exhorted  us  all,  in  gen- 
eral, to  piety,  holiness,  and  charity,  which  belong  to  all  chris- 
tians equally,  as  you  have  heard  in  the  preceding  exercises, 
he  now  addresses  himself  in  particular  to  each  of  those  three 
orders  of  which  a  household  is  composed  ;  the  first  of  which 
is  the  husband  and  the  wife  ;  the  second,  the  father  and  the 
children;  the  third,  master  and  servants;  giving  each  of 
them  a  good  lesson  for  their  conduct  in  the  condition  to  which 
God  has  called  them.  Elsewhere  he  regulates  the  duties  of 
subjects  with  reference  to  the  civil  powers  under  which  they 
live  ;  of  the  faithful  with  reference  to  their  pastors,  and  recip- 
rocally of  pastors  with  reference  to  their  flocks  ;  not  omitting 
deacons,  the  other  part  of  ecclesiastic  ministry  ;  and  this  not 
in  one  place  only,  but  many.  In  consideration  hereof,  before 
we  proceed  any  further,  permit  me,  I  beseech  you,  to  make 
here,  at  the  entrance,  one  general  reflection  upon  the  holy 
apostle's  manner  of  treating  his  subject. 

Whence  comes  it  that,  having  been  so  careful  to  instruct 
and  to  direct  in  particular  each  of  those  different  ranks  of 
persons  which  then  were,  and  still  are,  in  the  church,  they 
never  dropped  one  word  respecting  the  duties  of  three  kinds 
of  conditions,  in  which,  in  the  present  day,  Rome  makes  the 
chief,  and,  in  a  manner,  the  all,  of  the  christian  commonweal 
to  consist,  I  mean  the  pope,  sacrificers  or  priests,  and  monks. 
The  apostles  instruct  the  lowest  masters  how  they  ought  to 
treat  their  attendants,  and  the  simplest  presbyters,  or  bishops, 
that  is,  pastors,  how  they  ought  to  feed  their  flocks.  They 
never  tell  the  pope  in  what  manner  he  ought  to  deport  him- 
self in  that  great  government  of  all  Christendom  which,  as  it 
is  said,  has  been  given  him  of  God.  The  apostles  inform  the 
most  abject  slaves  of  the  servitude  they  owe  their  masters,  and 
every  flock  of  the  deference  and  respect  it  owes  its  pastors. 
They  never  speak  a  word,  either  to  single  believers  or  their 
guides,  of  that  infinite  subjection  which  they  are  obliged  to 
profess  to  the  pope,  or  of  kissing  his  feet,  or  of  submitting 
the  conscience,  or  any  other  such  thing.  The  apostles  exactly 
inform  bishops  or  pastors  of  the  duties  of  their  charge;   of 


CHAP.  III.]        THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  591 

preaching,  exhorting,  instructing,  of  watching,  of  correcting, 
of  censuring,  and  of  excluding  the  scandalous  from  commu- 
nion. They  never  order  any  sacrificers  to  ofier  a  propitiatory 
host  unto  God  for  the  sins  of  quick  and  dead,  nor  tell  them 
of  the  preparations,  ceremonies,  and  observances  necessary 
for  this  purpose;  nor  of  purifying,  by  means  of  an  auricular 
confession,  the  consciences  of  such  as  are  to  participate  in 
such  a  sacrifice;  nor  of  the  precautions  and  subtilties  which 
are  necessary  for  the  right  administration  of  it.  The  apostles 
vouchsafe  to  take  the  pains  to  enter  into  families,  and  there 
regulate  the  demeanour  of  husbands  and  wives,  of  virgins 
and  widows,  of  fathers  and  children,  of  masters  and  servants. 
Why  say  they  nothing  to  monks,  or  to  the  solitary,  as  her- 
mits and  anchorites,  or  to  those  who  live  associated  in  sepa- 
rated dwellings  ?  Why  do  they  not  somewhere  instruct  the 
guardians,  the  abbots,  the  superiors,  and  generals  of  these  or- 
ders ?  Why  do  they  not  exhort  their  inferiors  to  yield  them 
a  blind  obedience?  Why  say  they  nothing  of  their  three 
vows,  and  of  the  means  of  well  observing  them  ?  And  why 
give  they  no  instructions  to  religious  women,  who,  imitating 
the  zeal  of  men,  shut  themselves  up  in  convents  ?  But  what 
do  I  say,  that  they  nowhere  regulate  the  conduct  and  particu- 
lar duties  of  these  three  sorts  of  conditions?  I  say  more 
than  this,  they  make  no  mention  of  them  at  all,  neither  express- 
ly nor  implicitly.  And  if  you  read  the  books  of  the  New 
Testament,  you  will  find  that  there  is  no  more  mention  made 
in  them  of  the  pope,  and  the  sacrificers,  and  the  monks  of 
Eome,  than  of  the  brahmins  of  India,  or  the  bonzes  of  Ja- 
pan, or  the  mufti  of  the  mussulmans.  Whence  comes  so  strange 
a  silence,  so  universal  an  oblivion?  Is  it  that  the  thing 
was  not  worthy  of  the  apostle's  care  and  pen  ?  But  how  can 
that  be  imagined,  since,  if  you  believe  those  of  Eome,  it  is 
upon  these  three  orders  that  Christianity  depends  ?  For  as 
to  the  pope,  he  is  the  head  of  the  church,  and  exercises  so 
necessary  an  imperial  power,  that  out  of  his  communion  there 
is  no  salvation.  And  as  for  priests,  or  sacrificers,  it  is  they 
alone  that  purify  the  souls  of  men,  both  by  the  absolution 
they  give  to  those  whom  they  confess,  and  by  that  deity 
which  they  deliver  to  such  as  they  communicate.  Lastly,  as 
for  monks,  their  order  is  the  state  of  perfection,  they  are  the 
angels  of  the  earth,  the  glory  and  the  rampart  of  the  church, 
the  sole  patterns  of  evangelical  piety  and  holiness  ;  wherefore 
they  call  their  fraternities  religions,  and  disdaining  their  old 
name  of  monks,  each  sect  of  them  styles  itself  religious  ;  as 
if  the  piety  of  other  christians  did  not  deserve  to  be  called 
religious,  in  comparison  with  theirs.  Whence  comes  it,  then, 
that  the  apostles  have  so  forgotten  these  three  sorts  of  people, 
which  are  as  highly  or  more  necessary  in  the  church  than  the 


592  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLIII. 

four  elements  in  the  world  ?  Dear  brethren,  you  plainly  see 
the  reason  ;  and  if  passion  did  not  blind  our  adversaries,  they 
might  see  it  too  as  well  as  we.  The  apostles  have  said  nothing 
to  these  three  sorts  of  people,  because  there  were  none  such 
among  christians  in  their  time.  Had  there  been  then  a  pope 
and  sacrificers  in  the  church,  the  apostles  without  doubt 
would  have  told  them  their  duty,  as  well  as  bishops  and  el- 
ders, that  is,  pastors.  And  if  there  had  been  monks  and 
devotees,  they  would  undoubtedly  have  spoken  to  them,  as 
well  as  to  men  and  women  who  live  in  wedlock.  Since  they 
did  it  not,  we  may  be  certainly  assured  that  neither  of  these 
three  plants  was  sown  or  set  by  Jesus  Christ  or  his  apostles  ; 
but  they  have  all  sprung  up  since  their  days,  partly  from  the 
imprudence,  partly  from  the  superstition  and  corruption,  of 
men,  who  also  affording  them  cultivation,  have  raised  them 
by  degrees  to  that  prodigious  greatness  which  now  for  several 
ages  they  have  possessed.  And  this  we  say  at  the  commence- 
ment, on  account  of  the  care  which  the  apostles  had  in  gene- 
ral to  form  and  regulate  the  duties  of  the  various  conditions 
of  persons  which  are  found  in  the  church. 

As  for  Paul's  precept  in  this  place,  he  speaks,  first,  to  hus- 
bands and  wives  ;  next,  to  fathers  and  children  ;  and  last 
of  all,  to  masters  and  servants  ;  following  in  this  the  natural 
order  of  the  things  themselves.  For  if  you  consider  the  dig- 
nity of  them,  the  union  of  husband  and  wife  is  the  most  excel- 
lent, and  that  upon  which  the  others  depend  ;  or  if  you  re- 
gard their  rise,  man  was  a  husband  before  a  father  or  a  mas- 
ter ;  God  gave  Adam  a  wife  before  he  gave  him  children  or 
servants.  Now  though  in  this  prime  union  the  husband 
possesses  the  first  place,  yet  the  apostle  begins  with  the  wife, 
and  does  the  same  in  the  two  following  orders,  instructing 
children  before  fathers,  and  servants  before  masters;  either 
because  the  subjection  in  which  wives,  and  children,  and  ser- 
vants are  placed  is  more  difficult  and  displeasing  to  our  nature, 
than  the  love  and  government  of  husbands,  and  fathers,  and 
masters  ;  or  because  the  subjection  of  the  one  is  the  foundation 
upon  which  the  other's  good  government  depends.  We  will 
handle  at  the  present  no  more  than  the  lesson  which  he  gives 
to  wives  and  husbands,  contained  in  the  text  which  you  have 
heard,  reserving  that  which  concerns  children  and  fathers, 
servants  and  masters,  for  another  opportunity. 

I.  The  wife's  lesson  is  for  words  short,  but  for  sense  of 
considerable  weight  and  extent.  "  Wives,"  says  the  apostle 
to  them,  "  submit  yourselves  to  your  own  husbands,  as  it  is 
fit  in  the  Lord."  In  which  words,  first,  he  commands  married 
women  that  subjection  which  they  owe  to  their  own  husbands  ; 
and,  next,  shows  them  the  manner  of  that  subjection,  "  as  it  is 
fit  in  the  Lord."     As  for  subjection,  it  is  an  order  that  God 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  598 

has  established  generally  in  all  things  which  constitute  any- 
kind  of  body,  whether  in  nature,  or  in  either  angelic  or  hu- 
man society,  that  some  should  depend  on  others.  Thus  you 
see  in  plants  the  other  parts  depend  upon  the  root,  and  in 
animals  upon  the  heart,  and  they  all  upon  the  soul  that  causes 
tbera  to  live.  Among  men,  there  is  no  state  without  a  supe- 
rior that  governs,  and  inferiors  that  are  governed.  In  the 
composition  of  the  world  itself,  as  it  is  one  total,  you  know 
that  earthly  things  depend  upon  the  heavens,  these  govern  all 
the  rest  ;  neither  is  there  any  union,  any  body,  or  natural 
compacted  frame  in  the  whole  universe,  the  whole  of  whose 
parts  are  entirely  equal.  God,  whose  wisdom  is  infinite,  has, 
so  ordered  it  for  the  benefit  of  things  themselves  ;  those  that 
are  feeble  and  imperfect  finding  their  perfection  in  the  con- 
duct of  such  as  are  more  perfect,  and  the  more  perfect  reaping 
advantage  and  dignity  from  the  subjection  of  those  that  are 
less.  This  induced  the  apostle  to  say  in  another  place,  that 
God  is  not  a  God  of  confusion,  or  of  disorder,  but  of  peace. 
It  follows  therefore  that  to  resist  subjection  when  persons  are 
called  to  it,  is  to  thwart  his  will  and  disturb  his  order;  a  mark 
also,  not  of  fortitude  and  courage,  but  of  folly  and  malignity^ 
to  oppose  it  ;  agreeable  to  that  which  experience  taught  the 
heathen  themselves  to  observe,  even  that  good  men  are  easy 
to  be  governed,  and  that  those  who  most  unwillingly  endure 
a  superior  are  always  such  as  have  least  worth.  It  having 
therefore  pleased  God,  according  to  this  general  disposition 
of  his  wisdom,  that  in  marriage  man  should  be  the  head,  it  is 
with  propriety  that  the  apostle  exhorts  married  women  to  be 
subject. 

That  word  comprises  all  the  duty  of  the  condition  to  which 
God  calls  them  ;  and  therefore  the  Holy  Spirit  uses  it  almost 
always  on  this  subject;  as  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians, 
chap.  V.  22,  where  these  very  same  terms  occur  ;  and  in  the 
Epistle  to  Titus,  chap.  ii.  5,  That,  says  he,  they  be  "discreet, 
chaste,  keepers  at  home,  good,  obedient  to  their  own  husbands;" 
and  in  the  First  Epistle  of  Peter,  chap.  iii.  1,  "  Ye  wives,  be  in 
subjection  to  your  own  husbands."  I  know  well  that  the  ex- 
pression displeases  our  nature,  which,  in  the  corruption  that 
sin  has  brought  upon  it,  hates  all,  even  the  most  lawful,  sub- 
jection. And  perhaps  it  is  upon  this  account  that  the  apostles 
have  so  often  recommended  it  to  christian  women,  that  they 
might  instruct  them  to  combat  this  sentiment  of  our  depraved 
nature,  and  submit  themselves  to  God's  arrangement.  But 
certainly,  setting  aside  the  word,  and  the  disorders  which  our 
sin  sows  in  every  condition,  there  is  no  harshness  in  this  con- 
jugal subjection  ;  there  is  nothing  in  it  but  what  is  pleasant, 
beneficial,  and  advantageous,  both  to  the  wife  herself,  and  also 
to  the  whole  family.     For  it  is  an  error  to  think  that  all  sub- 


694  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLIII 

jection  is  hard  and  vexatious.  That  which  the  body  owes  to 
the  soul,  and  the  members  to  the  head,  that  which  the  air  and 
the  earth  render  to  the  heavens,  has  nothing  of  constraint, 
nothing  shameful  in  it  ;  on  the  contrary  there  is  in  it  that  in 
which  the  glory  of  the  body,  and  the  members,  and  the  elements 
consists.  Among  the  angels  themselves,  whose  being  is  full 
of  perfection  and  glory,  there  is  a  kind  of  subjection,  the 
inferior  angels  having  dependence  upon  their  chiefs.  And  in 
the  terrestrial  paradise,  if  sin  had  not  banished  us  thence,  amid 
the  delights  and  perfections  of  a  happy  state,  the  wife  would 
not  have  been  exempt  from  being  subject  to  her  husband  ;  an 
evident  sign  that  this  subjection  is  not  incompatible  either 
with  her  felicity  or  with  her  glory  ;  and  that  all  the  bitterness 
now  found  in  it  arises  not  from  the  thing  itself,  but  from  sin, 
which  has  altered  it,  as  it  has  all  the  other  parts  of  our  life 
and  nature.  For,  in  reality,  what  does  this  subjection  signify, 
but  a  just  and  rational,  a  sweet  and  amiable,  dependence  of 
the  wife  upon  the  husband,  like  that  of  the  body  upon  its  head, 
or  upon  its  soul? 

Of  this  subjection,  the  first  part,  which  is  as  the  root  and  stock 
of  all  the  rest,  is  a  sentiment  and  disposition  of  heart;  when 
the  wife  acknowledges  in  her  soul  that  the  husband  God  has 
given  her  is  her  head,  and,  as  the  wise  man  says,  her  guide  ; 
who,  in  the  due  order  of  their  life,  ought  to  have  the  first 
place  ;  and  that  she  is  inferior  to  him,  since  she  is  his  wife, 
whatever  advantage  she  may  otherwise  have  above  him,  whether 
in  wealth  or  in  nobility,  yea,  even  in  prudence  and  abilities. 
If  she  has  once  settled  this  holy  and  respectful  persuasion  in 
her  heart,  she  will  no  more  find  anything  of  harshness  or 
difficulty  in  all  that  subjection  which  she  owes  her  husband. 
This  sentiment  alone  is  sufficient  to  form  her  to  it,  and  to  bow, 
without  any  constraint,  all  the  actions  of  her  life  that  way.  And 
it  is  this,  in  my  opinion,  that  the  apostle  means,  when  he  says 
elsewhere  that  the  wife  should  "  reverence  her  husband,"  Eph. 
V.  33.  Such  was  the  sentiment  of  Sarah,  whom  Peter  pro- 
poses to  christian  women  for  a  pattern  of  their  demeanour. 
She  called  Abraham  her  lord,  as  that  apostle  expressly  states, 
1  Pet.  iii.  6,  declaring  by  such  respectful  language  in  what 
esteem  she  held  her  husband,  and  that  she  regarded  him  as 
her  superior,  and  the  guide  and  governor  of  her  life. 

In  addition  to  this  reverence,  the  wife's  subjection  com- 
prehends also  the  complacency  she  ought  to  have  for  her  hus- 
band, fashioning  herself  to  his  mind,  and  divesting  her  own 
disposition  of  all  that  she  sees  offensive  to  him,  to  put  on  his 
affections  and  manners  in  everything  as  far  as  piety  and 
honesty  will  permit;  bending  and  accommodating  her  inclina- 
tions and  humours  in  such  manner  to  her  husband's,  that  she 
may  be  as  a  faithful  mirror  to  him,  in  which  he  may  see  his 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  595 

own  image.  This,  you  will  say,  is  difficult.  Certainly  it  is  so  ; 
but  only  to  those  who  bear  their  husbands  little  respect  and 
love,  and  it  is  still  more  difficult  to  those  who  do  not  love 
them.  She  that  loves  her  husband  ardently,  that  looks  upon 
him  as  the  head  which  God  has  given  her,  as  her  weal,  and  her 
honour,  and  her  glory,  will  easily  discharge  this  duty,  yea, 
take  pleasure  in  it,  it  being  the  nature  of  true  love  to  trans- 
form sweetly,  and  without  constraint,  the  person  loving  into 
the  beloved. 

Lastly,  this  subjection  comprehends  the  care  a  wife  ought 
to  have  of  her  husband's  person  and  family  ;  all  which  the 
Scripture  comprises  in  two  words,  when  it  terms  her  a  help 
which  God  has  given  him,  like  unto  him,  that  is,  another  self. 
That  she  love  him  constantly  ;  be  a  consolation  to  him  in  ad- 
versity, and  an  augmentation  of  joy  in  prosperity  ;  and,  as 
the  wise  man  has  it,  "  do  him  good  all  the  days  of  her  life," 
Prov.  xxxi.  12.  That  she  train  up  his  children,  the  sweet 
pledges  of  their  amity  and  union,  in  all  probity  ;  and  form 
them  betimes  to  render  him  happy.  That  she  keep  his  house, 
as  Paul  expressly  orders,  Tit.  ii.  4,  5,  govern  his  family,  and 
hold  all  in  it  in  good  order  ;  and,  in  the  end,  to  consider  that 
this  is  the  business  to  which  God  calls  her,  even  to  employ  all 
her  cares,  all  her  labour  and  vigilance,  to  the  contentment,  wel- 
fare, and  honour  of  her  husband;  and  that  it  is  in  this  her 
own  glory  and  felicity  consist.  Such  is  that  conjugal  subjec- 
tion which  the  wife  owes  to  her  husband. 

But  the  apostle,  to  establish  and  regulate  this  subjection, 
after  giving  it  in  charge  to  christian  women,  adds,  "  as  it  is  fit 
in  the  Lord."  I  say  in  these  words  he  first  establishes  that 
duty  of  subjection  which  the  wife  owes  to  her  husband.  For 
saying  that  this  is  "  fit  in  the  Lord,"  he  shows  us  that  the  will 
of  God  is  that  this  should  be  performed,  and  that  it  is  his  order 
and  institution  that  the  wife  should  be  subject  to  her  husband. 
This  receives  evidence  first  from  the  particular  which  we  learn 
from  Moses,  even  the  Lord's  saying  expressly  to  Eve,  and  in 
her  to  all  women,  "  Thy  desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and 
he  shall  rule  over  thee,"  Gen.  iii.  16.  The  order  also  which  he 
followed  in  the  creation  manifestly  proves  that  this  was  his  in- 
tention. For  he  created  Adam  first,  and  then  afterwards  Eve  ; 
an  evident  sign  that  Eve  was  made  for  Adam,  and  not  he  for 
her.  And  it  is  for  the  same  end,  likewise,  that  he  formed  Eve 
of  one  of  the  ribs  of  Adam,  to  show  that  the  woman  belongs  to 
the  man;  that  she  is  his  own,  as  being  made  and  formed  of 
matter  that  was  his;  and  that  he  has  title  to  her  and  a  right 
over  her.  Paul  has  prudently  noticed  it:  "Adam  was  first 
formed,  then  Eve,"  1  Tim.  ii.  13.  And  elsewhere,  "  The  man  is 
not  of  the  woman  ;  but  the  woman  of  the  man.  Neither  was 
the  man  created  for  the  woman  ;  but  the  woman  for  the  man," 


596  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.   XLIII. 

1  Cor.  xi.  8,  9.  The  nature  of  both  sexes  teaches  us  the  same 
truth,  as  well  as  the  order  and  manner  of  their  creation  ;  for 
though  both  in  substance  are  the  same  being,  alike  rational  and 
capable  of  immortality,  yet  it  is  evident  that  the  constitution 
of  woman  is  more  weak,  less  active,  and  not  so  proper  for  go- 
vernment. It  is  this  Peter  means  when  he  terms  her  "the 
weaker  "  or  fragile  "  vessel,"  1  Pet.  iii.  7.  And  to  this  refers 
what  the  master  of  heathen  philosophers  has  written,*  that  the 
woman  reasons,  consults,  and  deliberates  more  feebly  and  less 
resolutely  than  the  man.  Whence  he  concludes  that  her  vir- 
tue or  perfection  is  to  serve,  and  not  to  rule  ;  that  is,  to  follow 
rather  than  to  guide,  and  to  obey  rather  than  to  command. 
Which  is  nevertheless  to  be  understood  of  the  generality,  and 
the  ordinary,  natural,  and  legitimate  constitution  of  each  sex  ; 
it  being  otherwise  very  manifest  that  some  women  are  found, 
not  only  as  much,  but  a  great  deal  more,  reasonable,  vivid,  and 
active  than  some  men.  Upon  these  reasons  all  nations  have 
rightly  judged,  as  the  Scripture  expressly  teaches  us,  that  in 
marriage  the  woman  ought  to  be  subject,  not  one  of  those  which 
have  adopted  the  institution  of  marriage  being  found  but  what 
has  so  regulated  it.  Paul  adds  yet  another  reason,  drawn  from 
the  fault  which  the  woman  committed  in  giving  ear  to  the  ser- 
pent, and  upon  this  inducing  her  husband  to  disobedience. 
"Adam,"  says  he,  "  was  not  seduced,  but  the  woman  being  de- 
ceived was  in  the  transgression,"  1  Tim,  ii.  14.  For  since  they 
both  fared  so  ill  upon  the  husband's  obeying  the  wife,  it  is  very 
reasonable  that  the  wife  should  resume  the  first  order,  and  with- 
out putting  off  the  yoke  any  more,  as  she  did  then,  obey  and 
be  subject  to  him,  whom  she  so  unhappily  undertook  to  govern, 
to  the  extreme  misery  of  both. 

But  though  all  this  is  true  and  evident,  yet  I  think  the  apos- 
tle intends  here  something  more.  For  when  he  directs  wives 
to  be  subject  to  their  husbands,  "  as  it  is  fit  in  the  Lord,"  by 
the  term  "Lord"  he  understands,  according  to  the  ordinary 
style  of  the  New  Testament,  not  God  simply,  but  Jesus  Christ; 
and  represents  to  them  the  honour  they  have  of  being  in  the 
communion  of  this  sovereign  Lord,  to  urge  them  on  to  a  faith- 
ful discharge  of  this  duty.  For  though  it  is  a  thing  of  bad 
grace,  and  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God,  that  the  wife  should 
either  assume  superiority  over  her  husband,  or,  however  that 
be,  refuse  him  this  just  subjection  ;  yet  there  is  no  state  nor  re- 
ligion, in  which  it  is  more  unseemly,  and  less  permitted,  than 
in  the  discipline  of  Christ  ;  first,  because  he  has  discovered  and 
established  the  dignity,  sanctity,  and  indissoluble  union  of  the 
married  state,  to  which  this  subjection  appertains,  much  more 
clearly  and  excellently  than  ever  did  any  lawgiver,  not  Moses 

*  Aristot.  in  his  Polit.  1. 1.  c.  8. 


CHAP.  III.]        THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  697 

himself  excepted.  Secondly,  because  as  he  has  far  better,  and 
much  more  perfectly  than  any  other,  formed  all  his  disciples  in 
general  to  peace,  and  meekness,  and  humility  ;  and  women  in 
particular  to  that  decency,  and  modesty,  and  reserve  which  is 
proper  for  their  sex  ;  it  is  evident  that  christian  wives  are  much 
more  bound  to  submit  to  the  subjection  of  which  we  speak, 
which  is  a  thing  depending  on  those  virtues  than  any  other 
persons  of  their  sex.  Moreover,  the  interest  of  their  religion 
requires  this  performance  at  their  hands,  if  law  and  reason  had 
not  imposed  subjection  on  them  ;  to  the  end  that  it  might  ap- 
pear by  their  obedience  that  Jesus  Christ  does  not  disturb  the 
just  order  of  human  societies  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  forms  both 
men  and  women  to  all  kinds  of  righteousness  and  honesty  much 
more  exactly  and  affectionately  than  do  other  religions.  Lastly, 
the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  having  in  various  places  taken  mar- 
riage for  a  symbol  of  the  union  which  is  between  him  and  his 
church,  he  has  by  that  practice  authorized  and  confirmed  the 
duties  of  the  two  married  parties,  and  particularly  the  subjec- 
tion of  the  wife,  since  she  is  the  image  of  the  church,  which 
ought  to  be  subject  to  Christ  ;  a  matter  which  the  apostle  has 
elsewhere  excellently  made  use  of  in  this  subject  :  "  The  hus- 
band," says  he,  "  is  the  head  of  the  wife,  even  as  Christ  is  the 
head  of  the  church.  Therefore  as  the  church  is  subject  unto 
Christ,  so  let  the  wives  be  to  their  own  husbands  in  everything," 
Eph.  V.  23,  24.  Thus  you  see  with  how  much  truth  and  wis- 
dom the  apostle  here  says  to  christian  women  that  "  it  is  fit  in 
the  Lord,"  (that  is,  in  Jesus  Christ,)  that  they  should  be  subject 
to  their  husbands  ;  it  being  clear  from  all  that  we  have  been 
saying,  that  all  the  considerations  of  the  discipline  of  this  same 
Lord,  and  of  the  communion  they  have  with  him,  so  strictly  bind 
them  to  this  duty,  that  if  they  fail  of  performance,  besides  the  fault 
and  the  disorder  which  they  commit  against  the  law  and  institu- 
tion of  God  and  nature,  they  also  particularly  offend  the  Lord  Je- 
sus, outrage  the  mysteries  of  his  gospel  and  scandalize  his  people. 
But  I  have  said  that  the  apostle  also  by  these  words  regu- 
lates and  limits  that  subjection  which  the  wife  owes  to  her  hus- 
band. For  adding  to  the  rest,  "  in  the  Lord,"  or,  according  to 
the  Lord,  he  evidently  shows  that  it  reaches  no  further  than  to 
such  things  as  do  not  offend  Jesus  Christ.  She  is  subject  to 
her  husband  I  acknowledge,  but  only  in  things  in  which  she 
is  not  rebellious  against  God.  She  ought  to  please  him,  but 
on  condition  that  she  displease  not  their  common  Lord.  She 
owes  him  her  obedience,  and  her  assistance,  and  her  service  in 
adversity,  and  in  all  the  troubles  of  household  affairs,  but  not 
in  sin.  The  will  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  true  boundary  of  her 
subjection  and  complacency.  She  ought  to  proceed  so  far  ;  but 
further  she  may  not  pass  without  perishing.  Whatever  tie  we 
have  to  any  creature,  it  still  leaves  the  rights  of  God  entire, 


590"-  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLIII. 

because  our  obligation  to  him  is  the  first  and  most  ancient,  the 
strictest  and  most  necessary  of  all.  And  if  the  husband  pre- 
tend to  oblige  his  wife,  or  the  father  his  child,  or  the  prince 
his  subject,  to  the  violation  of  any  of  the  commands  of  God  ; 
that  is,  either  to  do  what  he  forbids,  or  not  to  do  what  he  en- 
joins ;  in  this  case  the  faithful  soul  is  to  remember  that  "  we 
ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  men,"  Acts  v.  29  ;  and  that  if 
we  love  father  or  mother,  husband  or  wife,  children,  or  bre- 
thren, or  sisters,  or  even  our  own  lives  more  than  Christ,  we 
are  not  worthy  of  him,  nor  can  we  be  his  disciples,  Luke  xiv. 
26  ;  Matt.  x.  87. 

II.  But  having  thus  heard  the  lesson  which  the  apostle  gives 
the  wife,  let  us  now  hearken  to  that  which  he  gives  the  hus- 
band :  *'  Husbands,  love  your  wives,  and  be  not  bitter  against 
them."  He  commands  them  to  love  them,  and  forbids  them  to 
be  bitter  against  them  ;  and  in  these  few  words  he  comprises 
all  their  duty.  This  duty  is  not  less  just,  but  indeed  more 
agreeable  and  pleasing  than  that  which  he  prescribed  the  wives. 
And  observe,  I  pray,  the  apostle's  prudence.  For  when  he  had 
allotted  the  woman  subjection  for  her  share,  consequence  seemed 
to  require  that  he  should  give  the  man  command  and  govern- 
ment for  his.  But  he  does  it  not.  He  established  the  man's 
authority  sufficiently  by  putting  the  woman  in  subjection  to 
him;  and,  in  general,  his  strength  and  the  other  advantages  of 
his  sex  cause  him  to  assume  too  much.  Wherefore,  instead  of 
saying.  Husbands,  govern  your  wives,  or  command  them,  or 
of  using  some  such  word,  importing  authority,  he  says  to  them, 
"  Love  your  wives  ;"  to  sweeten  on  the  one  hand,  the  subjection 
of  the  wife,  and  to  temper,  on  the  other,  the  authority  of  the 
husband.  Wife,  let  not  your  subjection  fright  you  ;  the  apos- 
tle subjects  you  not  but  to  a  person  who  loves  you.  Husband, 
let  not  your  authority  make  you  insolent.  If  the  apostle  sub- 
ject your  wife  to  you,  it  is  only  to  the  end  that  you  love  her. 
Derive  no  vanity  either  of  you  from  the  advantages  he  gives 
you.  If  the  love  which  the  husband  owes  his  wife  make  her 
haughty,  let  her  remember  that  withal  she  is  subject  to  him 
who  loves  her.  And  if  the  authority  which  God  gives  the 
husband  flatter  him,  let  him  not  forget  that  the  wife  only  sub- 
mitted to  him  to  oblige  him  to  love  her  the  more. 

Further,  this  love  which  the  apostle  would  have  husbands 
cherish  for  their  wives,  is  a  sacred  and  sincere  affection  ;  pro- 
duced in  their  hearts,  not  simply  by  that  pleasing  form  and 
that  grace  and  sweetness  which  naturally  make  men  love  and 
solicit  this  sex,  and  which,  however  perfect  and  charming,  is 
at  most,  but  a  flower  of  a  very  shof  t  and  uncertain  duration  ; 
but  principally  by  the  will  of  God,  who  has  joined  them  with 
them,  who  has  given  them  to  them  for  companions  in  their 
good  and  bad  fortunes,  for  helps  in  all  the  parts  of  their  life, 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSI  ANS.  599 

for  a  perpetuation  of  their  name  and  lineage,  for  diminishing 
their  troubles  and  augmenting  their  joys.  This  perpetual  and 
indivisible  union  which  binds  them  together,  and  which  of 
two  persons  has  changed  them  into  one  flesh  ;  which  has  min- 
gled together  all  their  interests,  and  in  their  dear  children,  in- 
separably combined  and  confounded  their  blood  and  very  na- 
ture ;  all  this,  I  say,  must  kindle  in  the  soul  of  husbands  a 
pure  and  an  inviolable  love  to  their  wives.  Then  again,  this 
love  must  flow  forth  from  the  heart  into  the  external  actions, 
discovering  and  evidencing  itself  by  such  continual  effects 
as  may  be  truly  worthy  of  it.  For  love  is  not  a  dead  pic- 
ture, nor  a  vain  fancy,  nor  an  idol  without  life  and  action.  It 
is  the  most  lively  and  active  of  all  our  sentiments.  It  is  a  will 
that  affects  and  sets  all  the  power  one  has  into  operation  to 
procure  some  good  to  the  person  whom  it  loves.  The  first 
effect  of  this  love  is  to  be  pleased  in  the  presence  of  that 
which  a  man  loves,  and  not  be  able  to  suffer  the  absence  of  it 
long  without  disquietude;  the  second,  to  communicate  to  it 
all  a  man  possesses  that  is  good  ;  and  the  third,  to  guard 
and  preserve  it  from  all  injury  and  molestation. 

It  is  thus  the  apostle  would  have  husbands  love  their  wives, 
even,  first,  that  they  live  ordinarily  with  them,  as  far  as  the 
necessity  of  their  affairs  permits  ;  not  finding  sweeter  diversion 
nor  more  pleasing  company  anywhere  else.  Then,  next,  that 
they  carefully  make  them  partakers  of  the  graces  God  has 
given  them,  and  principally  in  all  that  concerns  the  salvation 
of  their  souls,  which  is  the  greatest  good  of  all  ;  faithfully  di- 
recting them  about  it  both  by  good  and  holy  conversation,  and 
also  by  pure  and  virtuous  deportment.  It  is  in  this  they 
ought  to  exercise  that  advantage  which  nature  and  the  apos- 
tle give  them,  showing  themselves  to  be  truly  the  heads  and 
guides  of  their  wives,  in  the  matters  of  God's  service,  and 
of  holiness  of  life  ;  for  this  end  making  provision  of  all  ne- 
cessary knowledge,  that  if  they  at  any  time  consult  them 
in  their  doubts,  as  Paul  commands,  1  Cor,  xiv,  35,  they  may 
be  able  to  instruct  them  ;  lest,  in  defect  of  it,  it  might  be 
said  of  them,  as  a  prophet  formerly  said  of  idols,  that  they 
are  teachers  of  nothing  but  lies,  Hab.  ii.  18,  But  to  these 
cares  for  the  soul  the  husband  ought  to  add  those  also 
which  respect  the  present  life  ;  labouring  in  his  vocation, 
and  imparting  to  his  wife  a  share  of  all  the  substance  he 
possesses  or  acquires  proportionably  to  her  need  of  it, 
either  for  her  own  necessary  food  and  raiment,  or  for  the 
maintenance  of  her  children  and  family,  as  is  suitable  to 
her  condition.  It  is  this  the  apostle  means  when  he  com- 
mands husbands  to  love  their  wives. 

But  he  forbids  them,  in  the  following  words,  to  be  "  bitter 
against  them  ;"  that  is,  to  be  fro  ward  to  them  ;  requiring  that 


600  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLIII. 

all  their  conversation  with  them  be  full  of  sweetness  and  amity. 
The  pagans  themselves  have  observed  the  justness  of  this  duty, 
as  what  we  read  of  one  piece  of  their  devotions  bears  witness. 
For,  when  they  sacrificed  to  that  idol  whom  they  called  Nuptial 
Juno,  because  they  gave  her  the  superintendence  of  marriage, 
they  were  accustomed  to  take  the  gall  out  of  the  victim,  and 
to  cast  it  behind  the  altar,  signifying  by  this,  as  say  the  inter- 
preters of  their  ceremonies,  that  there  ought  to  be  no  gall  nor 
bitterness  in  marriage.  The  apostle's  meaning,  then,  is  that 
the  husband  first  purge  his  heart  of  all  this  sourness  and  bit- 
terness ;  that  he  never  suffer  hatred,  malevolence,  anger,  pro- 
vocation, fretting,  nor  disgust  to  enter  there  against  a  person 
whom  he  ought  to  love  as  himself.  Next  he  would  have  the 
husband  cleanse  all  his  words  and  actions  from  the  same  poi- 
son. For  if  he  who  is  angry  with  his  neighbour  without 
cause,  and  gives  him  the  least  reviling  word,  deserves  torment, 
as  our  Saviour  declares  ;  of  what  hells  is  not  he  worthy  who 
outrages  his  own  flesh — her,  whom  he  ought  to  cherish  and 
tenderly  love  as  Christ  does  his  church  ?  But,  if  the  apostle 
commands  a  christian  to  use  no  offensive  or  opprobrious  speech 
against  his  wife,  he  as  little  permits  him  to  show  bitterness 
of  spirit  by  an  angry,  sad,  .and  obstinate  silence  ;  which  is  not 
less  provocative  and  sharp,  to  say  the  truth,  than  the  most  out- 
rageous reproaches.  In  conclusion,  by  this  clause,  the  apostle 
further,  and  with  greater  force  of  reason,  banishes  from  conju- 
gal converse,  the  cruelty,  rigour,  and  tyranny  of  those  boiste- 
rous, barbarous  husbands,  who  treat  their  wives  as  bondser- 
vants, denying  them  that  share  which  the  laws  of  God  and 
man  give  them  in  the  government  and  administration  of  the 
household.  And  the  utmost  degree  of  this  inhumanity  is,  when 
to  revilings  and  contempt  they  add  blows  and  excesses  of 
hand  ;  an  outrage  which  the  authors  of  the  Eoman  civil  law 
thought  so  unworthy  of  the  conjugal  alliance,  that  they  per- 
mitted the  wife  so  treated,  to  separate  from  her  husband,  ap- 
proving and  authorizing  her  divorce,  if  she  can  prove  he 
struck  her. 

Thus,  dear  brethren,  you  have  heard  what  we  had  to  deliver 
for  the  exposition  of  this  text.  It  teaches  us  all  in  general, 
first,  that  all  sorts  of  people  may  and  ought  to  read  Paul's 
Epistles,  and  consequently  all  the  holy  Scriptures  ;  for  why 
should  this  holy  man  address  this  language  to  wives  and  their 
husbands,  to  children,  and  their  fathers,  to  servants  and  their 
masters,  if  he  meant  not  that  all  these  persons  should  be  per- 
mitted to  read  this  letter  ?  Christians,  fear  not  to  read  what 
the  apostle  has  vouchsafed  to  write  to  you.  It  is  in  vain  that 
some  forbid  you  to  read  that  which  it  is  his  desire  you  should 
practise  ;  none  can  know  better  than  he  how  those  Epistles 
which  he  wrote  must  be  used.     Then  again,  he  here  shows  us 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  601 

how  unjust  is  the  indiscretion  of  those  who  have  so  ill  treated 
the  worthiness  of  marriage,  that  by  their  manner  of  speaking  of 
it,  you  would  suppose  that  they  held  it  to  be  incompatible  with 
christian  purity.  Paul  everywhere  maintains  the  honour  of 
this  holy  order,  and  never  at  all  prohibits  or  disparages  it. 
Also,  as  the  precepts  which  he  gives  to  masters,  to  pastors, 
and  others,  clearly  authorize  the  right  and  the  dignity  of  those 
conditions  ;  so  is  marriage  established  by  the  lesson  which  he 
here  writes,  and  often  elsewhere,  to  married  persons.  But  the 
devil  knowing  well  that  this  holy  institution  of  God  is  in- 
finitely profitable  to  men,  both  to  preserve  them  from  tempta- 
tions to  incontinence,  one  of  the  broadest  ways  to  hell,  and 
also  to  sweeten  the  harshness  of  their  natures,  by  the  tender- 
ness of  conjugal  and  paternal  affections,  and  for  various  other 
purposes,  of  great  importance  to  civil  life,  and  to  piety  itself; 
the  enemy,  I  say,  not  ignorant  of  this,  has  subtlely  made  a 
hatred  or  contempt  of  marriage,  to  insinuate  itself  into  the 
spirits  of  a  sort  of  men,  under  various  plausible  pretexts  ;  so 
as  that,  in  conclusion,  christians  (who  would  think  it  ?)  have 
ventured  to  consider  it  a  piece  of  sanctification  to  abstain  from 
it,  and  in  the  sequel  prohibited  it  to  the  ministers  of  religion. 
For  our  parts,  beloved  brethren,  we  constrain  none  to  marry. 
If  any  have  received  this  grace  of  God,  that  they  can  contain 
and  live  pure  out  of  this  state,  let  them  forbear  to  do  so,  if  it 
seem  to  them  good.  Only  we  say  two  things  :  first,  that  the 
making  use  of  it  is  free  to  all  ;  there  being  no  dignity  nor  pro- 
fession in  the  church  excluded  from  this  divine  permission. 
Secondly,  that  to  such  as  have  not  the  gift  of  continency, 
marriage  is  not  only  permitted,  but  even  necessary  ;  and  of 
whatever  rank  they  may  be,  their  marrying  is  so  far  from 
offending  God,  that  they  offend  him  much  if  they  marry  not. 

In  conclusion,  we  add  a  serious  exhortation  to  all  who  are 
in  this  state,  that  they  sedulously  put  in  ])ractice  the  lesson 
which  Paul  has  now  given  them,  even  that  wives  be  subject  to 
their  husbands,  as  it  is  fit  in  the  Lord  ;  that  husbands  love 
their  wives  and  be  not  bitter  against  them.  Many  complain 
of  finding  thorns  in  this  condition  instead  of  the  roses  they 
hoped  for.  Men  charge  it  upon  the  pride,  the  levity,  the 
vanity,  the  gorgeousness,  the  frowardness,  the  obstinacy,  and 
the  tongues  of  their  wives,  and  lay  many  other  odious  reproaches 
upon  them.  Women,  on  the  contrary,  impute  all  this  mischief 
to  the  husbands,  complaining,  some  of  their  contempt,  and 
want  of  love;  others  of  their  niggardliness  towards  them,  and 
profuseness  in  other  ways.  Some  declaim  against  their  idle- 
ness, and  the  little  care  they  take  of  their  affairs  ;  others  against 
their  excesses  and  intemperance.  There  are  some  who  are 
angry  at  their  speaking,  and  others  at  their  silence  ;  and,  in 
short,  they  forget  not  one  ill  treatment  which  they  have  re- 
76 


602  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.   XLIV. 

ceived.  I  know  well  that,  upon  strict  examination,  some  fault 
would  be  found  on  eacti  side  ;  and  that  if  there  should  be  an 
apparent  cause  to  reprehend  wives,  there  would  be  no  less 
cause  to  censure  husbands.  But  I  had  rather  lay  aside  all  this 
vexatious  process;  and  conjure  you,  dear  brethren  and  sisters, 
in  the  name  of  God,  to  do  the  same  :  sparing  one  another's 
honour,  consider  what  you  are,  and  what  a  union  God  has 
called  you  to;  and  each  one  for  his  part  acknowledging  your 
defects  in  the  duty  it  requires,  terminate  all  your  complaints 
in  a  reciprocal  pardon  ;  and  forgetting  all  that  is  past,  endeav- 
our to  procure  to  one  another,  in  the  state  you  are,  that  peace 
and  contentment  which  hitherto  you  have  not  possessed.  Do 
what  the  apostle  bids  you,  and  you  shall  find  as  much  sweetness 
as  heretofore  you  have  tasted  bitterness.  For  as  there  is  nothing 
more  wretched  than  a  marriage  in  which  the  wife  has  no  respect 
for  her  husband,  and  the  husband  no  love  for  his  wife;  so 
neither  is  there  anything  in  tha  world  more  happy,  than  a 
marriage  in  which  the  wife  by  a  humble  and  respectful  submis- 
sion, and  the  husband  by  a  sincere  and  faithful  love,  have  their 
hearts  and  wills  united  in  a  holy  concord.  As  the  first  of  these 
two  conditions  is  a  hell,  so  the  second  is  a  very  paradise. 

Finally,  my  brethren,  since  Jesus  Christ  is  the  spouse  of  all 
faithful  souls,  you  see  what  service  and  submission  we  are 
bound  to  render  him.  May  it  please  this  divine  spouse,  from 
that  nuptial  palace  where  he  dwells,  to  make  us  smell  the  odour 
of  his  mystical  perfumes,  and  to  form  our  souls  to  all  the  obe- 
dience, the  fidelity,  and  service  which  we  owe  him,  and  govern 
us  by  his  Spirit,  as  he  has  purchased  us  with  his  blood  ;  that 
after  having  here  beneath  sighed  for  him,  we  may  hereafter 
eternally  enjoy  him,  according  to  his  promises  and  our  hope.s. 
Amen. 


SERMON    XLIV. 

VERSES   20,   21. 


Children,  obey  your  parents  in  all  things:  for  this  is  well  pleasing 
unto  the  Lord.  Fathers,  provoke  not  your  children  to  anger,  lest 
they  he  discouraged. 

Dear  brethren,  among  all  the  mutual  offices  by  which  the 
society  of  men  is  preserved,  those  incumbent  on  children  towards 
their  parents,  and  on  parents  towards  their  children,  are  with- 
out doubt  of  the  first  order  and  most  necessary.  It  is  upon 
them  that  all  the  rest  in  some  measure  depend,  and  they  are  in 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  603' 

human  society  what  the  foundation  is  in  an  edifice;  the  founda- 
tion once  demolished,  all  the  building  falls  to  the  ground  ;  so  the 
subjection  of  children,  and  the  superiority  of  parents,  once 
removed  or  unfixed,  the  ruin  of  all  other  parts  of  society 
necessarily  follows.  For  if  a  man  neglect  his  children  or  mis- 
govern them,  how  will  he  duly  and  humanely  treat  servants,  or 
subjects,  or  any  other  persons?  Again,  if  a  child  shake  off 
the  yoke  of  his  father  and  mother,  how  will  he  bear  that  of  a 
master  or  a  prince  ?  There  is  no  likelihood  that  the  one  or 
the  other  having  failed  in  offices  so  sweet  and  natural  toward 
persons  that  are  so  nearly  in  connection  with  them,  will  ever 
rightly  discharge  any  of  those  which  they  owe  to  persons  more 
remote,  and  with  whom  they  have  much  less  union.  Whence 
appears  the  admirable  wisdom  of  the  providence  of  God,  who, 
for  forming  us  to  the  duties  of  love,  subjection,  and  obedience, 
which  are  necessary  in  the  civil  or  ecclesiastical  society  in  which 
we  are  to  live,  puts  us  at  first  into  the  bosom  and  under  the 
conduct  of  our  fathers  and  mothers,  that  there,  as  in  a  sweet 
and  suitable  school,  we  may  timely  learn  the  bending  of  our 
spirits  to  love  and  respect  for  men  ;  and  after  this  previous  ap- 
prenticeship, find  the  yoke  of  those  superiors  under  whom  we 
are  to  live  in  church  or  state  less  irksome.  For  one  that  has 
been  a  good  child  in  the  house  will  without  much  trouble  be  a 
good  subject  in  the  state;  and  likewise  he  that  is  a  good  father 
will  easily  prove  also  a  good  master,  a  good  magistrate,  a  good 
pastor,  if  God  should  call  him  to  any  of  those  charges. 
Wherefore  Paul  requires,  among  the  other  qualifications  of  a 
bishop  or  pastor  that  he  "rule  well  his  own  house,  having  his 
children  in  subjection  with  all  gravity  ;  for  if  a  man  know  not 
how  to  rule  his  own  house,  how  shall  he  take  care  of  the  church 
of  God  ?"  1  Tim.  iii.  4,  5.  These  reciprocal  duties  therefore  of 
parents  and  children  being  of  so  great  importance  in  the  whole 
life  of  men,  it  is  with  propriety  that  our  apostle  takes  care  to 
regulate  them  in  the  text  which  we  have  read,  immediately 
after  having  in  the  preceding  verse  stated  those  of  husband 
and  wife.  He  speaks  first  to  children,  according  to  the  general 
order  of  beginning  with  the  inferiors,  which  he  observes  in  all 
this  part  of  his  institution,  for  reasons  which  we  pointed  out 
in  our  last  discourse.  "Children,  obey  your  parents  in  all 
things  :  for  this  is  well  pleasing  to  the  Lord."  Then  he  pre- 
scribes to  fathers  also  what  pertains  to  them,  in  these  words, 
"Fathers,  provoke  not  your  children  to  anger,  lest  they  be  dis- 
couraged." These  are  the  two  heads  of  which  we  will  treat  in 
the  present  sermon,  if  God  so  please:  first,  the  duty  of  children; 
and  secondly,  that  of  fathers. 

I.  As  to  the  first  of  these,  we  are  to  consider  the  apostle's 
command,  contained  in  those  words,  "  Children,  obey  your  pa- 
rents in  all  things  :"  and  then  the  reason  of  this  command. 


604  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLIV. 

which  the  apostle  annexes,  "  For  this  is  well  pleasing  to  the 
Lord."  He  directs  the  command  to  children,  and  uses  here, 
in  the  original,  a  term  which  signifies  any  person  begotten  of 
another,  his  fruit,  his  production  ;  a  term  that  consequently 
comprehends  all  children  of  both  sexes,  that  is,  both  sons  and 
daughters  ;  and  of  whatever  degree,  that  is  grandsons  with  re- 
gard to  their  grandfathers,  as  well  as  sons  with  regard  to  their 
fathers  ;  for  the  word  "  children,"  according  to  the  sense  and 
authority  both  of  Scripture  and  of  the  learned  in  the  laws, 
includes  both.  Let  all  those  therefore  to  whom  this  title  be- 
longs, remember  that  to  them  is  this  injunction  of  the  apos- 
tle's addressed.  Let  not  daughters  urge  the  weakness  of  their 
sex,  nor  sons  the  strength  and  excellency  of  theirs,  as  a  rea- 
son why  the  obedience  they  owe  should  be  dispensed  with, 
since,  notwithstanding  the  difference  of  their  sexes,  they  are 
all  equally  children.  Nay,  the  weakness  of  maids  is  so  far 
from  diminishing,  that  it  strengthens  their  obligation,  inasmuch 
as  it  renders  the  guidance  of  those  who  brought  them  into  the 
world  so  much  the  more  necessary  for  them,  as  they  are  of 
themselves  more  infirm  ;  and  the  fitter  the  strength  of  young 
men  makes  them  to  serve  their  fathers  and  their  mothers,  so 
much  the  more  do  they  owe  them  obedience.  Tell  me  not  that 
time  or  fortune,  as  they  call  it,  has  freed  you  from  this  subjec- 
tion ;  to  whatever  years  you  have  attained,  and  whatever  de- 
gree or  honour  you  possess,  you  remain  unalterably  your  fa- 
ther's and  your  mother's  children  ;  so  that  since  it  is  unto  this 
nam.e  the  apostle  affixes  the  obligation  you  have  to  obey  them, 
it  is  evident  that  there  is  neither  age  nor  office  that  can  or 
should  give  you  a  dispensation  from  it.  The  Scripture  sets 
before  us  an  eminent  example  of  it  in  Joseph,  who,  though  of 
ripe  years,  and  the  father  of  a  family,  and  a  great  lord  in 
Egypt,  where  he  was  the  second  person  in  the  state  ;  yet  all 
this  made  him  not  forget  that  he  was  Jacob's  son  ;  and  when  he 
knew  that  he  was  come  into  the  country,  he  went  immediately 
to  meet  him.  Gen.  xlvi.  29  ;  his  dignity  withheld  him  not  from 
rendering  this  honour  to  his  father.  He  bowed  down  his  pur- 
ple before  him,  and  notwithstanding  the  extreme  inequality 
of  their  conditions  in  the  world,  he  respected  him  always  as 
his  father. 

But  let  us  see  what  that  duty  is  which  the  apostle  here  com- 
mands children  to  perform.  "Obey  your  parents  in  all 
things."  The  law  of  God  uses  the  term  honour,  "  Honour  thy 
father  and  thy  mother."  But  it  amounts  to  the  same  thing. 
For  sure  it  is,  that  under  this  honour  which  the  legislator  en- 
joins just  obedience  also  is  comprised  ;  and  in  the  same  man- 
ner, under  the  obedience  which  Paul  commands  is  that  respect 
which  is  one  of  the  principal  sources  of  it,  understood  and 
presupposed.     Only  it  may  be  noticed,  that  perhaps  he  chose 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   C0L0S9IANS.  605 

the  word  obey,  the  more  effectually  to  show  us  what  that  hon- 
our is  which  we  owe  our  fathers  and  our  mothers  ;  that  it  is 
not  a  vain  respect,  which  consists  merely  in  countenances  and 
in  ceremonies;  but  a  true  and  real  reverence,  accompanied 
with  obedience,  so  as  to  execute  readily  and  cheerfully  what 
they  order  us  to  do,  learn  what  they  teach  us,  correct  what 
they  dislike,  and  forbear  to  do  what  they  forbid  us.  And  by 
this  the  apostle  condemns  the  hypocrisy  of  those  who  give 
their  parents  respect  and  civilities  enough,  as  to  words  and 
gestures  ;  but  take  no  pains  to  do  any  thing  they  desire  of 
them.  Like  that  mocker  in  the  parable,  who  having  promised 
his  father  to  go  and  labour  in  his  vineyard,  yet  went  not, 
Matt.  xxi.  30. 

But  the  apostle,  to  anticipate  the  vain  pretexts  with  which 
impiety  inspires  ill  natures,  orders  children  not  simply  to  obey 
their  parents,  but  to  obey  them  in  all  things  ;  extending  their 
authority  to  an  infinity  ;  nor  shutting  up  within  any  bounds 
that  power  which  God  and  nature  have  given  them  to  com- 
mand the  persons  they  have  brought  into  the  world.  Why 
then,  you  will  say,  is  it  true  indeed  that  fathers  and  mothers 
have  so  vast  and  immense  an  authority  ;  and  that  their  chil- 
dren, whom  God  has  created  reasonable,  are  obliged  notwith- 
standing this  advantage  to  obey  all  their  commands,  however 
harsh  and  contrary  to  the  light  of  their  judgment?  Dear 
brethren,  if  you  consider  the  thing  in  itself,  according  to  its 
own  nature,  and  the  terms  of  its  first  institution,  it  is  very 
true  that  the  authority  of  parents  is  so  great,  that  children  are 
indeed  obliged  to  obey  them  generally,  and  without  exception, 
in  all  things  they  command  them.  Nor  does  this  disagree 
with  that  advantage  of  reason  with  which  God  has  honoured 
children.  For  if  things  had  continued  in  their  due  order,  fa- 
thers would  command  their  children  nothing  that  were  con- 
trary to  right  reason.  Now  I  confess  that  sin  has  disturbed 
this  order,  and  it  oft  happens  that  those  who  are  fathers  com- 
mand their  children  unjust  things  ;  yet  neither  can  it  be  de- 
nied, that  in  this  case  they  decline  from  the  quality  of  fathers, 
and  become  tyrants.  For  the  name  of  father  involving  in  it 
an  unfeigned  love  of  the  child,  a  love  desirous  of  his  good,  and 
most  remote  from  all  that  is  contrary  to  his  welfare  ;  it  is  evi- 
dently a  renouncing  of  this  quality,  when  a  father  would  oblige 
a  son  to  things  that  are  evil,  and  incompatible  with  the  duties 
of  a  reasonable  creature.  It  is  therefore  this  abuse  and  this 
corruption  of  our  nature,  brought  in  by  sin,  that  has  bounded 
the  paternal  power,  which  of  itself  continuing  in  its  right 
use,  would  be  absolute  ;  it  is  this  that  has  obliged  both  divine 
and  human  laws  to  annex  to  it  certain  just  and  reasonable  ex- 
ceptions ;  which  the  apostle  in  another  place,  where  he  treats 
of  the  same  subject,  has  comprised  all  in  one  word  :  "  Children, 


606  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLIV. 

obey  your  parents  in  the  Lord,"  Eph.  vi.  1  ;  that  is,  as  far  as 
you  may  without  disobeying  the  sovereign  Lord,  both  theirs 
and  yours  ;  as  far  as  their  commands  thwart  not  God's  orders. 
And  the  words  which  he  adds  in  the  text  itself  necessarily 
lead  us  to  this  :  "Obey  them  in  all  things:  for  this  is  well 
pleasing  to  the  Lord  ;"  an  addition  that  evidently  restrains 
the  obedience  of  children  to  that  which  is  pleasing  to  God  ; 
so  that  if  the  father  happen  to  command  that  which  displeases 
God,  the  child  is  obliged  by  all  kinds  of  rights  to  regard  more 
the  will  of  God  than  the  will  of  man  ;  this  maxim  remain- 
ing firm  and  immovable,  that  whatever  we  owe  to  an  inferior 
and  subordinate  power,  the  rights  of  the  superior  and  sover- 
eign must  still  remain  entire.  For  since  it  is  God  who  gave 
the  father  himself  all  the  authority  he  has,  it  is  clear  that  he 
has  none  against  God  ;  but  that,  as  the  child  ought  to  obey 
him,  so  he  ought  to  obey  God.  When  he  does  it  not,  but  by 
an  insufferable  felony  casts  off  the  yoke  of  this  heavenly 
Father,  to  whom  both  he  and  we  owe  infinitely  more  obedi- 
ence than  to  all  the  men  on  earth,  it  is  just  to  deny  him  that 
obedience  which  he  gives  not  to  God;  it  is  just  that,  of  two 
contrary  commands,  the  one  of  God,  the  other  of  a  man,  we 
prefer  the  divine  before  that  which  is  human.  As  if  a  father 
should  command  his  son  to  be  an  idolater,  or  to  kill  or  to 
hate  his  neighbour;  or  should  forbid  him  to  embrace  the 
service  of  God,  or  to  make  profession  of  the  gospel  of  his 
Christ  ;  in  these  cases,  and  others  similar,  disobedience  would 
be  just,  and  obsequiousness  criminal.  And  to  this  properly 
that  saying  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  refers,  Luke  xiv.  26, 
"  If  any  man  come  to  me,  and  hate  not  his  father,  and  mother, 
and  wife,  and  children,  and  brethren,  and  sisters,  yea,  and  his 
own  life  also,"  (that  is  as  another  evangelist  expounds  it.  Matt. 
X.  37,  if  he  love  these  more  than  me,)  he  is  not  worthy  of  me  ; 
"he  cannot  be  my  disciple." 

Saving  this  just  and  reasonable  exception,  children  owe 
their  fathers  that  obedience  in  all  things  which  the  apostle 
here  enjoins.  And  first  in  those  which  are  of  themselves  good 
and  holy,  and  conformable  to  the  divine  will  ;  besides  that  the 
law  of  God  obliges  us  all  to  them,  the  command  of  a  father 
moreover  obliges  anew  his  children  ;  and  if  they  fail  in  it, 
besides  the  crime  they  thereby  commit  against  God,  they  com- 
mit another  against  paternal  authority,  which  shall  be  charged 
on  them,  and  punished  apart,  as  a  different  sin,  and  worthy  of 
its  particular  penalty.  Secondly,  the  child  again  owes  obedience 
in  medial  and  indifferent  things;  that  is,  things  which  are 
morally  neither  good  nor  evil,  the  extent  of  which  is  very 
great.  Though  such  things  are  free  of  their  own  nature,  yet 
they  are  so  no  more  to  a  child  after  the  father's  order.  His 
command  draws  them  forth  from  that  indifference  in  which 


.CHAP.   III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE    COLOSSIANS.  607 

they  lay,  and  renders  them  necessary  with  reference  to  him. 
And  here  must  no  self-flattery  take  place.  I  wish  (and  it  is 
their  duty,  as  we  shall  hear  presently)  that  fathers  would  com- 
mand nothing  but  what  is  humane  and  equitable  :  yet  if  they 
forget  themselves,  and  pass  these  bounds,  however  harsh  and 
troublesome  may  be  their  commands,  obeyed  they  must  be, 
if  they  contain  in  them  nothing  impious,  or  contrary  to  tho 
divine  law  ;  according  to  the  express  order  that  Peter  gives 
servants  to  be  subject  to  their  masters,  "not  only  to  the  good 
and  gentle,  but  also  to  the  froward."  The  reason  for  children 
with  reference  to  their  fathers  is  the  same  in  this  respect  as 
that  for  servants  with  reference  to  their  masters.  You  see, 
then,  beloved  brethren,  the  just  extent  of  all  those  things  in 
which  the  apostle  would  have  children  obey  their  parents. 

Whence  it  appears  how  unrighteous,  and  dangerous,  and 
contrary  to  the  word  of  God  is  the  doctrine  of  those  of  Rome, 
who  enfranchise  all  christian  children  from  this  paternal  au- 
thority and  power,  daughters  at  twelve,  and  sons  at  fourteen  ; 
giving  them  liberty  at  an  age  so  young  to  go  from  their  pa- 
rents' house,  whether  they  are  willing  or  not,  and  retire  from 
under  their  obedience  into  the  cloisters  of  their  monasteries  ; 
where  they  have  erected  an  assured  sanctuary  and  an  inviola- 
ble safeguard  for  the  rebellion  of  children  against  their  fathers 
and  mothers.  There,  under  the  umbrage  of  a  false  devotion, 
they  entertain  children  in  idleness,  and  foment  their  impiety, 
tyrannically  giving  them  a  dispensation  from  that  obedience, 
and  those  just  succours,  which  by  all  the  laws  of  God  and  men 
they  owe  to  the  sacred  persons  of  those  who  gave  them  being 
in  the  world.  The  father  demands  of  them  the  assistances  and 
consolations  which  he  promised  himself  from  them.  He  shows 
them  his  gray  hairs  and  his  limbs  trembling  through  age  ;  he 
conjures  them  by  the  life  he  gave  them,  and  by  the  cares  he 
took  to  train  them  up.  He  summons  them  to  render  him 
the  just  rewards  of  his  pains,  and  not  to  despise  the  tears  and 
entreaties  of  a  person  to  whom  they  are  indebted  for  their 
life.  The  mother  all  in  mourning  presents  them  the  paps  that 
nursed  them,  and  sets  before  their  eyes  the  tenderness  of  her 
affection,  and  all  the  ties  of  nature.  And  they  both  together 
point  them  to  the  bar  of  God,  that  they  may  see  themselves 
condemned  at  his  dreadful  tribunal,  to  pay  the  honour  which 
they  owe  them.  What  say  our  adversaries  upon  this  ?  They 
say  that  children  ought  to  look  upon  their  fathers  and  their 
mothers  without  emotion  ;  that  neither  their  words  nor  their 
weeping  should  make  any  impression  upon  them  ;  that  if 
they  cannot  enter  into  the  monastery  otherwise  than  by  tread- 
ing their  bodies  under  foot,  they  ought  to  have  no  compunc- 
tion at  all  at  so  unnatural  an  action  ;  that  it  is  piety  to  be 
cruel  and  insensible  on  such  an  occasion.     They  say  that  the 


608  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLIV. 

monastic  vow  has  broken  all  the  bonds  of  filial  subjection  ; 
and  that  the  child  who  has  made  it  no  longer  owes  anything 
to  father  or  mother  ;  that  he  is  dead  to  them,  and  they  have 
no  more  power  over  him  than  if  he  were  out  of  the  world. 

O  unrighteous,  and  cruel,  and  unnatural  doctrine!  How 
could  these  men  more  plainly  contradict  the  holy  apostle  ? 
The  apostle  says,  "  Children,  obey  your  parents  in  all  things: 
for  this  is  well  pleasing  to  the  Lord."  And  these  masters 
say,  Children,  obey  them  not  in  all  things  :  if  they  forbid  you 
to  be  monks,  scorn  their  order.  If  they  command  you  to 
abide  with  them,  begone  against  their  will  ;  for  you  would  do 
a  thing  displeasing  to  the  Lord  if  you  did  not  disobey  them. 
Neither  let  them  tell  us  here  that  they  are  now  grown  up.  If 
they  cease  to  be  children  by  attaining  to  twelve  or  fourteen 
years  of  age,  I  will  acknowledge  that  they  are  no  longer  sub- 
ject to  their  parents.  But  if  they  must  confess  that  no  age 
divests  them  of  this  quality,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that 
neither  does  any  give  them  a  dispensation  from  obedience,  since 
the  apostle  commands  it  to  all  such  as  are  children.  They  ex- 
cuse themselves  upon  the  account  of  devotion.  This  would 
pass,  if  the  father  called  his  child  to  impiety,  or  commanded 
him  to  deny  Jesus  Christ,  or  to  serve  idols.  But  this  father 
and  this  mother,  who  would  keep  their  child  at  home,  are 
christians  as  well  as  monks  are  ;  and  their  house  makes  a  part 
of  that  of  Jesus  Christ  as  well  as  the  cloister  in  which  he  is 
kept.  The  obedience  they  demand  of  him  is  a  duty  com- 
manded by  the  law  of  God,  and  very  far  from  being  contrary 
to  it.  I  urge  not  at  present  that  the  vows  by  which  he  is  pre- 
tended to  be  bound  are  contrary  to  the  word  of  God,  as  par- 
ticularly that  of  mendicity  ;  are  rash,  as  that  of  celibacy  ;  are 
injurious  to  the  Lord,  as  that  of  the  blind  and  absolute  obedi- 
ence which  they  promise  to  a  mortal  man.  Let  them  go  for 
permitted.  Certainly,  at  least,  they  are  not  necessary  ;  and  they 
themselves,  great  admirers  as  they  are  of  them,  confess  that 
one  may  serve  God  and  obtain  his  kingdom  without  the  pre- 
cincts of  a  monastery  ;  and  that  neither  beggary,  nor  single 
life,  nor  the  frock,  are  things  absolutely  necessary  to  salva- 
tion. There  is  neither  a  place  where  one  may  not  serve  Jesus 
Christ  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  nor  a  habit  but  what  is  compa- 
tible with  piety.  Now  the  child  ought  to  obey  his  father  in 
all  that  God  has  not  prohibited.  Since  then  he  has  not  pro- 
hibited the  living  abroad  out  of  the  houses  and  habit  of  Bene- 
dict, of  Francis,  of  Loyola,  and  such  other  institutors  of  mo- 
nastic life  ;  every  child  is  necessarily  bound  not  to  enter  into 
them  when  his  father  forbids  it.  But,  you  will  say,  what  if 
he  has  made  a  vow  to  enter?  If  he  has,  he  has  acted  against 
the  duties  of  piety  and  charity  ;  and  if  it  is  an  error  to  make 
such  vows,  it  is  blindness  and  obduracy  to  keep  them.      The 


CHAP.  III.]  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  609 

first  and  most  inviolable  of  our  vows  is  that  which  binds  us 
to  the  obedience  of  God,  and  after  him  to  the  obedience  of  our 
parents.  If  we  have  chanced,  through  imprudence  or  other- 
wise, to  tie  up  ourselves  elsewhere,  we  must  speedily  break 
the  bond,  and  make  no  scruple  nor  conscience  to  break  it,  but 
to  observe  it.  Besides  the  evident  reason  we  have  for  it,  and 
the  confession  of  all  wise  men,  who  hold  that  vows  made 
against  moral  duty  are  not  binding,  the  word  of  God  expressly 
makes  this  decision  :  "  If  a  woman  vow  a  vow  unto  the  Lord, 
and  bind  herself  by  a  bond,  being  in  her  father's  house  in  her 
youth  ;  if  her  father  disallow  her  in  the  day  that  he  heareth  ; 
not  any  of  her  vows,  or  of  her  bonds  wherewith  she  hath 
bound  her  soul,  shall  stand,"  Numb.  xxx.  3,  5.  Here  you  see 
that  vows,  though  in  other  respects  good  and  lawful,  are  not 
binding,  if  made  by  children  of  the  family,  without  their 
father's  consent.  And  this  is  yet  more  forcibly  concluded 
from  the  lawgiver's  adding,  that  the  vows  of  a  married  wife, 
disallowed  by  her  husband,  are  null  and  void.  Numb.  xxx. 
6 — 8  ;  it  being  evident  that  the  authority  of  a  father  over  his 
child  is  much  greater  and  more  strict  than  that  of  a  husband 
over  his  wife. 

And  hither  must  that  censure  be  referred  which  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  passed  upon  the  Pharisees,  who,  under  colour  of 
the  religion  of  vows,  also  annulled  the  honouring  of  parents 
by  their  children,  so  expressly  commanded  in  the  law.  "  God," 
he  says,  "  commanded,  saying.  Honour  thy  father  and  mother: 
and,  He  that  curseth  father  or  mother,  let  him  die  the  death. 
But  ye  say.  Whosoever  shall  say  to  his  father  or  his  mother, 
It  is  a  gift,  by  whatsoever  thou  mightest  be  profited  by 
me;  and  honour  not  his  father  or  his  mother,  he  shall 
be  free.  Thus  have  ye  made  the  commandment  of  God 
of  none  effect  by  your  tradition,"  Matt.  xv.  4 — 6.  For  the 
right  understanding  of  our  Saviour's  discourse,  and  of  that 
tradition  of  the  Pharisees  which  he  opposes,  we  are  to  know 
that  the  Jewish  rabbis,  as  we  learn  by  their  own  books,  at- 
tached very  great  importance  to  vows,  holding  the  religion  of 
them  absolutely  inviolable.  Moreover,  they  enlisted  into  the 
rank  of  vows,  not  those  only  which  were  legitimate,  and  con- 
ceived in  a  solemn  manner,  with  terms  of  a  full  extent,  as 
when  one  said,  I  make  a  vow  unto  God  not  to  taste  wine,  or 
strong  drink,  during  the  space  of  forty  days,  and  the  like  ; 
but  also  all  other  words,  in  whatever  form  conceived  and  ut- 
tered, whether  upon  deliberation,  or  in  anger,  or  otherwise,  by 
which  one  devoted  anything  whatever,  either  expressly  or 
covertly  ;  as,  for  instance,  if  a  man  in  a  fit  of  anger,  or  in  the 
trouble' of  a  quarrel  with  his  neighbour,  was  led  to  say  through 
indignation.  Let  me  die  if  ever  I  do  thee  any  service  ;  the 
rabbis  took  this  for  a  true  vow,  and  accounted  such  a  man 
77 


6îi^  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XLIV. 

bound  in  conscience  never  to  do  that  person  any  service 
against  whom  he  had  uttered  such  words.  Now  because 
the  corhan^  that  is,  the  sacred  gifts  given  to  the  temple,  was 
a  thing  which  they  esteemed  most  inviolable,  and  the  ofifer- 
ings  there  kept  might  not  be  employed  to  any  profane  use, 
nor  any  private  person  put  his  hand  into  the  treasury  for  that 
purpose  upon  pain  of  death  ;  it  became  customary  to  signify 
that  the  use  of  a  thing  was  totally  interdicted  to  any  one,  to 
say  that  it  was  to  him  corbaii,  that  is,  he  was  no  more  per- 
mitted to  make  use  of  it  than  of  the  sacred  gifts,  which  in  their 
language  were  called  by  that  name.  When,  therefore,  it  hap- 
pened that  a  son,  through  dislike  or  anger  at  his  father,  once 
was  induced  to  say.  All  that  of  which  you  might  have  profit 
by  me  is  a  gift,  or  corhan  ;  that  is,  you  shall  never  be  the 
better  for  me,  or  you  shall  never  draw  service  or  profit  from 
me,  no  more  than  from  the  corhan  ;  the  Pharisees,  and  other 
rabbis,  held  that  such  a  man  was  obliged  by  this  vow  to  do 
his  father  no  service  any  more  ;  and  they  judged  him  innocent 
and  blameless,  though  he  never  did  him  any,  however  pressing 
the  father's  necessity  might  be,  alleging  that  the  religion  of  a 
vow  was  above  the  natural  obligation  of  children  towards 
their  fathers  and  their  mothers  ;  which  was  indeed  to  annul 
the  law  of  God  by  their  tradition,  as  our  Saviour  charged 
them.  Judge,  if  those  of  Rome  do  not  the  same  thing,  dis- 
pensing with  the  obedience  of  children  due  to  parents,  upon 
pretence  of  monastic  vows,  in  the  same  manner  ;  and  if,  con- 
sequently, we  have  not  all  the  reasons  in  the  world,  to  ap- 
ply to  them  what  our  Lord  said  of  the  Pharisees,  even  that 
they  make  the  commandment  of  God  of  none  effect  by  their 
tradition. 

Let  us  then  lay  aside,  since  the  Lord  so  enjoins  it,  all  human 
inventions;  and  simply  and  faithfully  keep  to  the  will  of  our 
sovereign  Master,  as  he  has  declared  it  to  us  in  his  word. 
You  see  that  in  the  text  it  is  the  only  reason  the  apostle  brings 
to  enforce  this  duty  upon  children.  He  might  have  urged  the 
justice  of  the  thing  itself;  it  being  evident  that  we  owe  respect 
and  honour  to  those  who  gave  us  both  life  and  education,  and 
if  not  all,  at  least  the  greatest  part  of  whatever  help  and 
honour  we  possess  and  understand.  He  might  have  argued 
from  nature,  which  has  engraven  this  law  in  the  heart  of 
animals  themselves  ;  whom  we  see,  especially  while  they  are 
young,  to  be  subject  to  those  that  brought  them  forth.  He 
might  have  produced  the  custom  of  all  nations,  even  the  least 
civilized  not  excepted,  who  by  their  practice,  and  some  of 
them  by  their  laws,  have  authorized  the  veneration  of  parents, 
as  of  sacred  persons  ;  and  have  noticed  (as  it  is  indeed  very 
remarkable)  that  the  pagans,  both  Greeks  and  Romans,  so 
highly  esteemed  this  duty,  as  to  give  it  the  same  name  they 


CHAP.  UL]  the   epistle   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  611 

gave  to  the  fearing  and  worshipping  of  God,  calling  not  only- 
devout  and  religious  persons  pious,  but  those  also  who  were 
industrious  to  honour  and  to  serve  their  fathers  and  mothers  ; 
consequently,  they  held  that  excesses  committed  against  parents 
were  to  be  punished  in  the  same  manner  as  violations  of  the 
honour  of  the  Deit3^*  The  apostle  might  have  produced  all 
these  things,  and  many  others.  But  he  does  it  not.  He  alleges 
nothing  but  the  sole  will  of  God,  as  the  best,  the  strongest, 
and  the  most  considerable  of  all  reasons.  Children,  obey  your 
fathers  and  your  mothers  in  all  things.  Why  ?  Because  this, 
says  he,  "  is  well  pleasing  to  the  Lord."  If  you  be  a  christian, 
this  is  sufficient  to  persuade  you  to  render  to  your  parents 
that  obedience  which  the  apostle  commands.  For  how  can 
you  neglect  what  is  pleasing  to  that  Lord  upon  whom  de- 
pends all  your  salvation,  who  has  been  so  good  to  you  as  to 
redeem  you  from  eternal  perdition  by  the  death  of  his  only 
Son,  and  to  give  you,  in  him,  his  Spirit  and  his  peace,  and 
the  assured  hope  of  everlasting  life  ? 

That  this  dutifulness  of  children  towards  their  parents  is 
well  pleasing  unto  him,  besides  that  the  apostle,  whose  authority 
is  irrefragable,  expressly  asserts  it  here,  the  Lord  himself 
evidences  in  various  ways:  first,  by  his  commandment,  en- 
graven by  his  own  hand  at  the  head  of  the  second  table  of  the 
law,  "  Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother."  Secondly,  by  the 
promise  he  annexes  to  it,  "  to  prolong  your  days  upon  the 
earth,"  if  you  are  diligent  to  discharge  this  duty.  In  the 
third  place,  by  the  punishments  he  threatens  to  children  who 
disobey  their  father  and  mother,  ordaining  in  the  political 
laws  of  Israel,  that  they  should  be  publicly  stoned  by  all  the 
people  of  the  city  where  they  dwelt,  Deut.  xxi.  18  ;  and  else- 
where, that  they  should  irremissibly  put  to  death  him  who 
cursed  his  father  or  his  mother,  Exod,  xxi.  17  ;  Lev.  xx.  9.  In 
another  place  he  pronounces  by  the  mouth  of  wise  Solomon, 
that  the  lamp  of  such  a  man  "  shall  be  put  out  in  obscure 
darkness  ;"  and  that  the  ravens  of  the  valley  shall  pluck  out, 
and  the  young  eagles  eat,  the  eye  of  him  that  mocketh  his 
father,  and  despiseth  the  instruction  of  his  mother,  Prov.  xx. 
20;  XXX.  17.  Again,  the  Lord's  calling  himself  our  Father, 
and  honouring  us  with  the  name  of  his  children,  that  he  might 
induce  us  to  serve  him,  sufficiently  shows  of  what  kind,  and 
how  holy  and  inviolable,  is  that  obedience  which  we  owe  to 
parents;  "If  I  be  a  father,"  says  he,  "where  is  my  honour?" 
Mai.  i.  6.  Even  pagans  have  acknowledged  that  the  perfor- 
mance of  this  daty  is  well  pleasing  to  the  Deity  ;  witness  some 
of  their  poets  confidently  promising  a  long  and  happy  life  to 
such  as  shall  honour  their  fathers  and  their  mothers,  and  pay 
those  just  attentions  to  their  old  age  which  are  due  to  it. 

*  Val.  Max. 


-î^iZ  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLIV. 

But  it  is  time  to  come  to  the  other  head  of  the  text,  in 
which  the  apostle,  after  having  reduced  children  to  their  duty, 
turns  himself  to  fathers,  and  advises  them  to  use  the  power 
he  has  given  them  moderately,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  that 
their  conduct  may  tend  to  their  children's  benefit,  and  their 
own  happiness  :  "  Fathers,"  says  he,  "  provoke  not  your  child- 
ren, lest  they  be  discouraged."  This  provocation  which  he 
forbids  is  an  ill  effect  which  the  abuse  of  paternal  authority 
produces  in  the  hearts  of  children,  when  fathers  act  with  too 
much  rigour,  and  treat  them  too  roughly;  which  happens  in  a 
great  many  ways.  First,  when  they  deny  them  a  just  allow- 
ance, and  what  is  necessary  to  maintain  them  suitably  to  their 
birth.  The  apostle  has  judged  this  so  enormous  a  sin,  that 
he  hesitates  not  to  say  that  he  who  commits  it  "  hath  denied 
the  faith,  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel,"  1  Tim.  v.  8.  Secondly, 
Fathers  provoke  their  children  when  they  give  them  unright- 
eous and  inhuman  commands,  as  when  Saul  would  oblige 
Jonathan  his  son  to  hate  and  persecute  David,  a  very  virtuous 
and  innocent  person  ;  upon  which  this  generous  son,  most 
unworthy  of  so  bad  a  father,  was  vexed  and  inflamed  with 
anger,  1  Sam.  xx.  34.  If  the  daughter  of  Herod ias  had  had 
any  spark  of  this  good  nature,  she  would  have  been  in  the 
same  manner  offended  at  that  cruel  and  barbarous  command 
her  mother  gave  her  to  ask  of  king  Herod  the  head  of  John 
the  Baptist  in  a  charger,  Matt.  xiv.  8.  It  is  also  provoking 
a  child  when,  without  any  necessity,  he  compels  him  to  per- 
form sordid  and  servile  actions,  and  such  as  are  beneath  his 
birth.  In  this  rank  too  I  put  those  who,  without  cause,  assail 
their  children's  ears  with  contumelious  words,  whether  they 
are  inspired  by  present  passion,  or  an  ill-favoured  custom  has 
habituated  their  tongues  to  such  venomous  conduct.  For  we 
see  some  who  cannot  speak  to  their  children,  nor  reprove  them, 
nor  so  much  as  call  them  to  them,  in  any  other  dialect,  but  dis- 
charge at  every  turn  a  hail-shower  of  maledictions  and  oppro- 
brious terms  upon  them;  a  kind  of  behaviour  most  abject 
and  odious,  extremely  unworthy  of  any  honest  and  ingenuous 
man,  especially  of  a  christian,  whose  mouth  ought  to  be  a 
source  of  blessing,  and  have  nothing  issue  from  it  but  what  is 
grave,  and  holy,  and  proper  to  edify.  But  neither  is  there  any 
person  with  whom  a  wise  man  should  less  deal  in  this  manner 
than  his  child,  whom  such  indiscretion  dejects,  and  infinitely 
dismays,  if  he  has  ever  so  little  spirit  and  sensibility.  It  was 
with  this  black  and  piquant  salt  that  Saul  seasoned  the  re- 
monstrances which  he  made  to  Jonathan:  "Thou  son,"  says 
he,  "  of  the  perverse  rebellious  woman,  do  not  I  know  that 
thou  hast  chosen  the  son  of  Jesse  to  thine  own  confusion, 
and  to  the  confusion  of  thy  mother's  nakedness  ?"  1  Sam.  xx. 
80.     Are  these  the  words  of  a  father,  and  not  rather  of  an 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  613 

enemy,  yea,  of  a  barbarous  enemy,  who  has  neither  honour 
nor  civility  ?  as  indeed  it  was  anger  that  spake,  and  not  reason  ; 
and  he  suffered  himself  to  be  so  transported  by  the  fury  of 
his  passion,  that  after  such  a  tempest  of  rude  words,  he  failed 
not  to  throw  his  lightning,  casting  a  javelin  at  him  to  smite 
him.  And  this  is  the  height  of  those  excesses  which  the 
apostle  intends  here  by  that  provocation  which  he  forbids, 
when  fathers  chastise  their  children  either  without  cause  or 
without  measure,  and  beyond  what  they  deserve.  For  if 
justice  oblige  us  to  keep  our  minds  free  and  composed  in 
punishing  the  greatest  strangers  and  the  most  heinous  malefac- 
tors, that  we  may  exactly  proportion  the  penalty  to  their 
faults,  as  the  Lord  expressly  commanded  the  judges  of  his 
people,  Deut.  xxv.  2,  3  ;  how  much  more  should  a  father,  whose 
name  breathes  nothing  but  benignity  and  sweetness,  observe 
the  same  moderation  when  his  business  is  to  chasten  his 
child  ?  God  gives  us  examples  of  it  in  his  treatment  of  his 
children,  chastising  them  indeed,  but,  as  he  himself  says, 
"  with  the  rod  of  men,  and  with  the  stripes  of  the  children  of 
men,"  2  Sam.  vii.  14  ;  that  is  moderately,  and  with  a  human 
rod,  a  rod  tempered  with  gentleness  and  benignity. 

The  apostle,  to  dissuade  fathers  from  this  fault,  shows  them 
the  evil  which  it  produces  :  "Provoke  not  your  children,"  says 
he,  "  lest  they  be  discouraged."  For  there  is  nothing  that 
more  dejects  the  heart  of  a  child,  especially  if  ingenuous,  than 
this  rigour  and  roughness  of  a  father.  First,  it  saddens  him, 
when  in  the  countenance  and  actions  of  that  person,  to  whom 
of  all  men  in  the  world  he  should  in  reason  be  dearest,  he 
sees  nothing  but  anger  and  aversion.  This  grief  often  casts 
him  into  languishings  and  fatal  maladies,  which  make  fathers 
regret  and  execrate,  though  vainly  and  too  late,  their  unhappy 
and  imprudent  severity.  Then,  again,  this  conduct  intimidates 
children,  and  deprives  them  of  all  courage  for  any  good  and 
honest  undertaking,  and  smothers  in  them  all  the  fire  and  vi- 
vacity they  possessed.  For,  finding  themselves  so  ill  treated 
by  their  own  fathers,  what  can  they  hope  for  from  other  hands  ? 
Some,  which  is  yet  worse,  are  by  this  means  hardened,  and, 
together  with  sensibility  and  nature,  lose  all  shame  and  mo- 
desty, and  fall  at  last,  by  degrees,  into  desperate  impiety,  no 
longer  paying  any  regard  to  God  or  men,  which  is  the  utmost 
and  most  horrid  degree  of  vice.  Consider,  if  the  fear  of  so 
great  a  mischief  does  not  oblige  all  fathers  who  have  any  re- 
mains, I  will  not  say  of  piety,  but  even  of  judgment  and 
good  sense,  to  take  heed  that  they  provoke  not  their  chil- 
dren. 

Brethren,  I  beseech  you,  improve  now  this  instruction  of 
the  apostle's.  Children,  to  whom  first  he  addresses  his  dis- 
course, render  to  your  fathers  and  mothers  in  all  things  the 


614  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLIT. 

obedience  he  commands  you,  Eemember  the  life  they  gave 
you,  the  pains  they  have  taken  to  preserve  it  to  you,  the  cares 
they  have  had  to  adorn  and  enrich  it  both  with  necessary 
knowledge,  and  with  conveniences  requisite  to  render  it  hap- 
py ;  the  fears  and  tears  they  have  been  and,  at  every  turn,  are 
still  in  for  you  ;  their  patience  in  bearing  with  the  weaknesses 
of  your  infancy,  and  the  extravagancies  of  your  youth  ;  the 
tenderness  and  constancy  of  the  love  they  bear  you,  a  love  so 
great,  so  ardent,  that  you  are  the  principal  object  of  their  de- 
sires ;  that  they  prefer  your  happiness  to  their  own,  and  toil 
only  for  you,  and  have  you  night  and  day  in  their  hearts;  the 
vows  with  which  they  follow  you  everywhere,  craving  nothing 
of  God  more  instantly  than  your  advancement  and  happiness; 
and  looking  on  you  as  the  principal  subject  of  their  hopes  and 
their  joy.  Have  not  so  unnatural  a  soul  as  not  to  feel  all  these 
strict  obligations  which  you  have  to  love,  and  serve,  and  hon- 
our them.  Pay  their  love  with  your  respects,  and  their  pains 
with  your  obedience  ;  and  be  not  so  wretched  as  to  render  them 
trouble  and  affliction  for  so  many  benefits  as  you  have  re- 
ceived of  them,  nor  so  ungrateful  as  to  frustrate  the  just  hopes 
they  have  conceived  of  you.  Certainly  you  would  owe  them 
this  obedience  if  no  other  consideration  obliged  you  than 
what  is  founded  in  themselves.  But  there  is  more  than  this. 
The  apostle  assures  you  that,  in  performing  your  duty  to  men, 
you  will  please  God,  the  Father  of  spirits,  and  Ruler  of  the 
world.  This,  saith  he,  is  pleasing  unto  him.  He  will  reckon 
it  to  you  as  a  part  of  the  piety  you  owe  him,  and  charge  him- 
self with  the  services  you  shall  render  to  those  whom  he  has 
given  you  as  authors  of  your  being.  It  is  the  best  and  the 
most  pleasing  devotion  you  can  offer  him.  Miserable  super- 
stition, that  goest  to  seek  in  cloisters  for  exercises  pleasing  to 
God  !  There  was  no  occasion  to  go  out  of  the  father's  house 
for  this.  Thou  hast  enough  at  home  with  which  to  please  the 
Lord.  As  for  the  particular  exercises  about  which  monks  are 
busied  in  their  cloisters,  we  know  not  whether  they  please 
God,  who  never  commanded  them.  But  for  the  services  which 
our  parents  demand  of  us  for  their  consolation,  and  the  easing 
of  their  lives,  we  cannot  doubt  that  they  are  most  pleasing  to 
him,  since  he  commands  them,  and  his  apostle  assures  us  here 
expressly  of  it.  Consider,  I  pray,  the  imprudence  of  these 
people.  They  say  they  would  please  God,  and  that  it  is  their 
whole  aim  to  obtain  his  approbation.  In  the  meantime,  to  at- 
tain to  this,  they  renounce  their  obedience  to  their  parents, 
which  is  pleasing  to  him,  and  subject  themselves  to  the  fancies 
and  the  rugged  rules  of  certain  men,  of  which  they  neither 
have,  nor  can  have,  any  assurance  that  they  please  God.  Is 
not  this  to  quit  a  certainty  for  an  uncertainty,  and  to  do  the 
wrong  way  what  one  pretends,  to  go  further  off  from  what  one 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  615 

seeks,  and  to  cast  oneself  upon  what  he  would  eschew?  But 
you,  brethren,  better  instructed  by  the  word  of  the  Lord,  seek 
to  please  him  in  doing  that  which  he  orders  you,  and  in  em- 
ploying that  time  and  labour  in  serving  and  obeying  your  pa- 
rents, which  superstition  loses  in  its  painful,  but  vain  and 
fruitless,  exercises.  This  is  the  way  to  be  pleasing  unto  God, 
and  to  secure  to  yourselves  that  crown  of  blessedness  which 
he  has  promised  to  such  children  as  faithfully  discharge  this 
duty. 

As  for  you,  believing  parents,  nature  itself,  and  the  interest 
of  your  own  happiness,  so  forcibly  impel  you  to  love  your 
children,  and  to  treat  them  well,  that  if  the  apostle  had  for- 
borne to  give  such  an  express  direction  against  provoking 
them,  I  think  there  would  not  have  been  much  need  to  say 
anything  of  it.  We  offend  much  more  on  the  other  hand  ;  I 
mean,  in  excess  of  affection  and  softness  of  indulgence  :  for- 
getting that  to  treat  them  so  laxly  is,  in  truth,  to  hate,  and  not 
to  love  them  ;  to  destroy,  and  not  to  train  them  up.  The  apos- 
tle forbids  you  to  provoke  them,  but  does  not  hinder  you  from 
correcting,  reproving,  and  chastening  them  if  they  deserve  it. 
He  directs  only  that  your  conduct  be  just  and  temperate  ;  that 
it  keep  a  mean  between  the  two  extremes,  the  roughness  of  se- 
verity, and  the  remissness  of  indulgence.  The  care  you  owe 
them  is,  to  form  them  to  true  virtue,  to  the  knowledge  and  the 
fear  of  God,  to  charity,  justice,  and  honesty  towards  men  ;  to 
give  them  examples  of  these  in  your  lives,  and  inculcate  the 
lessons  of  them  with  your  lips.  Whereas  we  ourselves  ruin 
their  manners,  and  early  instil  into  them  our  vices,  almost  be- 
fore they  know  them.  Our  greatest  care  is  to  keep  their  cou- 
rage high,  and  instruct  them  in  pride,  and  inure  them  to  van- 
ity, as  if  nature  had  not  given  them  enough  of  it.  And  to 
this  they  who  have  the  means  fail  not  to  add  the  ball,  and 
dance,  and  comedy.  And  that  they  may  the  better  learn  these 
grand  lessons,  fathers  and  mothers  give  them  examples  of  them. 
We  need  not  wonder,  if,  under  such  education,  we  see  our 
youth  so  badly  conduct  themselves;  if  they  become  insolent; 
if  they  have  little  sentiment  of  true  piety  ;  if  they  treat  those 
so  much  amiss  to  whom  they  owe  most  respect.  Brethren,  if 
you  have  children,  remember,  that  besides  the  interest  you  have 
in  their  virtue  and  their  vices,  you  shall  render  an  account  for 
them  unto  God,  who  has  given  them  to  you  to  train  them  for 
his  glory,  and  for  the  edification  of  his  church,  and  not  to 
please  the  world,  or  to  serve  vanity. 

But,  dear  brethren,  of  whatever  state  or  condition  we  are, 
let  us  further  take  out  two  lessons  which  the  apostle  here  gives 
us.  The  one  is,  to  render  all  of  us  to  God  an  exact  and  hum- 
ble obedience  in  all  things,  since  we  have  the  honour  to  be  his 
children.     It  is  this  that  the  child  owes  to  his  father.     We  are 


616  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLIV. 

not  his  if  we  obey  him  not.  We  falsely  vaunt  ourselves  in 
that  glorious  title,  if  we  neglect  the  duty  to  which  it  binds  us. 
The  other  lesson  is,  that  the  will  of  God  should  be  the  only 
rule  of  our  lives  ;  so  that  we  do  nothing  but  what  is  pleasing 
unto  him.  This  is  the  sovereign  reason  of  our  duties,  not  to 
attempt  anything  that  displeases  him,  nor  neglect  anything 
that  is  agreeable  to  him.  This  rule  is  of  vast  and  perpetual 
use  in  all  the  parts  of  life.  And  omitting  other  things  for  the 
present,  I  beseech  you  only  to  apply  it  to  the  pastimes,  the 
balls,  the  banquetings,  and  comedies  of  the  present  season. 
Each  of  you  consult  your  own  conscience  upon  this,  if  it  is 
informed  by  the  word  of  God,  and  ask  it  if  these  exercises  of 
the  world  are  verily  pleasing  to  God  ;  and  whether,  in  running 
after  them  with  the  multitude,  you  can  assure  yourself  you  do 
that  which  delights  him.  If  it  answer,  that  there  is  no  reason 
to  believe  it,  but  very  much  to  the  contrary  ;  in  the  name  of  . 
God,  my  brethren,  follow  this  resolution  of  your  own  con- 
science. Abstain  from  these  works  of  darkness  ;  spare  the 
church  ;  give  it  no  scandal  ;  expose  not  its  name  and  its  pro- 
fession to  the  scorn  of  those  without,  by  engaging  them  in  the 
disorders  of  the  present  generation.  Let  your  manners  have 
no  less  purity  in  them  than  your  faith  ;  and  let  there  be  a  dif- 
ference between  the  very  entertainments  of  children  of  God 
and  of  others.  Give  to  the  poor  what  is  cast  away  usually  in 
such  follies,  and  you  shall  acquire  a  firm  and  solid  consolation, 
which  shall  never  be  followed  with  repentance  and  regret,  but 
go  on  still  increasing,  until  it  be  changed  into  that  eternal 
and  incomprehensible  joy  which  is  kept  for  us  in  the  heavens 
by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  to  whom,  as  to  the  Father  and  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  true  and  only  eternal  God,  be  honour,  praise, 
and  glory,  unto  ages  of  ages.     Amen. 


CHAP.  III.]         THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  617 


SERMON   XLV. 

CHAPTER  III.   22—25,   TO   CHAPTER  IV.   1. 

Servants,  obey  in  all  things  your  masters  according  to  the  flesh: 
not  loith  eye-service,  as  men-pleasers  ;  hut  in  singleness  of 
heart,  fearing  God;  and  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  it  heartily,  as 
to  the  Lord,  and  not  unto  men  ;  hnoioing  that  of  the  Lord 
ye  shall  receive  the  reward  of  the  inheritance:  for  ye  serve 
the  Lord  Christ.  But  he  that  doeth  wrong  shall  receive  for 
the  wrong  which  he  hath  done  :  and  there  is  no  respect  of 
persons.  Masters,  give  unto  your  servants  that  which  is 
just  and  equal;  knowing  that  ye  also  have  a  Master  in 
heaven. 

If  mankind,  after  the  devastation  which  sin  has  made, 
has  anything  left  that  is  laudable,  advantageous,  and  condu- 
cive to  welfare,  it  is,  without  doubt,  the  order  of  those  so- 
cieties which  compose  it.  For  this  correspondence,  and  this 
harmony  of  several  persons,  different  in  themselves,  and  yet 
knit  together  by  the  mutual  offices  they  perform  to  each 
other,  and  by  that  common  end  to  which  they  direct  them, 
is  an  effect  and  production  of  a  very  perspicacious  and  ex- 
quisite reason,  and  bears  such  evident  marks  of  it  as  no  one 
can  help  perceiving,  if  he  apply  his  mind  ever  so  little  to 
this  consideration.  The  thing  is  such  as  made  a  heathen  * 
formerly  say,  that  that  grand  and  supreme  divinity  which 
governs  the  world  sees  nothing  on  earth  more  agreeable  to 
him  than  the  bodies  of  families  and  republics  established 
among  men,  and  governed  by  good  and  equitable  laws. 
For  as  there  is  nothing,  not  only  more  unsightly  and  de- 
formed, but  also  more  disadvantageous,  than  confusion  ;  so, 
on  the  contrary,  there  is  nothing  that  is  at  once  both  more 
beautiful  and  more  beneficial  than  order.  For  order,  setting 
everything  in  its  place,  and  uniting  all  together  by  the  co- 
aptation and  combining  of  particulars,  cherishes  and  preserves 
the  whole  ;  and  by  their  union  frames  up  a  body  which,  con- 
joining in  one  the  forces  and  perfections  of  each  of  them,  be- 
comes, by  this  means,  extremely  fair  and  most  important. 
This  is  the  reason  why  the  apostles  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 

*  Cicero. 
78 


618  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLV. 

carefully  discriminated  this  order  from  those  defects  and  im- 
perfections which  their  Master  came  to  correct  in  the  world. 
And  as  their  holy  discipline  batters,  overthrows,  and  brings 
to  nought  all  that  the  unrighteousness  and  pride  of  sin  has 
reared  up  among  us  ;  so  it  also  establishes  and  mightily  con- 
firms the  civil  and  domestic  societies  which  it  found  in  man- 
kind, as  so  many  holy  and  necessary  institutions  of  God  our 
Creator. 

You  have  heard  with  what  affection  Paul  recommends  to 
christians  the  sacred  and  inviolable  duties  of  husbands  and 
wives,  of  fathers  and  children,  for  preserving  domestic  society 
in  its  integrity  among  us.  Now,  that  he  might  leave  no  dis- 
order at  all  in  it,  he  speaks  to  servants  and  masters;  and  in 
this  text  discreetly  regulates  the  subjection  of  the  former,  and 
the  domination  of  the  latter  :  representing  to  each  excellent  con- 
siderations, taken  from  fundamentals  of  gospel  doctrine,  to 
sway  them  to  their  duty.  This  subjection  of  servants,  and 
superiority  of  masters,  shall  be  the  two  points  of  which  we  will 
treat,  if  God  permit,  in  this  discourse  ;  observing  briefly  the 
particulars  thgy  may  afford  for  our  common  edification  and 
consolation. 

I.  He  insists  most  upon  the  first  point,  which  respects 
servants  ;  because  subjection  is  bitter,  and  a  thing  to  which  our 
nature  is  loth  to  submit,  especially  in  the  condition  in  which 
servants  at  that  time  were.  For  it  was  not  with  them  as 
it  is  now  with  ours,  who  are  persons  in  reality  free  ;  and  being 
able  to  dispose  of  themselves,  only  let  out  their  services  for  a 
time,  and  upon  certain  conditions,  without  divesting  themselves 
of  the  liberty  in  which  they  were  born.  The  servants  of  the 
ancients,  in  the  apostle's  time,  and  among  the  nations  to  whom 
he  wrote,  were  slaves,  which  belonged  to  their  masters,  and 
were  theirs  by  the  same  kind  of  property  as  were  their  cattle. 
They  could  not  dispose  of  their  own  persons,  nor  of  their 
children,  but  by  the  authority  and  will  of  their  masters.  The 
law  of  servitude  was  of  the  same  nature  among  the  Jews  also, 
excepting  only  that  such  servants  as  were  of  the  Hebrew  race 
went  out  of  that  condition,  and  were  set  at  liberty,  when  they 
came  to  the  year  of  jubilee,  as  is  evident  from  various  passages 
in  the  books  of  Moses.  The  apostle,  knowing  how  harsh  this 
condition  was  to  men,  took  a  particular  care  to  sweeten  it,  and 
to  recommend  the  duties  of  it  to  such  as  divine  Providence  had 
ranked  in  it  ;  lest  disgust  at  so  strict  a  subjection,  and  love  of 
liberty,  should  induce  them  to  shake  off  the  yoke,  and  to  dis- 
turb the  order  of  public  society  by  their  rebellion.  First,  he 
orders  them  to  obey  ;  next,  he  prescribes  them  the  manner  of 
this  obedience,  "not  with  eye-service,  as  men-pleasers  ;"  and, 
finally,  in  the  last  two  verses  of  this  chapter,  he  sets  before 
them  some  considerations,  taken  from  the  benignity  and  justice 
of  God  to  incite  them  to  a  faithful  discharge  of  their  duty. 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  619 

1.  The  command  of  obedience  is  expressed  in  tnese  words, 
"Servants,  obey  in  all  things  your  masters  according  to  the 
flesh."  The  very  names  of  which  he  makes  use  show  the  justice 
of  the  duty  which  he  gives  them  in  charge.  For  since  they 
are  servants,  and  those  whom  they  serve  are  their  masters,  .it 
is  evident  that  they  are  obliged,  by  the  reason  and  nature  of 
the  things  themselves  to  render  them  exact  and  faithful  obe- 
dience. But  his  saying  of  masters,  that  they  are  their  masters 
''  according  to  the  flesh,"  mitigates  the  rigour  and  the  mean- 
ness of  servitude,  limiting  the  power  of  masters  and  superiors, 
and  extending  it  no  further  than  to  temporal  and  corporeal 
things,  not  to  the  soul  and  conscience.  Man  may  be  master 
of  our  flesh,  God  alone  is  Lord  over  our  spirits.  Whatever  be 
the  subjection  of  our  bodies,  we  have  still  our  souls  free  and 
dependent  on  none  but  God  their  Creator,  who  alone  has  the 
power  as  well  as  the  right  to  do  them  good  or  evil  ;  as  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  reminds  us  :  "  Fear  not  them,"  says  he, 
"which  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul:  but 
rather  fear  him  which  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in 
hell,"  Matt.  x.  28.  It  is  with  this  distinction  that  we  are  to 
take  the  obedience  which  the  apostle  recommends  to  servants 
"in  all  things:"  his  meaning  is,  in  all  things  that  lie  withia 
the  master's  power,  and  purely  and  singly  refer  to  the  6esh, 
not  reflecting  on  or  touching  the  interests  of  the  spirit.  For 
if  our  master  according  to  the  flesh  command  us  things  con- 
trary to  the  will  of  our  Master  according  to  the  spirit,  that  is, 
of  God  ;  in  this  case  it  is  evident  that  we  ought  to  obey  God 
rather  than  man  ;  and  that  if  we  owe  much,  and  in  some  sense 
even  all  things,  to  men,  yet  we  owe  them  nothing  to  the  pre- 
judice of  God  ;  and  that  there  is  nothing  which  we  should  not 
rather  suffer  than  fail  of  that  first  and  eternal  servitude  which 
we  owe  to  our  Creator  and  Redeemer. 

This  holy  doctrine  of  the  apostle  shows  us  first,  that  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  does  not  at  all  disturb  the  order  of  human 
societies.  He  leaves  to  every  one  in  them  the  just  rights  of 
which  they  are  possessed,  to  persons  or  things.  He  subjects 
us  unto  himself,  and  unto  God  his  Father;  but  without  doing 
wrong  to  Caesar,  or  to  any  of  the  lawful  powers  that  govern 
either  estates  or  families.  He  intends  that  all  his  should  ren- 
der to  them  what  they  owe  them  ;  he  destroys  only  the  treach- 
eries and  tyrannies  of  sin  and  Satan.  Herod,  dread  not  his 
coming;  he  will  neither  pluck  your  sceptre  out  of  your  hand, 
nor  diminish  in  anything  the  rights  of  your  crown.  His  de- 
sign is  to  give  you  heaven,  not  to  bereave  you  of  the  earth  ;  to 
enfranchise  you  from  the  slavery  of  vices,  and  not  to  deprive 
you  of  the  service  of  your  subjects.  Whence  it  appears  how 
unjust  and  scandalous  is  the  presumption  of  those  who,  under 
the  pretence  of  gospel  libertv,  would  abolish  all  dominion  and 


620  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLV. 

sovereignty  among  christians;  accounting  it  incompatible  with 
the  state  of  grace  :  and  theirs  no  less,  who  subject,  even  in  re- 
spect of  temporals,  all  who  are  christians,  not  the  greatest 
monarchs  excepted,  to  one  mortal  man  ;  making  their  crowns 
to  .depend  upon  his  will,  and  giving  him  authority  to  depose 
them,  and  to  loose  their  subjects  from  the  yoke  of  their  obe- 
dience; teaching  also  by  the  same  means,  that  a  christian  prince 
who  falls  into  heresy  loses  the  right  he  had  over  his  people. 
Can  anything  be  said  more  pernicious,  or  more  contrary  to 
the  apostle,  who  would  not  that  paganism  itself,  a  matter  worse 
than  heresy,  should  make  masters  and  superiors  lose  any 
of  the  lawful  rights  they  have  over  their  christian  slaves  ? 
Secondly,  the  apostle's  limiting  the  authority  and  power  of 
masters  over  their  slaves,  in  things  of  the  flesh,  naming  them 
their  "  masters  according  to  the  flesh,"  shows  us  that  there  is 
none  but  God  alone  who  is  our  Master  according  to  the  spirit. 
It  follows,  therefore,  that  those  who  under  any  pretext  whatever 
peremptorily  invade  the  lordly  ruling  of  our  souls  grievously 
err,  and  usurp  a  dominion  which  belongs  to  none  but  God;  an 
attempt  of  which  those  of  Rome  are  evidently  guilty,  inasmuch 
as  they  put  the  consciences  of  all  christians  in  subjection  to 
their  pope  and  council  ;  whereas  the  holy  apostles  expressly 
declare,  that  they  have  no  dominion  over  our  faith,  2  Cor.  i. 
24  ;  and  command  all  the  ministers  of  Christ  to  feed  the  flock 
committed  to  them,  not  as  being  lords  over  God's  heritage,  but 
so  as  that  they  may  be  a  pattern  to  them,  1  Pet.  v.  2,  3. 

2.  But  I  return  to  Paul,  who  having  in  general  directed 
servants  to  render  that  obedience  which  they  owe  to  tlieir 
masters  according  to  the  flesh  in  all  things,  adds  the  manner 
in  which  he  would  have  them  to  obey  them  ;  "  not  with  eye- 
service,  as  men-pleasers  ;  but  in  singleness  of  heart,  fearing 
God."  He  first  purges  the  conduct  of  christian  servants  of  a 
vice  very  ordinary  with  persons  of  that  quality  ;  namely, 
"  eye-service  ;"  because  they  have  no  other  design  but  to  please 
men.  They  do  not  think  themselves  bound  by  reasons  of 
conscience  to  do  their  masters  any  duty  or  service,  but  only  by 
those  of  their  own  interest.  And  so  they  serve  them  no  further 
than  they  judge  necessary  for  exempting  themselves  from  that 
chastisement  which  they  should  incur  if  they  failed  to  obey, 
or  for  procuring  some  recompense  by  winning  their  favour. 
They  respect  nothing  but  this  in  all  the  obedience  they  render 
them.  Consequently,  when  they  see  their  master  present,  they 
play  the  good  husbands,  as  we  say,  and  labour  at  their  work 
with  most  officious  diligence  and  care.  But  if  he  turn  his 
back,  they  return  to  their  nature,  caring  for  nothing  less  than 
for  his  service  :  like  that  evil  servant  in  the  parable,  who  see- 
ing that  his  master  delayed  to  come,  commenced  his  debauches, 
and  began  to  outrage  his  lord's  household,  and  waste  his  goods. 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  621 

All  the  servitude  of  these  people  is  but  a  comedy.  And  as 
players  put  on  their  disguise,  and  act  their  parts,  when  there 
is  an  assembly  of  spectators  ;  so  these  only  do  their  duty  when 
their  master  looks  on.  And  if  they  thought  they  could  de- 
ceive his  eyes  and  knowledge,  or  avoid  his  correction,  or  save 
their  salary,  they  would  surely  never  take  the  pains  to  obey 
any  of  his  corrimands.  It  is  this  fallacious  and  truly  servile 
disposition  of  heart  which  the  apostle  here  forbids  to  christian 
servants,  when  he  says  that  they  should  not  serve  to  the  eye, 
as  aiming  only  to  please  men. 

But  instead  of  this,  he  would  have  them  serve  in  singleness 
of  heart,  fearing  God  ;  that  is,  sincerely,  without  fraud  or 
feigning,  and  having  more  respect  to  God  than  men.  To  that 
eye-service  which  he  had  mentioned  he  opposes  singleness 
of  heart  ;  and  to  the  pleasing  of  men,  the  fearing  of  God.  The 
Scripture  is  accustomed  to  attribute  two  hearts,  or  a  double 
heart,  to  a  feigning  person  ;  because  he  makes  show  of  one 
intention,  and  yet  has  another  quite  different  :  so  has  he  who 
serves  to  the  eye.  To  see  him,  you  would  say  that  he  loves 
his  master,  and  desires  his  profit;  yet  under  this  deceitful 
mask  he  hides  thoughts  and  affections  quite  opposite  ;  heeding 
nothing  less  than  the  interests  of  him  whom  he  serves.  But 
the  servant  whom  the  apostle  here  describes  has  but  one  affec- 
tion and  one  thought  ;  and  having  learned  in  the  school  of 
Christ  that  it  is  just  and  reasonable  that  the  servant  should 
obey  his  master,  he  serves  his,  to  fulfil  this  piece  of  righteous- 
ness, and  acquit  himself  of  his  duty,  in  which  he  would  con- 
sider himself  deficient  if  he  did  otherwise:  so  that  bearing 
about  everywhere  this  sentiment  with  him  engraven  in  his 
conscience,  there  is  neither  place  nor  time  in  which  he  does 
not  faithfully  serve  his  master,  whether  he  be  absent  or  pres- 
ent, seen  or  unseen. 

To  this  the  apostle  further  adds,  that  he  must  fear  God. 
Others  refer  the  condition  of  servants  only  to  man;  he  would 
have  a  christian  know,  that  God  is  the  author  of  it  ;  that  it  is  he 
who  has  appointed  it  ;  and  would  have  us  approve  our  fidelity 
in  it,  when  his  providence  has  called  us  to  it.  Think  not, 
saith  he,  that  you  have  to  do  with  none  but  men.  It  is  God 
who  has  put  you  in  this  state.  Do  not  imagine  it  sufficient 
to  respect  and  please  the  eye  of  your  master.  You  must 
reverence  and  satisfy  the  eye  of  God,  whom  you  cannot  de- 
ceive, nor  please  at  any  lower  rate  than  by  doing  your  duty 
exactly  and  sincerely.  But  the  apostle  would  not  have  a 
christian  simply  to  do  all  his  master  commands  him.  He 
would  also  have  him  do  it  cheerfully,  and  with  the  heart  : 
"Whatever  ye  do,"  says  he,  "do  it  heartily;"  that  is,  first, 
not  by  constraint  and  with  murmuring,  but  voluntarily  ;  and, 
secondly,  with  affection  for  those  who  command  you. 


622  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XLV. 

Yerily,  you  will  say,  a  hard  law.  For  if  the  master  be 
froward  ;  if  he  command,  as  it  often  happens,  things  that  are 
difficult,  and  harsh,  and  inhuman  ;  how  is  it  possible  a  servant 
should  work  with  any  cheerfulness  ?  I  answer,  that  our  flesh 
finds  it  difficult  to  relish  such  obedience,  and  cannot  suffer  so 
hard  a  bit  without  reluctance  and  resistance.  But  the  fear 
of  God  inclines  us  to  account  those  things  sWeet  which  are 
in  their  own  nature  very  harsh.  If  you  look  upon  man  only, 
I  acknowledge  that  you  have  some  ground  to  think  it  hard, 
that  one,  who  is  in  reality  no  more  than  a  man  as  you  are, 
should  have  you  in  such  subjection  to  his  will.  But  if  you 
lift  up  your  eyes  higher,  and  consider  that  it  is  God  who  has 
instituted  this  order,  that  it  is  he  who  has  called  you  to  this 
condition,  that  the  master  whom  you  serve  is  his  minister  and 
officer,  then  the  roughest  of  his  commands  will  become  sup- 
portable to  you.  And  it  is  to  this  the  apostle  reduces  you, 
when,  to  bend  you  to  this  sweet  and  willing  obedience,  he  ad- 
vises you  to  do  all  things  as  unto  the  Lord,  and  not  as  unto 
men.  Consider,  says  he,  that  it  is  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  not  to 
a  mortal  man,  that  you  render  your  services.  Eespect  this 
sovereign  Lord  in  the  person  of  your  masters  ;  and  think  that 
it  is  he  who  orders  you  to  do  all  that  they  command  you. 
For  he  it  is  likewise  who  has  given  them  to  you  by  his  provi- 
dence for  masters.  Withal,  he  declares  expressly  in  his  word 
that  it  is  his  will  you  should  obey  them.  Admire  now, 
christian,  I  pray,  the  virtue  of  the  gospel,  which,  like  the 
branch  cut  down  by  Moses,  sweetens  the  bitterest  things,  and 
so  changes  their  nature,  that,  of  distasteful  and  forced,  it 
makes  them  pleasing  and  voluntary.  What  is  there  harder 
or  more  abject  than  the  servitude  of  a  slave  ?  The  gospel 
changes  it  into  a  devotion,  into  a  religious  service  ;  that  is, 
into  the  noblest  and  most  voluntary  of  all  human  actions. 
The  believer  directs  that  obedience  unto  Jesus  Christ  which 
an  infidel  gives  only  to  his  master.  He  does  that  for  his  God 
which  the  other  does  but  for  a  man.  Wherefore  he  does  it 
cheerfully  and  heartily,  while  the  other  does  it  only  by  con- 
straint, and  with  regret.  Hence  the  apostle  says  elsewhere, 
that  a  servant  "  called  in  the  Lord  is  the  Lord's  freeman," 
1  Cor.  vii.  22.  Not  that  he  ceases  to  do  his  former  master 
the  service  he  was  accustomed  ;  from  this  he  is  so  far,  that  he 
now  becomes  much  more  faithful  and  profitable  to  him  than 
he  was  before  ;  as  Onesimus,  the  servant  of  Philemon,  who, 
after  he  once  knew  Jesus  Christ,  went  voluntarily  to  put  him- 
self again  under  his  old  master's  yoke,  which  during  the  dark- 
ness of  his  unbelief  he  had  cast  off,  Philem.  10.  All  the 
difference  is,  that  whereas  in  the  time  of  his  ignorance  he  had 
respect  merely  to  his  master's  will  and  authority,  now  he  has 
little  regard  thereto,  considering  principally  those  of  his  Lord 


CHAP.  III.]        THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  623 

and  Saviour;  so  that,  to  say  the  truth,  it  is  him  he  serves,  and 
not  a  man,  Christ  hath  freed  him  from  man's  yoke,  and  put 
him  under  his  own  ;  since  henceforth  his  aim  in  all  he  does 
for  man  is  chiefly  to  please,  not  man,  but  Jesus  Christ. 

3.  To  form  the  spirits  of  christian  servants  to  this  holy 
disposition,  the  apostle  represents  to  them,  in  the  last  two 
verses  of  this  chapter,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  is  indeed  the  true 
Master  and  Superintendent  of  their  whole  lives,  who  sets  them 
their  task,  and  looks  on  their  labours,  whatever  condition 
they  are  in,  and  will  not  fail  when  his  day  is  come  to  make 
up  a  true  and  faithful  account  with  them,  largely  recompen- 
sing such  of  them  as  shall  be  found  to  have  honestly  discharged 
their  duty,  and  severely  punishing  the  negligent.  Do  all 
things  "as  to  the  Lord,  and  not  unto  men  ;  knowing  that  of 
the  Lord  ye  shall  receive  the  reward  of  the  inheritance  :  for 
ye  serve  the  Lord  Christ.  But  he  that  doeth  wrong  shall 
receive  for  the  wrong  which  he  hath  done  :  and  there  is  no 
respect  of  persons."  First,  he  would  have  them  be  certain 
that  their  servitude  shall  not  be  in  vain  nor  unfruitful,  if 
they  acquit  themselves  in  it  as  he  has  prescribed  ;  and  if  their 
masters  according  to  the  flesh  have  no  regard  to  it,  their 
sovereign  Lord  will  not  fail  to  give  them  their  pay  and  recom- 
pense. Next,  he  shows  them  what  this  recompense  is  which 
they  are  to  expect  from  the  Lord  :  it  is  "  the  reward  of  the 
inheritance."  There  is  no  one  in  the  school  of  Christ  who 
does  not  well  know  that  this  inheritance  of  which  the  apostle 
speaks,  is  that  blessed  and  glorious  immortality  which  Jesus 
Christ  has  purchased  for  us  by  the  merit  of  his  death,  and 
calls  us  all  to  the  possession  of  by  his  gospel.  Now  see  how 
prudently  the  holy  apostle  has  balanced  his  expressions  of 
it  !  He  calls  it  a  reward,  or  guerdon,  that  is,  a  retribution 
and  a  prize  ;  to  the  end  that  he  might  raise  our  hearts  to  this 
sublime  hope,  and  incite  us  thereby  to  labour  cheerfully  for 
the  receiving  of  so  rich  a  recompense.  For  as  prizes  are 
given  only  to  those  who  have  laboured  and  striven  ;  so  this 
life  of  God  is  prepared  only  for  those  who  shall,  in  their  voca- 
tion, have  fought  a  good  fight,  and  kept  the  faith,  and  duly 
finished  their  course.  And  as  the  prince  promises  a  soldier 
honour,  and  the  master  a  workman  wages  ;  and  the  one 
performs,  if  the  others  discharge  their  duty  ;  so  the  Lord  pro- 
mises us  his  kingdom,  and  will,  according  to  his  faithfulness, 
assuredly  give  it  to  every  one  that  believes  and  perseveres. 
On  this  account  the  holy  apostle  calls  that  blessed  life  for 
which  we  hope  a  reward,  or  guerdon. 

But  lest  this  term  should  cause  us  to  presume  upon  some 
merit  in  our  labours,  he  pertinently  adds  another  name  to 
cure  us  of  that  error,  and  calls  it  "the  reward  of  the  inheri- 
tance."    For  an  inheritance,  as  all  know,  comes  not  by  merit, 


l^^  AN   EXPOSITION"  OF  [SERM.  XLV. 

but  by  a  different  title,  even  because  one  is  a  cbild  of  the 
family.  Expect  then,  faithful  souls,  this  divine  retribution, 
not  from  the  dignity  or  merit  of  your  works,  but  from  the 
bounty  and  munificence  of  God  ;  who,  having  freely  adopted 
you  into  the  number  of  his  children,  will  give  you  part  in 
this  eternal  inheritance  ;  to  which  neither  you,  nor^  any  mortal 
man,  had  naturally  any  right.  It  is  his  grace,  his  faithful- 
ness, and  his  promise,  that  confer  upon  you  all  the  share  iu 
it  which  you  have.  And  his  goodness  and  word  being  im- 
mutable, you  ought  to  expect  it  with  as  much  assurance  as  if 
you  merited  it,  though  you  acknowledge  that  you  never 
can.  But  because  it  might  seem  strange  that  the  apostle 
should  promise  christians  the  reward  of  the  inheritance  of 
the  Lord  for  services  done  to  men,  he  repeats  what  he  had 
intimated  before,  namely,  that,  to  speak  properly,  it  is  Jesus 
Christ  they  serve,  and  not  men  ;  "  for,"  says  he,  "  ye  serve  the 
Lord  Christ."  It  is  true,  this  sovereign  Lord  is  in  heaven,  in 
perfect  glory,  and  has  no  need  of  our  services,  much  less  of 
such  as  slaves  and  mercenaries  perform  towards  their  masters. 
But  such  is  his  goodness,  that  he  allows  that  as  done  to  his 
own  person  which  we  do  to  men  according  to  his  command 
and  for  his  sake.  Thus  he  assures  us  in  the  gospel,  that  it  is 
to  him  we  give  all  the  alms,  the  visits,  and  assistances,  with 
which  we  gratify  the  least  of  his  servants  in  his  name  :  You 
have  done  it  unto  me,  says  he,  in  that  you  have  done  it  to  one 
of  the  least  of  these,  Matt.  xxv.  40.  All  the  duties  of  that 
obedience  which  he  commands  us  are  of  the  same  nature  in 
this  respect.  Doing  them  unto  men,  we  do  them  unto  Jesus 
Christ,  who  has  commanded  them  ;  therefore  it  is  also  unto 
him  that  the  least  and  lowest  services  pertain  which  men,  for 
his  sake,  perform  to  the  masters,  unto  whom  the  order  of 
his  providence  has  put  them  in  subjection  ;  so  that  he  being 
infinitely  good  and  liberal,  they  ought  to  attend  assuredly 
to  that  precious  recompense  which  he  promises  to  those  who 
serve  him. 

But  if  so  high  and  glorious  a  hope  is  not  sufiicient  to  affect 
us,  and  sway  us  to  that  willing  obedience  which  he  requires, 
let  us  regard,  at  least,  the  penalty  he  denounces  in  case  we  fail 
of  our  duty.  It  is  this  the  apostle  here  sets  before  the  eyes  of 
christian  servants,  when,  after  proposing  the  reward  of  the  hea- 
venly inheritance  to  those  who  discharge  their  duty,  he  adds, 
"  But  he  that  doeth  wrong  shall  receive  for  the  wrong  which 
he  hath  done  :  and  there  is  no  respect  of  persons."  It  is  a  ge- 
neral sentence,  reaching  all  men  of  every  condition,  servants  or 
masters,  men  or  women,  poor  or  rich.  Whoever  does  another 
wrong,  either  by  positive  outrage,  or  by  not  rendering  that 
which  he  owes  him  according  to  the  laws  of  the  gospel,  shall 
receive  at  the  hand  of  the  supreme  Judge  that  which  he  has 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  625 

uujustly  done  ;  that  is,  be  paid  for  his  fault,  and  punished  with 
a  penalty  exactly  proportioned  to  his  crime.  Nor  should  any 
one  persuade  himself  either  that  the  misery  of  his  condition 
will  move  the  Judge  to  pity  him,  or  that  the  splendour  and 
grandeur  of  his  quality  will  blind  his  eyes,  and  so  conceive  the 
possibility  of  an  escape.  In  this  divine  judgment,  no  regard, 
says  the  apostle,  is  paid  to  the  look  or  outside  of  men.  God 
will  weigh  your  cause  alone,  not  consider  your  person.  And 
as  he  will  not  take  notice  of  the  rich  or  the  mighty,  not  of  lords 
or  monarchs,  so  as  to  spare  them,  if  they  have  lived  in  the 
practice  of  unrighteousness  and  violence,  neither  will  he  regard 
the  poverty  or  meanness  of  the  lowest,  so  as  to  exempt  them 
from  the  punishment  which  their  injustice  or  iufidelit}'-  de- 
serves ;  but,  as  he  formerly  commanded  the  judges  of  Israel, 
Lev.  xix.  15,  he  will  judge  justly,  not  honouring  the  counte- 
nance of  the  potent,  nor  respecting  the  person  of  the  poor. 
Whence  it  follows,  that  servants  who  rob  their  masters,  or  serve 
them  not  as  they  ought,  shall  surely  suffer  for  their  injustice  ; 
since,  granting  that  men  let  their  wickedness  pass  unchastised, 
yet  the  supreme  Judge  of  the  world  will  not  fail  to  call  them 
to  their  trial  one  day,  and  bring  to  public  light  the  infidelities, 
the  thefts,  and  acts  of  disobedience  which  they  think  they  have 
hid  safely  enough  in  the  darkness  of  their  deceits,  and  condemn 
them  to  the  just  torments  which  they  have  merited,  by  violating 
the  sacred  orders  he  has  made  for  human  society,  and  doing 
that  to  others  which  they  would  not  any  should  do  to  them. 
Such  is,  brethren,  the  apostle's  instruction  to  servants. 

II.  Let  us  now  peruse  what  he  prescribes  to  masters  :  "  Mas- 
ters," says  he,  "give  unto  your  servants  that  which  is  just  and 
equal  ;  knowing  that  ye  also  have  a  Master  in  heaven."  First, 
he  gives  them  in  charge  their  duty;  secondly,  sets  before  them 
an  excellent  reason  to  sway  them  to  it. 

1.  Their  duty  is  to  render  justice  and  equity  to  their  ser- 
vants. It  must  not  be  imagined  that  the  power  of  masters  over 
their  servants  is  unlimited.  A  mutual  justice  there  is  between 
them,  which  obliges  them  to  each  other  reciprocally  ;  and  either 
of  them  who  trespasses  against  the  rules  thereof  is  faulty.  And 
as  it  is  just  that  servants  should  obey  and  be  subject,  so  is  it 
likewise  just  that  masters  should  be  of  good  conduct,  and  give 
proper  remuneration.  It  is  this  which  the  apostle  means  by 
that  justice  which  he  charges  them  to  render  to  their  servants. 
It  comprises  work,  maintenance,  correction,  and  wages.  So 
that  masters  are  obliged,  for  the  right  discharge  of  this  duty 
towards  them,  to  act  in  these  four  points  with  all  prudence  and 
equity,  giving  them  a  reasonable  task  to  do,  sufficient  food,  mo- 
derate chastisement,  and  a  proportionate  salary.  They  that  do 
otherwise,  and  transgress  in  these  things,  either  by  defect  or 
excess,  do  not  render  to  their  servants  what  is  right  ;  as,  for 
79 


626  AX   EXPOSITION   OF  [SEEM.   XLV. 

instance,  those  wlio  overburden  them  with  toil  or  strokes  ;  and 
they  who,  on  the  contrary,  let  them  live  idle  and  in  intemper- 
ance ;  those  who  diet  them  ill,  or  too  well  ;  and  lastly,  they 
who  defraud  them  of  their  wages,  which  is  one  of  the  most  hor- 
rid and  cruel  acts  of  injustice  that  can  be  committed. 

But  besides  right  or  justice,  the  apostle  would  have  masters 
render  also  to  their  servants  equity.  The  word  he  makes  use 
of  in  the  original  properly  signifies  a  certain  equality  and  cor- 
respondence, that  should  appear  between  the  offices  of  the  one 
and  the  deportment  of  the  other  ;  so  that  as  the  servant  obeys 
in  singleness  of  heart,  and  in  the  fear  of  God,  the  master  like- 
wise should  command  holily  and  religiously  ;  and  that  as  the 
one  serves  with  joy  and  respect,  in  like  manner  the  other  should 
govern  with  mildness  and  affection.  In  a  word,  right  compre- 
hends all  that  refers  to  justice,  and  equity  all  that  pertains  to 
christian  charity  and  gentleness. 

2.  To  reduce  the  faithful  to  this  holy  moderation,  he  orders 
them  to  remember  that  they  also  have  a  Master  in  heaven.  His 
meaning  is,  that  the  dominion  they  have  over  their  servants  is 
not  absolute,  but  dependent  on  God,  and,  by  consequence,  such 
as  ought  to  be  regulated  by  his  word  and  will.  If  they  have 
people  beneath  them,  they  have  a  Master  and  a  Sovereign  above 
them,  who  is  the  common  Lord  of  them  all,  and  unto  whom 
they  are  to  give  an  account  of  the  treatment  which  their  ser- 
vants shall  receive  at  their  hands.  He  says  particularly  that 
this  Lord  is  in  heaven,  to  hold  them  the  better  to  their  duty 
by  the  consideration  of  so  redoubtable  a  Majesty  ;  who  is  not 
here  beneath  on  earth,  the  place  of  misery  and  vanity,  but  on 
high  in  heaven,  sitting  on  an  eternal  throne,  and  from  that  glo- 
rious habitation  of  light  and  immortality  considers  and  governs 
all  things  at  his  pleasure  ;  nothing  coming  to  pass  in  his  whole 
empire,  but  what  he  plainly  perceives,  and  of  which  he  most 
justly  judges.  This  great  Lord  is  above  all  ;  and  there  is  nei- 
ther master  nor  prince  of  such  elevation  among  men  who  is  not 
under  his  feet.  He  is  superlatively  holy,  just,  and  good.  He 
loves  all  his  creatures,  and  concerns  himself  in  the  wrongs  of 
the  meanest  and  most  contemptible  of  them  ;  hating  nothing 
more  than  injustice  and  insolence,  outrage  and  cruelty  ;  possess- 
ing, withal,  an  infinite  wisdom  and  an  almighty  power  which 
none  is  able  to  resist.  Surely,  then,  consideration  of  the  em- 
pire and  sovereign  dominion  which  he  has  over  us  is  very  pro- 
per to  keep  us  within  bounds,  and  to  restrain  us  from  abusing 
the  power  which  he  has  given  us  over  persons  subject  to  us  ; 
nor  could  the  apostle  put  those  who  have  servants  in  mind  of 
anything  more  pertinently  that  should  oblige  them  to  render 
them  right  and  equity.  Thus  we  have  explained  his  instruc- 
tions. It  is  now  for  you,  beloved  brethren,  to  make  your  pro- 
fit of  them,  and  to  gather  the  fruits  he  offers  you  in  them,  for 


CHAP.  IV.]        THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  627 

the  amendment  of  your  lives  and  the  consolation  of  your 
souls. 

First,  ye  christians,  whom  the  meanness  of  your  birth,  or,  as 
they  call  it,  of  your  fortune,  has  reduced  to  the  condition  of 
servants,  rejoice  at  the  honour  done  you  by  this  great  minister 
of  Christ,  who  disdains  not  to  address  his  holy  voice  to  you. 
Set  the  care  he  has  of  you  against  the  contempt  that  men  cast 
upon  you.  Let  his  speaking  to  you  comfort  you,  and  raise 
your  hopes  of  the  inheritance  of  God.  Think  well  upon  the 
declaration  he  makes,  that  the  persons  to  whom  you  are  sub- 
ject are  your  masters  only  in  reference  to  the  flesh.  Your 
servitude  will  not  be  eternal.  Nay,  it  will  not  be  very  long, 
nor  extend  further  at  most  than  to  the  end  of  that  carnal  life 
which  you  lead  upon  the  earth.  When  this  earthly  tabernacle 
is  once  dissolved,  you  shall  enter  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the 
children  of  God  ;  and  then  there  will  no  more  be  any  differ- 
ence between  you  and  your  masters.  For  the  present,  your 
better  part  is  already  in  possession  of  this  liberty  ;  namely, 
that  spirit  which  God  has  formed  in  you  after  his  own  image, 
and  which  in  spite  of  all  the  outrages  of  men,  will  ever  remain 
master  of  itself,  if  you  give  it  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  great  eman- 
cipator of  mankind,  who  faithfully  and  speedily  enfranchises 
every  one  who  receives  and  embraces  his  truth.  Only  take 
heed  that  you  abuse  not  his  grace;  as  if  the  spiritual  liberty 
with  which  he  has  gratified  you  discharged  you  from  doing 
faithful  service  to  your  masters  after  the  flesh.  The  more  he 
has  illuminated  you  in  the  knowledge  of  himself,  the  more  fidel- 
ity and  love  do  you  owe.  For  besides  other  reasons,  the  fear 
of  God  and  the  will  of  Jesus  Christ  now  oblige  you  to  obey 
them  ;  so  that  the  serving  them  makes  up  a  part  of  your  piety. 
According  to  the  manner  in  which  you  acquit  yourselves  in 
this,  whether  well  or  ill,  God  will  give  you  or  deny  you  his 
inheritance.  But  besides  your  own  interest,  the  glory  also  of 
the  gospel  is  concerned  in  the  case.  For  your  faults  defame 
our  religion,  and  cause  it  to  be  taken  for  a  licentious  discipline; 
whereas  your  fidelity  will  produce  us  praise.  Every  one  will 
be  constrained  to  acknowledge  the  holiness  of  our  doctrine, 
when  they  shall  see  it  reform  the  deportment  even  of  men  and 
maid  servants.  And  this  the  apostle  expressly  represents  to 
you  elsewhere.  "Exhort  servants,"  says  he,  "to  be  obedient 
unto  their  own  masters  and  to  please  them  well  in  all  things  ; 
not  answering  again  ;  not  purloining,  but  showing  all  good 
fidelity  ;  that  they  may  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour 
in  all  things,"  Tit.  ii.  9,  10.  Do  not  excuse  yourselves  on 
account  of  the  ill  humour  and  rigour  of  your  masters.  Ee- 
member  the  words  of  Peter,  who  obliges  you  to  serve  not  only 
such  as  are  good  and  gentle,  but  also  the  froward,  1  Pet.  ii.  18. 
Take  their  ill  treatment  for  an  occasion  bv  which  God  would 


6âS  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SEKM.  XLV. 

exercise  and  refine  your  faith.  Eeceive  those  strokes  of  the 
rod  from  his  hand,  and  not  from  theirs,  making  them  matter 
for  your  patience  and  a  trial  of  your  faith.  Let  the  eye  of 
Jesus  Christ,  who  looketh  on  you  ;  let  his  favour  and  benedic- 
tion, which  always  accompany  sufferings  for  conscience  sake  ; 
let  the  hope  of  his  inheritance  for  your  salary,  sweeten  all  the 
pains  of  your  servitude.  However  ungrateful  men  may  be  to 
you,  your  patience  shall  not  be  left  unrewarded,  if  ye  persevere 
in  it  constantly  for  Christ's  sake. 

And  you,  masters,  who  so  much  desire  to  have  faithful  and 
obedient  servants,  render  to  them  that  justice  and  equity  which 
the  apostle  commands  you.  Though  your  extraction  or  es- 
tates set  you  above  them  in  human  society,  yet  your  nature  is 
the  same  as  theirs.  You  are  subject  to  the  same  infirmities. 
One  and  the  same  death  will  consume  you  both  ;  nor  will 
there  be  any  difference  between  your  dust  and  theirs.  You 
shall  appear  before  the  same  Judge,  and  the  tribunal  at  which 
you  shall  be  examined  will  have  no  more  complacency  for  you 
than  for  them.  That  Lord  whom  you  see  over  you  is  their 
Creator  and  Redeemer  as  well  as  yours.  He  has  put  them 
under  you  only  to  govern  them,  not  to  tyrannize  over  them  ; 
to  have  care  of  them  as  his  creatures  and  children,  not  to  tread 
them  under  foot  as  worms.  Remember,  he  will  treat  you  as 
you  shall  have  treated  them.  You  are  his  servants  as  they 
are  yours  ;  or  rather,  they  are  your  brethren,  and  you  are  not 
worthy  to  be  so  much  as  his  vassals.  You  and  they  are  one 
and  the  same  flesh,  that  came  out  of  the  earth,  and  unto  earth 
shall  return  ;  but  neither  they  nor  you  have  anything  in  com- 
mon with  God.  He  is  in  the  heavens,  and  you  crawl  in  the 
dirt.  He  is  the  King  of  glory,  and  you  are  but  dust  and 
ashes.  Yet  such  is  his  goodness,  that  notwithstanding  this  in- 
finite inequality,  he  has  not  disdained  your  nothingness.  He 
has  pardoned  your  sins  ;  he  has  washed  you  in  the  blood  of 
his  Son  ;  he  has  forgiven  you  all  your  debts  ;  he  has  commu- 
nicated to  you  his  divine  nature.  Respect  his  graces,  and 
have  no  less  gentleness  and  goodness  for  your  own  flesh  and 
blood  than  this  sovereign  Lord  has  had  for  you  who  were  his 
enemies.  With  what  face  will  you  beg  mercy  of  him  if  you 
are  inexorable  to  your  people  ?  How  can  you  hope  for  the 
grace  of  your  master,  if  you  have  none  for  your  servants?  I 
beseech  you  both,  have  these  holy  thoughts  night  and  day  be- 
fore your  eyes,  that  you  may  faithfully  discharge  those  mutual 
duties  which  the  apostle  enjoins  :  the  one,  subjection  and 
obedience  ;  the  others,  justice  a.nd  equity  ;  both  of  you  living 
in  such  a  holy  correspondence,  as  that  the  loyalty,  the  respect, 
the  humility,  the  submission,  and  the  diligence  of  servants 
may  go  in  conjunction  with  the  gentleness,  gravity,  liberality, 
and  benevolence    of  masters.     If  you  so  act,  you  will  be 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS.  629 

happy  ;  the  families  where  you  live  together  in  this  manner 
will  become  the  wonder  of  the  earth,  and  the  honour  of  the 
church.  The  blessing  of  Heaven  will  fall  continually  on 
them  ;  and  besides  the  contentment  and  repose  which  this 
kind  of  life  will  give  you  abundantly  for  the  present,  it  will 
also  bring  you  hereafter  into  the  possession  of  the  heavenly 
inheritance. 

But,  dear  brethren,  it  is  not  enough  that  those  masters  and 
servants  only  to  whom  Paul  particularly  speaks  profit  by  his 
instructions.  We  all  have  in  them  something  to  learn,  of 
whatever  quality  and  condition  we  are.  For  since  he  would 
have  servants  render  so  exact  and  so  frank  an  obedience  to 
their  masters  according  to  the  flesh,  judge  what  kind  of  obe- 
dience we  owe  to  .that  highest  Lord  whom  we  all  have  in  hea- 
ven. The  master  according  to  the  flesh  gave  not  his  servant 
the  being  he  has  ;  and  if  he  redeemed  him,  he  redeemed  only 
his  flesh,  and  that  at  the  price  of  a  sum  of  money  only.  Ours 
made  us,  and  it  is  by  his  liberality  alone  that  we  hold  all  the 
being,  life,  and  motion  that  we  have.  Nor  has  he  only  created 
us  ;  he  has  also  redeemed  the  whole  of  us,  our  soul  and  body, 
flesh  and  spirit  ;  not  with  silver  and  gold,  which  are  corrup- 
tible things,  but  with  his  own  precious  blood,  having  volun- 
tarily sacrificed  his  life  to  preserve  us  from  death  and  give  us 
a  happy  immortality.  No  master  ever  had  so  much  right  to 
command  his  servants  as  he  has  to  command  us.  Let  us  obey 
him  then  in  all  things  without  reservation,  and  consecrate 
our  whole  life  to  his  service,  the  whole  of  which  we  have  once 
and  again  received  from  his  grace.  Neither  is  it  with  this 
Lord  as  with  masters  according  to  the  flesh  ;  these  oftentimes 
command  things  unjust,  or  dishonest,  things  contrary  to  our 
salvation,  which  we  cannot  do  without  destroying  ourselves. 
He  commands  us  nothing  but  what  is  just,  honest,  and  reason- 
able, what  is  worthy  both  of  himself  and  of  us.  Wherefore 
the  most  abject  bond-servant  owes  his  master  but  a  limited 
obedience  ;  whereas  we  owe  ours  such  as  is  absolute  and 
infinite.  His  yoke  is  easy  and  his  burden  light.  He  demands 
only  that  we  love  him,  and  our  brethren  for  his  sake  ;  that  we 
live  honestly  and  holily,  that  is,  be  happy.  O  ungrateful  and 
execrable  creatures,  if  we  deny  a  Master  to  whom  we  owe  so 
much,  so  just,  so  reasonable,  so  beneficial,  and  so  blessed  an 
obedience! 

Again,  judge,  ye  faithful,  if  the  bond-servant  ought  to  obey 
his  master  in  singleness  of  heart,  cheerfully  and  with  aft'ec- 
tion,  as  the  apostle  says,  with  what  ardour,  promptitude, 
and  devotion  should  we  serve  ours,  who  is  not  oul}^  al- 
mighty and  all-wise,  but  also  goodness,  love,  clemency,  and 
beneficence  itself!  Then,  as  for  the  bondman,  though  he 
ought   to  serve  his  master  at  all  times,  and  in  every  place, 


êm  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLV. 

yet  his  master  se^s  him  not  always  ;  whereas  we  are  ever 
under  the  eye  of  ours.  He  has  a  full  view  of  us,  sees  us  with- 
in and  without  ;  nor  can  we  hide  ourselves  in  any  place  where 
he  is  not  present.  We  cannot  speak  a  word,  nor  form  the  least 
thought  in  the  secret  of  our  hearts,  but  he  is  a  witness  to  it, 
knows  the  whole  as  soon  as  ourselves.  Now  surely  there  is 
no  slave  so  senseless  and  shameless  as  that  the  master's  eye 
will  not  keep  him  in  order,  and  compel  him  to  obedience.  If 
such  a  one  be  idle,  or  exorbitant,  he  is  not  so  but  in  the  other's 
absence.  Since  then  we  have  ours  always  present,  what  re- 
mains but  that  we  never  be  idle,  that  we  employ  all  our 
time  in  his  service,  bearing  respect  to  his  divine  eye,  that 
looks  upon  us,  and  is  over  us,  both  day  and  night  ? 

Again,  even  when  the  serving  of  a  man  is  in  question,  the 
apostle  would  not  have  the  slave  to  serve  merely  to  please  the 
man  ;  such  great  integrity  and  probity  does  he  require  in  all 
our  performances.  Judge  then  how  much  more  holy,  and 
pure  from  all  interest,  that  obedience  should  be  which  we 
render  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  God  blessed  for  ever.  Undoubtedly 
they  who  serve  him  to  please  men,  to  gain  their  esteem,  and 
acquire  a  reputation  for  sanctity  among  them,  or  to  draw 
thence  any  other  profit  ;  they,  I  say,  besides  being  ridiculous 
and  vain,  commit  also  a  great  and  an  inexcusable  sacrilege  ; 
profaning  the  name  of  God  and  the  sacred  acts  of  religion, 
and  most  unrighteously  abusing  them  for  worldly  ends.  Such 
are  those  hypocrites.  Matt.  vi.  2,  who  fast,  and  pray,  and  hear 
the  word  of  God,  and  celebrate  his  sacraments,  and  give  alms, 
to  be  seen  and  had  in  honour  ;  that,  in  short,  serve  God  only 
to  please  men.  They,  says  Christ,  have  their  wages.  They 
are  paid  ;  they  have  nothing  more  to  look  for  at  God's  hands. 
For  such  vain  and  deceitful  service  they  shall  have  no  other 
reward  than  that  vain  and  deceitful  breath  which  they  have 
coveted,  and  foolishly  preferred  to  the  glory  of  God. 

Let  us  eschew  at  once  these  people's  misconduct  and  their 
misery  ;  and,  according  to  the  apostle's  prudent  and  divine  in- 
junction, whatever  we  do,  whether  the  action  be  addressed  to 
God,  or  respect  our  neighbour,  do  it  all  as  unto  God,  and  not 
as  unto  man.  Let  us  seek  for  no  other  spectator  nor  remun- 
erator  than  him  alone.  Let  us  be  content  with  his  approba- 
tion, and  with  the  testimony  of  our  own  consciences,  whatever 
censure  men  may  pass  upon  us  ;  being  assured,  as  Paul  here 
adds,  that  if  we  serve  the  Lord,  if  it  is  he  we  obey,  if  it  is  to 
his  will  and  glory  that  we  consecrate  and  direct  the  course  of  our 
lives,  we  shall  infallibly  receive  from  his  bountiful  hand  the 
reward  of  the  inheritance  ;  and,  on  the  contrary,  that  they 
who  act  unjustly,  and,  despising  his  truth,  are  injurious  either 
to  his  majesty  or  his  creatures,  shall  receive  what  they  have 
unjustly  done  without  respect  of  persons.     Looking   for   so 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  631 

great  and  dreadful  a  judgment,  at  which  the  least  of  our  ac- 
tions, whether  they  be  good  or  evil,  shall  be  examined  in  pres- 
ence of  the  assembly  of  the  whole  universe,  what  manner  of 
persons,  I  beseech  you,  ought  we  to  be,  in  all  holy  conversa- 
tion and  godliness?  2  Pet.  iii.  11.  Let  us  search  our  hearts, 
and  make  inspection  into  all  the  parts  of  our  life  ;  let  us 
cleanse  our  souls  and  bodies  from  all  filthiness  and  impurity, 
and  timely  judge  ourselves;  wounding  and  cutting  off,  with 
the  righteous  sword  of  a  lively  and  serious  repentance,  all  the 
evil  we  find  in  ourselves  ;  and  living  henceforth  justly,  so- 
berly, and  religiously,  without  scandal  before  men,  and  with 
all  good  conscience  in  the  sight  of  God  ;  that  we  may  next 
week  present  ourselves  at  his  holy  table,  to  our  edification  and 
comfort,  and  appear  at  the  last  day  before  his  sacred  and  dread- 
ful tribunal  without  confusion,  to  the  glory  of  Jesus  Christ 
who  has  redeemed  us,  and  to  our  own  eternal  salvation.   Amen. 


SERMON    XLVI. 

VERSES   2 — 4. 


Continue  in  prayer^  and  watch  in  the  same  with  thanlsgiving  ; 
withal  praying  also  for  us,  that  God  would  open  unto  us  a  door 
of  utterance,  to  speak  the  mystery  of  Christ,  for  ivhich  I  am 
also  in  hands:  that  I  may  make  it  manifest,  as  I  ouglit  to 
speak. 

Deak  brethren,  prayer  is  the  christian's  sacrifice,  the  holiest 
exercise  of  his  devotion,  his  consolation  in  troubles,  his  stay 
in  weaknesses,  the  principal  weapon  he  uses  in  combats,  his 
oracle  in  doubts  and  perplexities,  his  safety  in  perils,  the 
sweetener  of  his  bitterness,  the  balm  of  his  wounds,  his  help 
in  adversity,  the  support  and  ornament  of  his  prosperity  ;  and, 
in  a  word,  the  key  of  the  treasury  of  God,  which  opens  it  to 
him,  and  puts  into  his  hand  all  the  good  things  which  are  ne- 
cessary both  for  this  life  and  for  that  which  is  to  come.  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  the  holy  apostles  give  it  to  us  in  charge 
with  so  much  affection  and  diligence  in  all  their  divine  in- 
structions which  are  come  to  our  hands.  Not  to  seek  further 
off  for  instances  of  it,  you  see  how  Paul,  being  upon  the 
point  of  concluding  this  excellent  Epistle  to  the  Colossians, 
after  he  had  informed  their  faith,  and  regulated  their  manners, 
and  explained  their  duty,  both  in  general  towards  all  men, 
and  towards   particular   individuals,  within   the  societies  in 


-Ugli  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM,  XL VI. 

which  they  live,  sets  an  exhortation  to  prayer  at  the  head  of 
some  other  directions,  which  he  adds  before  he  concludes  : 
"  Continue  in  prayer,"  says  he,  "  and  watch  in  the  same  with 
thanksgiving."  And,  in  truth,  it  is  with  much  propriety  that 
he  reminds  us  of  so  important  and  so  necessary  a  duty.  For 
since  God  is  the  Father  of  lights,  from  whom  cometh  down 
every  good  and  perfect  gift,  how  can  we,  without  his  favour 
and  benediction,  either  acquire  or  preserve  the  faculties 
and  habits  of  this  divine  life,  unto  which  the  holy  apostle 
would  form  us,  together  with  the  virtues  that  relate  to  it  ? 
Since  then  prayer  has  the  promise  of  obtaining  from  his 
liberalii}'  whatsoever  it  shall  ask  of  him  in  faith,  it  is  upon 
good  ground  that  the  apostle  directs  the  Colossians  to  address 
themselves  continually  to  God  by  prayer,  for  the  meet  and 
faithful  discharging  of  those  duties  which  he  prescribed  them. 
After  this,  he  adds  two  other  directions  :  the  one,  of  con- 
versing wisely  with  those  who  are  without  ;  and  the  other,  to 
season  their  speech,  the  principal  instrument  of  conversation, 
with  the  salt  of  grace.  Whereupon  he  concludes  this  Epistle 
with  the  praises  of  Tychicus  and  Onesimus,  who  were  the 
bearers  of  it  ;  and  with  salutations  he  makes  them  on  the  be- 
half of  some  then  with  him  ;  adding  his  own  to  the  Colossians 
themselves,  and  likewise  to  the  faithful  of  Laodicea.  This  is 
the  substance  of  this  last  chapter  of  his  letter,  as  you  shall 
hear  more  particularly,  by  the  will  of  God,  in  the  following 
sermons.  At  present  we  purpose,  his  grace  assisting,  to  con- 
sider what  he  says  of  prayer  in  those  three  verses  which  we 
have  read  ;  and  to  do  it  in  order,  we  will  treat  of  the  two 
points  that  offer  themselves  in  the  text,  as  they  are  there  pre- 
sented to  us.  First,  of  prayer  in  general  ;  "  Continue  in 
prayer,  and  watch  in  the  same  with  thanksgiving."  Secondly, 
of  their  praying  particularly,  and  expressly  for  him,  which  he 
requires  of  them  :  "  Withal  praying  also  for  us,"  &c. 

I.  Man  being  in  some  measure  secretly  conscious  of  his  own 
weakness,  and  knowing  how  little  succour  second  causes  can 
afford  him  for  the  preservation  and  the  happiness  of  his  life, 
is  in  a  manner  naturally  inclined  to  call  to  his  aid  by  prayer 
that  veiled  and  invisible  Deity,  whose  providence  he  scents  in 
everything,  though  he  perceives  not  its  form.  All  religions  in 
the  world  give  clear  and  very  express  testimony  to  this  truth, 
there  never  having  been  any  known  that  had  not  its  prayers 
and  litanies  addressed  to  God  ;  and  the  greatest  idolaters,  and  the 
most  deplorably  wicked  men,  are  accustomed  to  cry  out  when 
a  danger  surprises  them,  0  Lord,  help  me;  0  God,  deliver  me; 
lifting  up  their  eyes  at  that  time  to  heaven,  as  if  nature  itself 
in  that  case  compelled  them  to  do  homage  to  that  Majesty 
which  they  outrage  or  blaspheme  through  the  rest  of  their 
lives.     But  what  nature  too  imperfectly  teaches  us,  we  learn 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  633 

plainly  and  fully  from  the  Scripture  ;  where  we  have  both  ex- 
press commands  to  call  on  God,  and  promises  of  favourable 
audience,  and  examples  of  all  holy  men  under  each  of  the 
covenants,  whose  supplications  the  Holy  Spirit  has  taken  care 
to  preserve  for  us  in  these  sacred  registers  of  the  church. 
Paul  presupposing  therefore  here  that  the  faithful  to  whom 
he  wrote  had  this  exercise  of  prayer  familiar  among  them,  ac- 
cording to  that  common  principle  of  nature  and  of  Scripture, 
only  regulates  the  manner  of  performing  it,  advising  them  to 
persevere  in  it,  to  watch  in  it,  and  to  accompany  it  with  thanks- 
giving. 

As  for  perseverance  in  prayer,  it  is  not  without  reason  that 
he  expressly  gives  it  to  us  in  charge.  For  though  the  duty 
is  not  only  very  just,  but  even  most  necessary  ;  yet  we  are  of  our- 
selves so  cold  and  sluggish,  and  so  indisposed  to  the  perform- 
ance of  it,  that  we  all  need  the  heavenly  voice  of  this  minister 
of  God  to  excite  us  to  it.  Presuming  that  we  have  the  things 
we  need  in  our  own  power,  or  shall  find  them  in  the  sufficiency 
of  nature,  and  not  considering  how  they  all  depend  upon  the 
hands  of  God,  we  remit  the  assiduous  invocation  of  him  and 
make  not  use  of  prayer  but  on  extraordinary  occasions,  when 
human  succour  fails  us,  as  the  manner  is  in  tragedies,  where 
the  Deity  is  not  brought  in  but  at  some  difficulties,  which  no 
created  power  or  prudence  is  able  to  clear.  On  the  other  hand, 
we  are  so  proudly  delicate  and  tender,  that  if  we  are  not  heard 
as  soon  as  we  have  spoken,  we  fly  offj  and  are  ready  to  say,  as 
that  king  of  Israel  once  did,  "Why  should  I  wait  for  the  Lord 
any  longer  ?"  2  Kings  vi.  33. 

To  cure  ourselves  of  so  pernicious  a  humour,  and  that  we 
may  persevere  in  prayer,  according  to  the  apostle's  advice,  let 
us  consider,  in  the  first  place,  the  continual  need  we  have  of 
God's  assistance:  for  since  it  is  in  him  that  we  have  being,  life, 
and  motion;  since  it  is  he  who  sends  poverty,  and  makes  rich; 
who  sets  up,  and  puts  down  ;  who  dispenses  health  and  sick- 
ness; who  brings  down  to  the  grave,  and  brings  up  from 
thence  ;  who  governs  the  hearts  of  men,  and  the  elements  of  na- 
ture :  since  it  is  he,  again,  who  begins,  who  polishes,  and  per- 
fects all  the  work  of  grace,  and  crowns  it  with  glory  ;  who 
eflectually  produces  in  us  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good 
pleasure  :  it  is  evident  that  without  the  help  of  his  holy  and 
most  happy  hand  we  can  never  possess  any  good,  either  in  our 
own  persons  or  in  our  families,  either  in  the  state  or  in  the 
church  ;  nor  be  preserved,  and  secured,  or  freed,  and  saved 
from  any  evil  of  any  kind  whatever.  You  cannot  refuse  be- 
lief of  this  great  truth  without  imputing  falsehood  at  once  to 
the  Scriptures  of  God,  and  the  depositions  of  nature,  both 
which  everywhere  harmoniously  declare  and  aver  it.  Yet  if 
you  credit  it,  why  do  you  not  consider  what  it  necessarily 
80 


634  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLVI. 

infers,  namely,  that  having  continual  need  of  God's  assistance, 
you  are  by  your  own  interest  bound  to  implore  it  continually 
— and  that  as  you  cannot  pass  a  day  without  his  favourable 
succour,  so  neither  should  you  spend  a  day  without  calling  on 
his  name?  Look,  I  beseech  you,  upon  poor  beggars,  with 
what  earnestness,  with  what  indefatigable  perseverance,  they 
spend  whole  days,  nay,  their  whole  life,  in  petitioning  us  ! 
It  is  a  sense  of  their  necessity  that  gives  them  this  con- 
stancy and  inspires  this  courage  in  them.  Dear  brethren, 
we  have  infinitely  more  need  of  the  succours  of  God  than 
these  poor  people  have  of  ours.  Why  are  not  we  at  least  a3 
earnest,  as  constant,  and  as  assiduous  in  beseeching  him,  as 
they  are  in  asking  alms  of  us?  As  for  them,  our  flintiness  is 
such,  that  generally  they  reap  little  or  no  fruit  of  their  perse- 
verance in  asking  of  us  ;  whereas  the  Lord,  according  to  the 
riches  of  his  infinite  goodness  and  power,  never  sends  away 
ashamed  such  as  persevere  in  prayer  to  him.  He  has  so  pro- 
mised, he  daily  so  performs,  and  the  experience  of  the  church 
in  all  ages  assures  us  of  the  truth  of  his  word.  I  confess,  he 
does  not  always  immediately  give  us  what  we  crave.  But  if 
we  be  constant,  if,  undismayed  at  his  first  denials,  we  press  him 
with  a  vigorous  and  an  ardent  faith,  there  is  nothing  that  per- 
severance will  not  in  the  end  draw  from  his  bounty.  It  was 
thus  that  Jacob  obtained  the  blessing  he  desired.  He  wrestled 
stoutly  with  God  all  night,  and  had  power  over  him  ;  he  wept, 
and  begged  favour,  and  constantly  holding  fast  his  Lord,  "  I 
will  not  let  thee  go,"  said  he,  "  except  thou  bless  me,"  Gen. 
xxxii.  24 — 26  ;  Hos.  xii.  4.  The  Canaanitish  woman  in  the 
Gospel  took  the  same  course,  and  was  heard  in  the  same  man- 
ner. She  bore  our  Saviour's  first  denials  without  dismay,  and 
those  hard  words,  "  It  is  not  meet  to  cast  the  children's  bread 
to  dogs,"  astonished  her  not.  She  received  this  great  blow 
with  fortitude  ;  it  did  not  induce  her  to  discontinue  her  sup- 
plications ;  and  her  holy  importunity  came  off  victorious, 
having  drawn  from  our  Lord's  mouth  that  sweet  and  desirable 
answer,  "0  woman,  great  is  thy  faith:  be  it  unto  thee  even  as 
thou  wilt,"  Matt.  xv.  22 — 28.  Imitate  this  violence.  It  offends 
not  God.  It  appeases  him.  The  Lord  himself  commands  it 
expressly,  and  teaches  us  that  we  ought  to  pray  always,  and  not 
faint,  by  the  parable  of  that  poor  widow,  whose  importunity 
overcame  the  obduracy  of  the  unjust  judge,  and  drew  that  from 
him  in  the  end  to  which  neither  the  fear  of  God,  nor  the  re- 
spect of  men,  could  sway  him.  This  judge  was  wicked  and 
cruel,  yet  the  perseverance  of  a  woman  conquered  him.  How 
much  rather  shall  ours  bear  away  what  we  desire  of  God,  who 
is  goodness  and  clemency  itself!  As  for  that  judge,  it  was  liis 
nature,  and  the  disposition  of  his  heart,  that  rendered  him 
cruel  and  inexorable  ;  but  if  the  Lord  grant  not  our  first   re- 


CHAP.  IV.]         THE   EPISTLE    TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  635 

quests,  it  is  not  that  he  means  indeed  to  be  sparing  of  his 
benefits  towards  us.  In  truth,  he  is  more  willing  to  give  them 
than  we  are  to  receive  them.  This  is  but  a  mysterious  act  of 
his  wisdom  ;  and  by  such  delays  he  would  exercise  our  faith, 
inflame  our  desires,  and  try  our  constancy.  He  hides  himself 
that  we  might  seek  him.  He  retires,  that  we  might  press  after 
him  ;  and  holds  back  his  blessing,  that  we  might  pluck  it  from 
him.  His  favours  are  no  boons  that  should  be  faintly  desired. 
We  do  not  know  the  value  of  them,  if  we  do  not  esteem  them 
worthy  to  be  asked  with  importunity.  The  favours  we  sue 
for  at  the  courts  and  palaces  of  men  are  only  terrestrial  things, 
things  of  little  value,  and  of  a  short  and  uncertain  duration. 
Yet  what  do  we  not  do  to  obtain  them  ?  We  besiege  their 
gates  in  the  morning  early  ;  we  abide  there  till  late  at  night  ; 
we  suffer  their  denials  and  disdains,  and  oftentimes  even  their 
reproaches,  and  the  outrages  of  their  domestics.  They  drive 
us  from  them  ;  they  call  us  troublesome  people  ;  they  regard 
our  importunity  as  impudence,  or  insolence.  We  swallow  all 
these  affronts  ;  and,  after  all,  forbear  not  to  come  on  again,  in- 
venting, if  possible,  some  new  submission  to  soften  them  ;  so 
great  and  pressing  is  our  desire  of  those  things  for  which  we 
petition  them.  Christians,  do  you  not  blush  at  having  more 
passion  for  things  of  the  earth  than  for  things  of  heaven  ? 
Are  you  not  ashamed  to  solicit  the  justice  or  the  favour  of 
men  with  more  earnestness  than  the  grace  of  God — to  have 
more  patience  and  perseverance  in  seeking  to  win  the  heart 
of  a  worm  of  the  earth,  than  to  overcome  the  King  of 
kings  ?  Your  salvation  is  concerned.  The  grace  you  crave 
of  liim  is  the  abolition  of  crimes  that  merit  an  eternal  death; 
and  that  which  you  solicit  from  him  is  not  a  piece  of 
ground,  or  a  house,  or  a  small  sum  of  money,  or  some  years 
of  a  temporal  life,  or  liberty:  it  is  heaven  and  eternity 
which  you  beg,  the  treasury  and  palace  of  his  Christ,  the  peace 
and  joy  of  his  Spirit,  an  immortal  liberty,  an  immortal  life  and 
glory.  It  is  for  this,  beloved  brethren,  that  we  should  be  vio- 
lent, eager,  and  obstinately  importunate.  It  is  for  this  we 
should  spend  days  and  nights  in  solicitation  at  the  feet  of  God, 
and  seize  resolutely  on  him,  and  protest  to  him,  with  a  firm 
and  fixed  determination,  that  we  will  not  quit  him  till  he  grant 
our  desire.  No,  Lord,  thou  shah  not  escape  me.  Either  thou 
must  suffer  day  and  night  my  importunities,  or  I  obtain  what 
I  petition  for.  I  will  give  thee  no  rest  until  thou  hast  fulfilled 
the  desire  of  my  heart.  I  will  have  it  from  thy  hand,  or  die 
begging  it.  Such,  christians,  is  the  perseverance  which  the 
apostle  commands  us  here,  and  again  elsewhere,  when  he  gives 
us  orders  to  pray  without  ceasing. 

I  have  only  two  remarks  to  add  :  the  first  is,  that  we  must 
not  understand  these  words  as  if  he  desired  us  to  quit  all 


636  AN   EXPOSITION  OF  [SEKM.  XLVI. 

other  exercise,  and  lay  aside  the  labour  of  the  callings  in 
which  God  has  placed  us,  and  do  nothing  but  pour  out  prayers  ; 
as  certain  extravagant  heretics,  called  theEuchites,  that  is  the 
Prayers,  formerly  interpreted  it.  The  apostle,  who  orders  us 
here  to  pray  without  ceasing,  commands  us  also  to  labour,  and 
that  with  such  necessity,  as  that  he  sentences  that  man  not  to 
eat  who  does  not  labour.  These  acts  of  our  piety  do  not 
thwart  each  other.  Prayer  seasons  and  animates  labour;  it 
hinders  it  not.  That  perseverance  in  it  which  is  our  duty  does 
not  consist  in  unintermitted  prayer,  but  in  prayer  frequently 
resumed,  and  assiduously  reiterated,  so  that  neither  the 
trouble  of  waiting,  nor  despair  of  obtaining,  nor  any  other 
consideration,  makes  us  give  over  the  diligent  practice  of  it. 

The  other  advice  we  have  to  give  you  in  reference  to  this 
subject  is  against  superstition,  which  regulates  prayers,  you 
know,  by  the  clock,  and  scrupulously  ties  men  up  to  the  num- 
ber and  to  the  words  of  their  petitions.  A  christian,  who  has  his 
conversation  in  heaven,  above  time,  and  the  motions  that  make 
it,  measures  his  devotion  by  things  themselves,  and  makes 
his  prayers,  not  at  the  toll  of  a  bell,  but  at  the  signal  of  his 
need:  he  lengthens  or  ends  them,  not  according  to  the  number 
of  beads  in  a  chaplet,  but  according  to  the  movings  of  his 
heart. 

Now  after  perseverance  in  prayer,  the  apostle  requires  of 
us  also  vigilance  in  it  :  "  Continue  in  prayer,"  says  he,  "  and 
watch  in  the  same  with  thanksgiving."  I  freely  yield  that  the 
faithful  may  steal  away  some  hours  from  their  repose,  and  em- 
ploy them  in  prayer,  provided  it  is  done  without  superstition. 
Nor  do  I  deny  that  the  prophets,  and  the  apostles,  and  the 
christians  of  -the  primitive  church,  often  did  so  ;  rising  at 
night,  and  spending  either  in  private  or  in  their  churches,  some 
hours  in  prayer  and  other  exercises  of  piety.  Yet  it  seems  to 
me  that  it  is  not  of  these  watchings  the  apostle  here  speaks. 
For  there  is  another  kind  of  watch,  which  we  may  call  the 
watch  of  the  soul  ;  and  it  is  only  an  attention  of  mind,  when 
we  keep  all  our  faculties  in  a  good  state,  lively  and  working, 
not  asleep,  nor  drowned  in  idleness,  or  in  love  of  the  world, 
or  in  its  errors  and  vanities  ;  but  awake,  and  elevated  unto  God, 
heeding  him,  and  intent  upon  his  work;  looking  unto  Christ, 
and  for  his  day,  and  expecting  his  salvation  with  earnestness 
and  constancy.  It  is  thus  that  the  soul  of  that  prophet 
watched,  who  waited  more  attentively  for  God  than  the  morn- 
ing watchmen  for  the  break  of  day,  Psal.  cxxx.  6.  And  to 
this  must  be  referred  those  numerous  passages  of  the  New 
Testament  which  command  us  to  watch  :  "  Watch  and  pray, 
that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation,"  Matt.  xxvi.  41.  "  Watch  ; 
for  ye  know  not  when  the  master  of  the  house  cometh,"  Mark 
xiii!^  35.     '•  Let  us  not  sleep,  as  do  others  ;  but  let  us  watch 


CHAP.   IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  637 

and  be  sober,"  1  Thess.  v.  6.  "  Watcli  ye,  stand  fast  in  the 
faith,  quit  you  like  men,  be  strong,"  1  Cor.  xvi.  13.  "  Be  watch- 
ful," Rev.  iii.  2.  "  Blessed  is  he  that  watcheth,"  Rev.  xvi.  15. 
And  the  same  often  elsewhere.  For  as  the  apostle  elegantly 
says  of  a  widow  who  spends  her  time  in  the  pleasures  of  sin, 
that  she  "  is  dead  while  she  liveth;"  so  may  we  say  in  the 
same  manner  of  a  person  who  thinks  not  upon  God,  nor  his 
service,  nor  minds  the  occasions  of  doing  good  and  holy 
works,  however  active  and  busy  he  may  be  in  the  affairs  of 
the  world,  that  he  sleeps  while  he  is  awake.  This  mystical 
sleeping  is  an  insensibility  of  soul  for  the  things  of  God. 
The  waking,  or  watching,  opposite  to  it,  is  the  attention,  the 
sensibility,  and  the  action  of  the  soul  about  the  things  of  sal- 
vation. It  is  true,  that  this  kind  of  watching  is  necessary  for 
us  in  all  the  parts  of  our  lives,  and  that  no  season,  no  occa- 
sion should  ever  find  a  christian  asleep  in  this  sense.  But  as 
prayer  is  the  most  excellent  of  all  our  services  ;  so  it  particu- 
larly requires  of  us  this  watching,  this  attention.  I  consider, 
therefore,  that  it  is  precisely  this  which  the  apostle  means,  when 
he  commands  us  to  watch  in  prayer.  He  would  have  us  bring 
to  it  a  soul  awakened,  not  overwhelmed  in  the  cares  and  pas- 
sions of  the  world  ;  not  laden  and  weighed  down  with  thoughts 
of  the  flesh  ;  not  spiritless  and  languid,  but  stretched  forth, 
and  lifted  up  to  God  ;  not  heedless  of  what  it  does,  or  heed- 
ing it  by  halves  ;  but  minding  the  things  it  asks  of  him, 
and  that  Christ  in  whose  name  it  presents  its  requests  to 
him. 

By  which  you  may  judge  in  what  manner  we  are  to  regard 
most  men's  prayers,  which  are  pronounced  by  the  mouth  alone, 
without  any  attention  of  heart,  from  custom  rather  than  from 
any  solid  devotion.  Certainly,  since  prayer  ought  to  be  made 
with  watching  thereunto,  it  is  evident  that  these  people's  sup- 
plications are,  to  say  the  truth,  dreamings,  and  not  prayers. 
They  are  vain  words,  like  to  those  which  a  man  sometimes 
utters  in  his  sleep.  Those  of  Home  are  so  far  from  removing 
christians  from  this  abuse,  that  they  precipitate  them  into  it, 
by  that  strange  and  extravagant  law  for  their  services,  which 
orders  the  performance  of  them  in  a  language  which  the  people 
understand  not.  Our  hearts  are  so  vain,  that  they  can  hardly 
keep  close  to  the  things  and  words  we  understand.  I  beseech 
you,  what  attention  can  they  have  for  those  which  they  under- 
stand not?  And  how  do  they  watch  in  praying,  who  are  so 
far  from  thinking  upon  what  they  say,  as  that  they  know  not 
what  is  meant  ?  Magpies  and  parrots  are  capable  of  prayer 
and  of  devotion,  if  the  uttering  a  few  words,  without  under- 
standing them,  is  praying  to  God. 

But  the  apostle  would  have  us  further  add  to  prayer  giving 
of  thanks.     And  truly  with  great  propriety.     For  how  can  we 


638  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLVI. 

ask  of  God  new  favours,  if  we  make  not  our  acknowledgments 
to  him  for  those  which  we  have  already  received  ?  This  duty 
is  so  rational,  that  if  no  other  consideration  called  for  it,  the 
thing  itself  would  oblige  us  to  perform  it.  The  having  received 
a  benefit  is  cause  enough  for  rendering  of  thanks.  It  is  an  odi- 
ous ingratitude,  to  have  and  use  the  gifts  of  God  without  ex- 
pressing to  him  our  thanks  for  them.  But  besides  ingratitude, 
it  is  impudence  also,  to  present  ourselves  to  God  and  ask  new 
benefits  of  him,  if  we  thank  him  not  for  the  old.  It  is  with 
this  therefore  that  all  our  prayers  should  begin  ;  and  there  is 
no  kind  of  rhetoric  so  powerful  to  persuade  him  to  give  for  the 
future  as  an  acknowledgment  of  what  is  past.  He  loves  to  sow 
his  mercies  upon  such  ground  as  receives  them  with  gratitude; 
and  he  readily  hears  the  vows  and  prayers  of  those  who  have  a 
deep  and  respectful  sense  of  the  favours  which  he  has  conferred 
upon  them.  Now  tell  me  not  that  you  have  not  yet  received 
anything  from  his  liberality.  There  is  not  a  man,  however 
wretched  and  forlorn,  that  this  divine  sun  of  grace  and  bounty 
has  not  visited,  and  to  whom  he  has  not  imparted  some  of  his 
benefits.  How  much  more  has  he  done  it  towards  you,  whom 
he  has  honoured  with  his  covenant  !  and  to  whom  he  offers  his 
gospel,  and  his  Christ,  and  in  him  all  the  treasures  of  his  grace 
and  glory  !  For  I  omit  this  body  and  this  soul,  this  breath  and 
light,  and  that  multitude  of  other  good  things,  which  he  com- 
municates unto  all  men  in  the  course  of  nature.  But  how  can 
you,  without  being  dead,  or  at  least  utterly  stupid,  possess  no 
gratitude  for  the  grace  which  he  has  showed  you,  in  calling 
you  to  his  communion,  and  thereby  to  the  hope  of  salvation 
and  eternity  ?  Yet  though  he  has  done  you  so  many  favours 
already,  he  forbids  you  not  to  crave  more  of  him.  His  good- 
ness is  an  inexhaustible  deep.  Beg  and  pray  boldly.  All 
that  he  requires  of  you  is,  that  you  do  it  with  thanksgiving; 
that  you  tender  him  your  thanks  for  his  first  favours,  if  you 
would  have  him  grant  the  requests  you  make  to  him  for  further 
graces.  This  is  it,  dear  brethren,  which  the  apostle  enjoins  the 
Colossians,  concerning  prayer  in  general,  even  that  they  perse- 
vere in  it,  "  and  watch  in  the  same  with  thanksgiving." 

II.  He  next  solicits  them,  in  the  second  part  of  our  text,  to 
pray  particularly  for  him  :  "  Withal  praying  also  for  us,  that 
God  would  open,"  &c.  As  to  this,  I  will  not  stay  to  chastise 
the  silly  subtilty  of  the  superstitious,  who  conclude,  from  the 
apostle's  requiring  the  Colossians  to  pray  for  him,  that  there- 
fore we  may  also  pray  the  spirits  of  the  departed  saints,  which 
are  in  heaven,  to  do  us  the  same  oflice.  This  is  as  rational  as 
if  I  should  infer  from  Paul's  writing  this  Epistle  to  the  Colos- 
sians, that  therefore  we  have  warrant  to  write  letters  to  the  dead. 
These  Colossians,  of  whom  Paul  demands  the  assistance  of  their 
prayers,  were  persons  living  here  beneath  on  earthy  persons 


CHAP.  IV,]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  639 

with  whom  he  had  mutual  commerce  in  such  offices  of  charity. 
He  wrote  to  them,  they  answered  him.  He  knew  his  words 
would  reach  them,  and  he  looked  again  for  theirs;  whereas  we 
have  no  such  commerce  with  the  deceased.  And  as  for  the 
reply  which  is  made,  that  they  know  our  desires  and  hear  our 
prayers,  it  is  a  fancy  asserted  without  proof  and  without  reason, 
such  as  nothing  but  the  passion  of  a  bad  cause  has  inspired 
error  with,  and  which  we  must  not  believe,  since  the  word  of 
God,  which  is  the  rule  and  measure  of  our  faith,  says  nothing 
of  it.  However  this  may  be,  since  God,  who  everywhere  com- 
mands us  to  pray,  nowhere  orders  us  to  pray  to  men  departed  ; 
since  the  apostle  who  presses  the  Colossians,  and  various  other 
believers  who  were  alive,  to  pray  unto  God  for  him,  nowhere 
solicits  them,  either  by  his  order  or  by  his  example,  to  do  him 
the  same  office,  by  addressing  prayers  to  deceased  saints  ;  we 
cannot  be  faulty  in  keeping  religiously  as  we  do  to  the  com- 
mands of  God,  and  the  examples  of  Paul,  and  the  other  saints 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  who  have  indeed  prayed  unto 
God,  and  verily  required  the  aid  of  the  prayers  of  living  faith- 
ful people,  but  never  invocated  or  solicited  the  dead  to  pray 
for  them.  All  that  can  be  duly  concluded  from  this  example 
of  the  apostle  is,  that  while  we  war  here  below  under  the  en- 
signs of  Jesus  Christ,  the  charity  that  unites  us  all  into  one 
body  obliges  us  to  pray  for  each  other,  and  not  only  pastors 
for  their  flocks,  but  also  flocks  for  their  pastors.  Who  was 
then,  or  who  has  since  been,  greater  than  Paul  ?  Yet  you  see 
how  he  disdains  not  the  prayers  of  private  christians.  He 
disdains  them  not,  said  I?  He  demands  them,  and  requires 
them  expressly.  Elsewhere  he  demands  the  same  assistance  of 
the  Ephesians  and  the  Thessalonians. 

Hence  we  may  conclude,  that  for  any  one  to  have  the  title 
given  him  of  a  mediator  between  God  and  us,  it  is  not  suffi- 
cient that  he  pray  unto  God  for  us.  For  by  this  account  the 
Colossians,  praying  for  Paul  according  to  the  directions  which 
he  gives  them  and  the  request  he  makes  of  them,  might  and 
should  be  styled  his  mediators  with  God,  which  is  infinitely 
absurd,  as  every  one  would  confess.  Whence,  first,  is  refuted 
the  abuse  of  those  who  give  this  glorious  quality  to  pastors, 
calling  them  mediators  between  God  and  the  people  ;  an 
abuse  against  which  St.  Augustine  cried  out  long  ago,  saying, 
that  "  if  any  man  boasted  he  was  a  mediator  between  God 
and  his  flock,  good  and  faithful  christians  could  not  suffer 
him  ;  but  would  look  upon  him  as  an  antichrist,  and  not  as 
an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  :"  and  concluding,  that  "all  chris- 
tian men  recommend  each  other  unto  God  by  their  prayers  ; 
but  that  we  have  one  only  true  Mediator,  him  that  maketh 
request  for  us,  and  for  whom  none  makes  request,  namely, 


640  AN   EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XL VI. 

our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."'^  Hence,  secondly,  appears  further, 
that  supposing  that  departed  saints  pray  to  God  for  each 
of  us  in  particular,  (as  those  of  Rome  pretend,)  yet  this  would 
not  be  sufficient  to  acquire  the  title  of  mediator,  which  they 
give  them  ;  seeing  that  flocks  praying  for  their  pastors  are  not 
therefore  their  mediators  ;  it  being  evident  that  to  merit  this 
title  there  must  be  offered  to  God  for  us,  besides  prayer,  a 
propitiation  capable  of  supporting  it,  and  of  acquiring  us  the 
favour  of  the  Father,  a  thing  that  pertains  to  none  but  the 
Lord  Jesus  ;  the  prayers  which  we  make  for  one  another 
having  no  other  efficacy  than  what  our  common  Head  gives 
them,  unto  whom  they  ascend  in  the  heavens,  and  in  whom 
is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins,  as  St.  Austin  excellently  saith.f 
It  is  the  express  doctrine  of  Paul,  who,  having  said  that 
"there  is  but  one  Mediator  between  God  and  men,  even  the 
man  Jesus  Christ,"  immediately  adds,  as  a  reason  for  this 
title,  that  he  "  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all,"  1  Tim.  ii.  5,  6. 

But  let  us  now  see  what  prayers  the  apostle  requires  of 
the  Colossians,  and  what  particular  he  would  have  them 
crave  of  God  for  him.  Being  a  prisoner  at  Rome,  one  would 
have  thought  that  he  would  have  desired  above  all  things  to 
be  set  at  liberty.  But  behold,  I  beseech  you,  the  generosity 
of  this  holy  man,  and  how  nobly  he  despises  the  interests 
of  the  flesh.  He  says  nothing  of  this.  He  would  have  them 
entreat  God  to  open  to  him  the  door,  not  of  his  prison,  but 
of  utterance,  that  he  may  publish  the  mystery  of  Christ. 
This  is  all  his  heart  is  set  upon.  He  takes  no  thought  for 
his  ease  or  liberty.  He  has  no  sentiment  nor  desire  but  for 
the  exercise  of  his  ministry  ;  that  is,  for  the  advancement 
of  the  glory  of  God  and  for  the  edification  of  men.  He  is 
content,  provided  he  may  successfully  disseminate  his  Mas- 
ter's gospel.  If  his  prison  hinder  him  from  doing  this  conve- 
niently, and  to  such  a  latitude  as  he  would  if  he  were  free  ;  in 
this  case  only,  and  from  no  other  design,  would  he  have 
prayer  made  to  God  to  release  him  from  his  bonds.  If  not, 
his  chain  is  indifferent  to  him,  provided  it  obstruct  not  the 
course  of  the  gospel,  and  that  notwithstanding  his  bonds  the 
word  of  God  be  not  bound,  2  Tim.  ii.  9.  This  is  all  he  craves 
of  the  Lord,  and  all  that  he  desires  others  should  crave  for 
him,  that  he  "  open,"  says  he,  "  a  door  of  utterance  ;"  that  is, 
give  him,  in  his  providence,  the  opportunity  and  ability  to 
preach  it,  removing  from  before  him  the  aversion,  and  ha- 
tred, and  fury  of  men  against  this  holy  doctrine,  and  those 
other  scandals  which  the  devil  never  fails  to  raise  in  its  way, 
as  so  many  thick  and  impenetrable  gates,  to  hinder  this 
divine  sceptre  of  Christ  from  entering  in  among  men,  and 

*Lib.  3.  cout.  ep.  Parraeii.  c.  8.  flbid.  paulo  post. 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  641 

accomplishing  the  good  pleasure  of  God  upon  them.  He  uses 
the  same  phrase  in  another  place  in  the  same  sense,  and  the 
reason  of  it  is  evident.  For  speaking  of  the  fair  occasion  he 
had  to  preach  at  Ephesus,  he  says  that  a  great  door  and  an 
effectual  was  opened  to  him  by  the  Lord,  1  Cor.  xvi.  9  ;  and 
again,  to  signify  the  same  thing  with  reference  to  the  country 
about  Troas,  he  affirms  that,  being  come  thither  on  the  ac- 
count of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  he  found  the  door  opened  to 
him  by  the  Lord,  2  Cor.  ii.  12. 

In  process,  he  adds  the  end  for  which  he  desires  the  Lord 
would  grant  him  such  an  opening:  "To  speak  the  mystery 
of  Christ,  for  which  I  am  also  in  bonds."  "  The  mystery," 
that  is,  the  secret,  "  of  Christ,"  or  the  gospel,  the  most  sublime 
and  admirable  of  all  the  revelations  of  God.  It  is  called  a 
mystery,  both  here  and  in  other  places,  Eom.  xvi.  25  ;  Eph. 
vi.  19  ;  Col.  i.  26  ;  ii.  2  ;  because  it  is  a  wisdom  hidden  of 
itself  to  men  and  angels,  such  as  no  created  understanding 
could  have  ever  penetrated  ;  this  counsel  which  God  had 
taken  to  save  men  by  the  cross  of  his  only  Son  being  above 
the  conception  of  all  creatures  ;  and  one  may  say  of  it  in 
truth,  with  the  apostle  in  another  place,  that  it  is  things 
which  "  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered 
into  the  heart  of  man,"  1  Cor.  ii.  9.  He  gives  us  the  sum  of  it 
in  another  text,  where  he  clearly  explains  what  this  mystery 
of  Christ  is  :  "  Without  contradiction,"  says  he,  "  great  is  the 
mystery  of  godliness  :  God  was  manifest  in  flesh,  justified  in 
the  Spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached  unto  the  Gentiles,  believed 
on  in  the  world,  received  up  into  glory,"  1  Tim.  iii.  16.  Now 
he  calls  this  grand  secret  the  mystery  of  Christ  ;  first,  because 
Jesus  Christ  is  all  the  fulness  thereof,  that  is,  the  sole  subject 
that  fills  up  the  whole  of  it.  Consequently,  the  apostle,  who 
was  an  excellent  and  most  consummate  preacher  of  it,  for 
rightly  discharging  his  office,  determines  to  know  nothing 
among  those  to  whom  he  preached  but  "Jesus  Christ,  and  him 
crucified,"  1  Cor.  ii.  2.  Secondly,  because  it  is  the  Lord  Jesus 
who  first  revealed  it  unto  men  ;  who  brought  it  out  of  the 
abysses  of  the  divine  wisdom,  and  from  under  the  figures  and 
obscurities  of  the  old  law,  where  it  lay  hid  during  preceding 
generations,  Rom.  xvi.  25;  Eph.  iii.  9,  and  communicated  it 
to  the  holy  apostles  in  the  light  of  that  heavenly  Spirit  with 
which  they  were  baptized  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  ;  and  after- 
ward set  it,  by  their  ministry,  before  the  eyes  of  Jews  and 
Gentiles. 

It  is  not  in  vain  that  the  apostle  says  here,  by  the  way,  he  is 
a  prisoner  for  this  gospel  of  his  Master.  For  what  allegation 
could  be  more  proper,  or  more  potent,  to  affect  the  Colossians, 
and  render  them  prompt  and  earnest  to  pray  unto  God  for 
him,  and  for  the  progress  of  the  gospel,  than  a  remonstrance 
81 


64t  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLVI. 

that  it  is  for  this  holy  and  glorious  cause  he  suffers — and  that 
this  mystery  of  Christ,  which  he  so  passionately  desires  to 
publish,  is  so  divine,  as  that  he  hesitated  not  to  seal  its  truth 
by  a  constant  and  courageous  endurance  of  the  captivity  in 
which  he  was  held  ?  But  after  this  opening  the  door  of  utter- 
ance, the  apostle  would  have  the  faithful  crave  of  God  further, 
that  he  may  manifest  the  gospel  as  he  ought  to  speak  ;  that  is, 
preach  it  in  such  a  manner  as  may  be  worthy  of  so  sublime  a 
subject,  with  proper  liberty,  diligence  and  fidelity.  For  it  is 
not  enough  to  have  once  received  of  God  gifts  necessary  for 
the  execution  of  this  holy  office,  he  must  preserve  them  in  us 
by  a  continual  influx  of  his  light,  and  give  us  the  courage, 
the  zeal,  and  spiritual  prudence  to  use  them  in  such  a  manner 
as  is  proper  for  the  edification  of  men. 

Thus  you  see,  beloved  brethren,  what  the  apostle  formerly 
demanded  of  the  Colossians,  both  in  general,  and  for  himself 
in  particular.  And  consider  that  this  great  minister  of  Christ 
now  demands  the  same  things  of  you  by  our  mouths  ;  in  gene- 
ral, that  you  "continue  in  prayer,  and  watching  in  the  same 
with  thanksgiving  ;"  and  in  particular,  that  you  pray  for  us, 
who  have  the  honour  to  preach  the  gospel  to  you.  As  for 
prayer,  we  have  before  sufficiently  justified  the  necessity  of 
it.  It  remains  only  that  you  make  your  profit  of  it  ;  that  this 
holy  exercise  be  ordinary  in  your  families  ;  that  this  sacri- 
fice be  there  daily  offered  unto  God  morning  and  evening; 
that  you  do  not  undertake  nor  begin  anything  before  you 
have  dedicated  it  unto  God  by  prayer.  Instruct  your  chil- 
dren and  servants  in  the  same  devotion,  that  there  may  not 
be  a  person  within  your  doors  who  does  not  understand  this 
divine  liturgy  of  all  christians,  and  exercise  himself  in  it. 
Then  take  heed  to  acquit  yourselves  in  this  duty  as  you 
ought;  that  is,  to  perform  it  with  fervency,  attention,  vigi- 
lance, and  perseverance  ;  to  wash  your  hands  in  innocency, 
to  purify  your  souls  and  bodies,  for  the  presenting  them  to 
this  supreme  and  most  holy  Divinity,  without  offending  his 
sight.  You  know  what  the  prophets  say  of  those  whose 
hands  are  full  of  blood,  that  they  are  an  abomination  to  the 
Lord  ;  that  he  is  weary  to  bear  them  ;  that  he  abhors  their 
devotions,  and  disdains  their  vain  oblations  ;  that  he  hides 
his  face  from  them  when  they  dare  stretch  out  their  polluted 
hands  unto  him  ;  and  will  not  hear  their  prayers,  though  they 
should  multiply  them  to  the  utmost.  "  Wash  you,"  says  he, 
"  make  you  clean  ;  put  away  the  evil  of  your  doings  from  be- 
fore mine  eyes  ;  cease  to  do  evil  ;  learn  to  do  well;  seek  judg- 
ment, relieve  the  oppressed,  judge  the  fatherless,  plead  for 
the  widow,"  Isa.  i.  13 — 17.  This,  christians,  is  the  incense 
with  which  the  Lord  would  have  you  perfume  your  offerings 
of  prayer,  that  they  may  be  pleasing  to  him.     Hearken  to  his 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  643 

voice,  if  you  desire  he  should  hear  yours.  Obey  the  word 
of  his  gospel,  if  you  would  have  him  receive  the  words  of 
your  supplications.  We  complain  that  we  have  long  prayed 
in  vain  :  but  let  us  not  disparage  his  veracity  ;  rather  confess 
that  we  have  not  prayed  as  we  ought  ;  that  is,  with  such  faith, 
such  repentance,  and  amendment  of  life,  as  necessarily  should 
have  accompanied  these  sacrifices.  Henceforth  then,  for  it  is 
yet  time,  turn  ye  unto  him  with  all  your  heart,  and  lift  up 
pure  hands,  without  wrath  and  doubting;  and  vigorously 
persevere  in  this  holy  exercise,  with  assurance  that  he  will 
hear  you. 

But,  dear  brethren,  among  other  things  which  you  should 
crave  of  God,  pray  to  him  also  for  us,  that  he  would  open 
unto  us  the  door  of  utterance,  to  the  end  that  we  may  declare 
the  mystery  of  Christ,  and  manifest  it  to  you  as  we  ought. 
For,  if  Paul,  a  chosen  vessel,  made  and  formed  immediately 
by  the  hand  of  heaven,  consecrated  by  Christ's  own  voice, 
and  filled  with  the  treasures  of  his  Spirit  in  all  abundance, 
notwithstanding  required  the  assistance  of  the  Colossians' 
prayers  in  the  administration  of  this  charge;  how  much  more 
is  the  succour  of  yours  necessary  for  us  :  for  us,  I  say,  who 
in  comparison  with  him  are  but  children  !  We  conjure  you, 
therefore,  both  by  the  glory  of  our  common  Master,  and  by 
the  interest  you  have  in  his  work,  that  you  never  fail  to  re- 
member us  in  your  sacrifices  of  prayer  ;  but  always  beseech 
this  supreme  Lord  to  perfect  his  strength  in  our  weakness,  to 
give  us  a  mouth  fit  to  declare  his  mysteries,  and  to  purify  our 
lips,  as  he  formerly  did  his  prophets,  untie  our  tongue,  as  he 
did  that  of  Moses,  and  fill  our  souls  with  that  divine  fire 
which  once  suddenly  animated  his  apostles;  clearing  up  our 
minds  unto  a  distinct  knowledge  of  his  gospel  wisdom  ;  in- 
flaming our  hearts  with  the  zeal  of  his  house,  and  cleansing 
them  from  the  filth  of  all  human  passions.  Now,  if  the  Lord, 
inclined  by  the  ardour  and  constancy  of  your  prayers,  vouch- 
safe to  confer  upon  us  some  small  portion  of  his  grace,  look  on 
it  as  a  thing  that  pertains  to  you  ;  a  thing  given  in  answer  to 
your  prayer,  and  for  your  edification.  Use  it,  and  make  ad- 
vantage of  it.  Let  it  not  be  said  that  this  great  mystery  of 
Christ  was  declared  unto  you  in  vain  ;  and  that  it  being  man- 
ifested to  you  as  it  ought,  you  received  it  not  as  you  should. 
God  keep  you  from  such  an  unhappiness.  For,  however  weak 
our  preaching  may  be,  it  is  notwithstanding  sufficient,  my  bre- 
thren, to  render  every  one  inexcusable,  who  shall  not  have  re- 
ceived it  with  faith  ;  neither  your  ears  nor  consciences  being 
able  to  deny  that  we  declare  unto  you  all  the  counsel  of  God 
in  his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  Let  us  all  in  common  beseech  him 
to  deal  so  graciously  with  each  of  us,  that  all  may  rightly  dis- 
charge their  duty  ;  that  we  may  speak  unto  you,  that  you  may 


644  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLVII. 

liearken  unto  us,  as  it  is  meet  ;  and  that  being  knit  together 
bj  a  firm  and  indissoluble  love,  we  may  prosperously  ad- 
Vance  his  work  in  all  holiness,  innocence,  patience,  and  con- 
stancy, to  the  glory  of  his  name,  the  edification  of  those  among 
whom  we  live,  and  our  own  salvation.     Amen. 


SERMON   XLVII. 

VERSES  5,   6. 

Walk  in  tvisdom  toward  them  that  are  without^  redeeming  the 
time.  Let  your  speech  he  alway  with  grace,  seasoned  luith 
salt,  that  ye  may  know  how  ye  ought  to  answer  every  man. 

Dear  brethren,  while  the  church  of  Christ  is  here  on  earth, 
it  is  its  lot  to  sojourn,  for  the  most  part,  amidst  people  of 
another  profession.  For  though  the  merit  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  is  sufiicient  to  bring  all  mankind  into  the  commu- 
nion of  God,  and  though  his  salvation  is  tendered  by  his 
own  will  and  order  to  all  those  who  have  his  gospel 
preached  to  them  ;  yet  such  is  the  obduracy  and  blindness 
of  our  nature,  that  most  men  abide  out  of  the  covenant  of 
God,  wickedly  and  foolishly  rejecting  the  great  honour 
which  he  offers  them.  There  are  various  whole  nations 
which,  irritated  with  the  same  fury,  have  utterly  shut  the 
door  against  Jesus  Christ,  refusing  to  suffer  any  of  his  ser- 
vants within  their  coasts.  And  even  of  those  in  which  he 
has  some  reception,  it  is  commonly  but  a  small  part  that  ac- 
knowledge him  ;  the  greatest  and  most  considerable  in  the 
world  persecuting  him,  or  deriding  his  mysteries.  Even  in 
private  families  the  gospel  sometimes  makes  this  partition. 
The  same  roof  often  covers  persons  of  different  religions.  It 
is  a  division  which  Jesus  Christ  has  raised  in  the  world  ;  not 
that  he  positively  willed  and  designed  it,  or  that  such  is  the 
nature  of  his  doctrine  ;  this  properly  tends  only  to  unite  all 
things,  and  recombine  earth  with  heaven  in  an  eternal  peace  ; 
but  it  grows  from  the  wicked  and  the  cruel  disposition  of  men, 
who  despise  his  counsel,  and  disdain  their  own  salvation. 
The  kingdom  of  Christ  thus  remains  as  it  were  inlocked  with 
foreign  states,  and  his  faithful  ones  are  mingled  among  persons 
of  a  contrary  religion,  with  whom  this  common  habitation  of 
necessity  obliges  them  to  have  much  commerce. 

This  is  the  reason  why  the  apostle,  having  regulated  before 
most  of  the  duties  of  our  life,  here  in  a  few  words  points  out 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  645 

in  what  manner  we  should  converse  with  these  aliens  in  faith, 
among  whom  we  are  dispersed.  And  this  direction  was  at 
that  time  the  more  necessary,  as  christians  in  those  beginnings, 
which  were  as  the  nativity  of  the  church,  saw  themselves  en- 
vironed on  all  sides  with  Jews  and  pagans,  the  two  religions 
which  then  occupied  the  whole  universe.  And  this  was  pecu- 
liarly the  case  with  the  Colossians  to  whom  he  writes  this 
Epistle,  as  they  dwelt  in  a  city  and  a  province  of  which  the 
people  were  much  addicted  to  the  most  infamous  of  heathen 
superstitions.  He  commands  them,  first,  in  general,  to  walk 
wisely  towards  those  that  are  without,  and  redeem  the  time. 
Next,  he  orders  them  in  particular  to  be  careful  of  their 
speech,  one  of  the  principal  and  most  important  pieces  of  the 
commerce  which  we  have  with  men  :  "  Let  your  speech,"  says 
he,  "  be  alway  with  grace,  seasoned  with  salt,  that  ye  may 
know  how  to  answer  every  man."  This  exhortation,  my  bre- 
thren, well  suits  ourselves,  and  is  proper  for  the  condition  in 
which  we  are,  living  under  powers  and  among  countrymen  of 
a  religion  different  from  ours.  Let  us  consider  it  therefore, 
and  practise  it  with  care.  To  help  you  to  a  right  understand- 
ing of  it,  we  shall,  if  God  will,  treat  in  the  presentation  of  the 
two  parts  it  contains,  first,  our  conversation  with  those  who 
are  without  in  general  ;  secondly,  the  qualities  in  particular 
which  our  speech  ought  to  have  in  that  converse  ;  noticing 
upon  each  of  them  what  we  shall  judge  proper  for  your  edifi- 
cation and  comfort. 

I.  The  apostle's  general  exhortation  consists  of  two  heads  : 
the  first  is,  that  we  walk  wisely  towards  those  that  are  with- 
out ;  the  second,  that  we  redeem  the  time..  As  to  the  first,  I 
presume  you  all  know,  without  my  informing  you,  that  the 
apostle  here  signifies  by  the  word  walking,  according  to  the 
ordinary  st3de  of  Scripture,  living  and  conversing;  and  again, 
that  he  means  by  those  who  are  without,  such  as  are  not  of  our 
communion,  but,  in  point  of  religion,  follow  other  sentiments 
and  services  than  what  we  profess  to  embrace  in  conformity 
with  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  gives  them  the  same  de- 
nomination also  in  another  Epistle,  where,  after  ordering  us  to 
shun  the  company  of  some  who  are  called  brethren,  that  is, 
who  make  profession  of  our  communion,  while  they  lead  a 
wicked  and  scandalous  life,  he  adds,  "For  what  have  I  to  do 
to  judge  them  that  are  without?"  1  Cor.  v.  12.  He  directs 
then  that  we  converse  wisely  with  them  ;  that  is,  that  in  all 
our  négociations  and  conversations  we  exercise  much  prudence 
and  circumspection.  Not  that  he  permits  a  foolish  and  indis- 
creet deportment  towards  the  faithful  that  are  of  the  same  body 
with  us.  God  forbid.  A  christian's  whole  life  ought  to  be 
prudent  and  advised;  and  whoever  he  converses  with,  he 
ought  to  govern  his  actions  with  judgment,  and  do  nothing 


646  AN   EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XL VII. 

without  reason,  remembering  the  rule  his  Master  gave  him  for 
ordering  all  his  conduct,  "  Be  wise  as  serpents,  and  harmless  as 
doves."  But  because  thej  without  are  usually  enemies  to  our 
religion,  and  detest,  or  at  least  are  ignorant  of,  or  despise,  its 
mysteries,  every  one  sees  that  it  concerns  us,  in  treating  with 
them,  to  use  much  more  restraint  and  consideration  than  when 
we  treat  with  our  brethren.  As  when  a  soldier  is  in  an  ene- 
my's country,  he  stands  much  more  upon  his  guard,  and 
inarches,  as  they  say,  with  bridle  in  his  hand.  Besides,  you 
know,  if  persons  are  only  strangers,  we  treat  them  with  more 
care,  and,  if  I  may  say  it,  with  more  ceremony,  than  our  ac- 
quaintances. A  brother  lives  with  us  without  design,  a  stran- 
ger is  a  spy.  The  one  bears  even  with  those  actions  in  which 
a  severe  judge  would  find  something  to  reprehend.  The  other 
does  not  pardon  anything;  nay,  is  offended  sometimes  at  the 
most  innocent  actions.  Being  persuaded  of  the  charity  of  the 
former,  we  live  securely  with  him  ;  nor  does  his  person  put  us 
in  pain,  because  he  approves  of  all  that  accords  with  our  rule. 
With  a  stranger  it  is  not  so.  Besides  the  care  we  ought  to 
have  to  act  rightly  in  all  transactions  with  him,  we  must  also 
be  farther  anxious  to  act  so  as  to  please  him.  It  is,  therefore, 
with  much  propriety  that  the  apostle  directs  us  to  live  and 
converse  wisely  with  them  who  are  without  ;  that  is,  to  exer- 
cise in  all  our  deportment  towards  them  more  attention,  pru- 
dence, and  consideration  than  we  do  in  the  other  ordinary 
transactions  of  our  lives. 

The  first  point  of  christian  wisdom  in  this  deportment  to- 
wards them  is,  to  observe  the  end  to  which  it  ought  to  be  di- 
rected ;  the  second,  to  discern  the  persons  ;  and  the  third,  to 
choose  such  means  as  are  proper  for  our  design.  As  to  the 
end,  whether  an  accidental  encounter  causes  us  to  treat  with 
those  who  are  without,  or  whether  some  design  lead  us  to  it, 
we  ought  always  to  aim  in  it,  either  to  edify  them  and  win 
them  to  Christ,  or,  at  least,  to  prevent  their  taking  any  offence 
or  disgust  at  our  religion.  In  the  commerce  which  the  sub- 
jects of  a  civil  state  have  with  foreigners,  it  is  enough  that 
they  keep  sound  and  entire  the  fidelity  they  owe  their  prince, 
and  the  love  and  respect  they  have  for  their  laws  and  govern- 
ment of  their  own  country.  It  is  not  necessary,  nor  will  it  be 
suffered,  that  they  should  attempt  to  withdraw  a  stranger  from 
his  subjection  to  that  power  under  whose  sceptre  he  was  born, 
because  it  is  a  lawful  subjection,  and  whoever  would  unfix  it 
intrenches  upon  another's  right,  which  cannot  be  done  without 
injustice.  But  in  the  matters  of  religion  it  is  not  so.  It  is 
not  enough  that  you  preserve  yourselves  from  theirs  who  are 
without,  you  must  endeavour,  if  you  can,  to  draw  them  from 
it,  and  bring  them  over  unto  yours.  For  in  this  you  do  no 
one  wrong  :  you  hurt  nothing  but  error,  nor  diminish  the  right 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  647 

of  any  but  of  superstition  and  impiety,  and  of  Satan,  the  com- 
mon enemy  of  mankind,  who  inspires  them.  You  do  not  ac- 
quire anything  for  Jesus  Christ  but  what  lawfully  pertained 
unto  him,  since  he  of  right  is  Lord  of  all  men,  both  because 
he  created  them  and  has  redeemed  them.  You  do  an  act  of  jus- 
tice in  reducing  bond-servants  under  the  yoke  of  their  true 
and  lawful  Master,  whom  error  had  enticed  from  it.  Thus,  as 
often  as  you  treat  with  those  who  are  without,  you  ought  to 
propose  to  yourselves  the  edifying  of  them  in  reference  to  re- 
ligion, and  to  have  a  will  and  a  desire  in  your  hearts,  like  Paul's 
wish  for  Agrippa,  and  for  the  rest  that  heard  him  ;  "  I  would 
to  God,  that  not  only  thou,  but  also  all  that  hear  me  this  day, 
were  both  almost,  and  altogether  such  as  I  am,  except  these 
bonds,"  Acts  xxvi.  29. 

But  it  is  not  enough  to  have  a  good  end,  there  must  be  an 
application  of  proper  and  fit  means  ;  and  for  this  purpose  the 
diversity  of  the  persons  with  whom  we  have  to  do  is  to  be 
carefully  considered.  For  the  same  things  do  not  suit  all. 
"Wisdom  therefore  being  obliged  to  diversify  its  conduct,  ac- 
cording to  the  difference  of  those  with  whom  it  treats,  a  chris- 
tian must,  together  with  that  good  intention  he  brings  with 
him  to  such  encounters,  diligently  discern  the  persons  with 
whom  he  is  engaged;  not  only  with  respect  to  their  different 
conditions  in  the  world,  or  their  different  capacities,  but  also 
principally  with  regard  to  their  humour  and  their  disposition 
with  reference  to  religion.  For  they  who  are  without  have 
not  all  of  them  an  equal  aversion  for  ours.  There  are  some 
who  have  a  sweet,  a  humane,  and  tractable  spirit,  and  who  hate 
not  our  persons,  though  they  approve  not  our  sentiments. 
There  are  others  who  are  furious,  and  look  upon  us  as  monsters, 
whom  they  could  with  all  their  hearts,  as  one  may  say,  devour. 
For  it  is  the  propert}'-  of  error  and  of  superstition  to  inspire 
their  zealots  oftentimes  with  these  cruel  and  inhuman  passions. 
You  will  again  meet  with  spirits  who,  though  perhaps  they 
rise  not  to  this  excess  of  rage,  yet  are  reckless  and  obstinate, 
and  having  smothered,  or,  as  Paul  speaks,  seared  up  with  a  hot 
iron  all  sentiments  of  true  conscience,  reason,  and  honour,  are 
wilfully  become  a  prey  to  error,  and  have  stopped  up  their 
ears,  and  all  the  entrances  into  their  understandings,  against 
the  word  and  light  of  truth,  with  a  determined  resolution  not 
to  admit  anything  that  is  contrary  to  their  opinions,  and  rather 
to  renounce  the  quality  of  reasonable  creatures,  than  the  maxims 
of  their  false  religion.  That  there  must  be  very  different  de- 
meanour towards  these  different  sorts  of  persons  must  be  mani- 
fest to  every  one.  And  our  Saviour  plainly  tells  us  as  much, 
when,  notwithstanding  the  order  he  gives  his  apostles  to  pub- 
lish his  truth  on  the  housetops,  he  yet  advises  them  expressly 
elsewhere  not  to  cast  their  pearls  before  swine  ;  and  the  reason 


648  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XL VII 

he  annexes  is  remarkable,  "lest  they  trample  them  under  their 
feet,  and  turn  again  and  rend  you,"  Matt.  vii.  6  :  plainly  signi- 
fying by  these  words,  as  experience  sufficiently  confirms,  that 
the  spirits  of  those  of  whom  he  speaks  are  irritated  and  inflamed 
by  that  very  endeavour  which  is  used  to  cure  them  ;  and  that 
this,  so  far  from  amending  them,  renders  them  more  fierce  and 
cruel.  But  now  this  discrimination  of  persons  is  not  made  in 
order  that  we  may  have  liberty  to  hate  the  one,  and  love  the 
other  :  for  a  christian's  religion  permits  him  not  to  hate  any 
man  ;  it  indispensably  obliges  him  to  love  all,  whatever  may 
be  their  nature,  their  religion,  or  their  disposition  towards  us  ; 
yea,  it  requires  him  even  to  bless  those  that  curse  him,  and  do 
good  to  them  that  persecute  him,  and  to  pray  for  and  be  kind 
to  them  that  crucify  him,  Matt,  v.  44.  He  considers  these  dif- 
ferences of  men  only  for  the  regulation  of  his  deportment  ;  for 
diversifying,  not  the  passions  of  his  heart,  but  the  actions  of 
his  life  towards  them.  For  though  his  conduct  varies  towards 
different  individuals,  yet  his  heart  is  the  same  towards  all  ;  and, 
to  say  the  truth,  it  is  the  love  that  he  has  for  them,  rather  than 
any  other  reason,  that  causes  him  to  deal  diversely  with 
them. 

To  come  then  to  the  choice  of  such  means  as  are  necessary, 
and  may  be  suitable  for  the  end  that  we  propose  to  ourselves 
in  this  kind  of  conduct,  christian  wisdom  excludes  from  the 
number,  first,  all  evil  actions,  all  actions  that  are  contrary  to 
piety  or  justice.  We  owe  this  respect  not  only  to  God  and  our 
own  consciences,  but  also  to  men,  and  especially  to  such  as  are 
without,  that  we  at  no  time  do  that  which  is  sinful  before  them. 
For  unjust  or  impious  actions,  besides  the  venom  they  have  in 
themselves,  have  also  this  bad  property,  that  they  are  directly 
contrary  to  the  end  we  ought  to  have  in  our  deportment  to- 
wards persons  without;  which  is,  as  we  have  said,  the  winning 
them  to  Christ.  Instead  of  attracting  and  bringing  them  on, 
such  actions  drive  them  off  and  disgust  them,  inducing  them  to 
judge  ill  of  our  religion  by  the  bad  fruits  it  produces  in  us, 
and  to  suspect  that  our  belief  is  like  our  works,  and  our  gospel 
as  false  as  our  lives  are  foul.  It  was  this  that  Nathan  noticed 
in  king  David's  sin  :  "  Thou  hast  given  great  occasion  to  the 
enemies  of  the  Lord  to  blaspheme,"  2  Sam.  xii.  14.  And  Paul 
says  respecting  the  evil  lives  of  the  Jews,  "  Thou  that  makest 
thy  boast  of  the  law,  through  breaking  the  law  dishonourest 
thou  God  ?  For  the  name  of  God  is  blasphemed  among  the 
Gentiles  through  you,"  Kom.  ii.  23,  24.  The  heathen  formerly 
took  the  same  offence  at  the  misconduct  of  bad  cliristians,  and 
did  not  forbear  to  reproach  them  with  it.  The  men  boast,  said 
they,  that  they  are  delivered  from  the  tyranny  of  Satan,  and  are 
dead  to  the  world  ;  yet  their  affections  and  lusts  no  less  over- 
come and  master  them  than  ours  do  us,  whom  they  call  skives 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  649 

of  Satan.  For  what  avails  this  baptism,  with  which,  as  they 
pretend,  they  have  been  washed  ;  and  that  Spirit,  which,  as  they 
say,  governs  them;  and  that  gospel,  respecting  which  they 
make  so  great  a  noise  ;  since  their  whole  life  is  full  of  filth,  and 
flesh,  and  disorder?  Accordingly,  you  see  how  the  apostle, 
among  other  reasons  which  he  urges  to  divert  the  faithful  from 
things  contrary  to  justice  and  honesty,  does  not  forget  to  press 
this  for  one,  "  that  the  name  of  God  and  his  doctrine  be  not 
blasphemed,"  1  Tim.  vi.  1  ;  and  in  another  place,  "  that  the 
ministry  be  not  blamed,"  2  Cor.  vi.  3  ;  and,  "that  they  may 
adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour  in  all  things,"  Tit.  ii, 
10.  So  the  first  thing  we  owe  to  those  who  are  without  is  a 
pure  and  constant  innocence  in  all  our  commerce  with  them. 
The  beginning  and  the  first  point  of  prudent  converse  in  this 
respect  is,  that  we  neither  say  nor  do  anything  in  all  the  com- 
munications we  have  with  them,  which  they  may  justly  accuse 
of  wanting  devotion  towards  God,  or  of  covetousness,  or  cruel- 
ty, or  any  other  unseemly  or  unjust  passion  towards  them- 
selves. 

But  after  abstinence  from  evil,  we  owe  them  also  the  per- 
formance and  practice  of  that  which  is  good  ;  first,  by  rendering 
to  them  readily  and  uprightly  all  that  is  their  due  by  the  laws 
of  God  and  of  nations  ;  to  princes,  fidelity  and  obedience;  to 
magistrates,  respect  ;  to  kindred  and  countrymen,  amity  ;  each 
in  their  degree  :  and,  as  Paul  says  elsewhere,  "  tribute  to  whom 
tribute  is  due;  custom  to  whom  custom  ;  fear  to  whom  fear; 
honour  to  whom  honour.  Owe  no  man  anything,  but  to  love 
one  another,"  Eom.  xiii.  7,  8.  Let  sovereigns  see  us  zealous 
for  their  service  ;  private  men,  open,  sincere,  and  trusty  in  all 
the  affairs  we  have  with  them,  religious  observers  of  our  con- 
tracts and  our  words,  honest  debtors,  mild  and  humane 
creditors,  courteous  and  helpful  neighbours.  Let  them  not 
find  us  faulty  i»  reference  to  any  of  the  offices  of  an  honest 
and  a  civil  life.  For  God  forbid  that  we  should  ever  admit 
into  our  hearts  so  impious,  so  barbarous,  and  inhuman  a  con- 
ceit as  some  harbour,  namely,  that  it  is  lawful  to  break  promise 
with  such  as  are  without,  and  to  deceive  or  use  a  person  ill 
when  we  can  plead  that  he  is  not  of  our  communion.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  to  these  that  we  must  show  most  justice  and  in- 
tegrity ;  these  of  all  men,  are  the  persons  towards  whom  we 
must  acquit  ourselves  of  all  that  we  owe  them  with  the  greatest 
exactness  and  scruple.  And  he  who  thinks  to  draw  me  into 
his  opinions  by  an  act  of  injustice,  cruelty,  or  perfidy,  is  so  far 
from  succeeding,  that  he  makes  me  believe  with  much  reason 
that  the  religion  which  permits  him  such  things,  and  excuses 
them  under  colour  of  a  good  intention,  and  pretends  that  they 
are  serviceable  for  greater  glory  to  God,  is  an  impious  and 
abominable  superstition,  and  much  worse  in  this  particular 
82 


650  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLVII. 

than  the  sects  and  disciplines  of  pagans  themselves,  who,  how- 
ever ignorant  they  were,  never  held  any  of  these  horrible 
maxims.  God  will  not  be  served  at  all  with  unrighteousness 
and  treachery  ;  and  to  declare  or  to  suppose  that  he  takes  plea- 
sure in  such  services,  is  one  of  the  geatest  outrages  that  can  be 
committed  against  him.  They  are  grateful  to  the  devil,  and  to 
none  but  him.  A  christian  looks  not  upon  any  man  on  earth 
as  his  enemy  ;  he  knows  that  they  are  all  the  creation  of  the 
Lord  his  God,  and  that  his  Master  died  for  them,  and  shed  his 
blood  to  save  them.  He  respects  this  character  in  them,  how- 
ever disfigured  by  vice  or  error.  And  he  renders  them  these 
dues  not  from  fear  of  their  power,  or  their  ill  will,  as  some 
would  persuade  us,  who  say  that  the  primitive  christians  sub- 
mitted to  their  heathen  emperors  and  magistrates  only  from 
motives  of  prudence,  or  rather  from  a  world-like  craftiness,  be- 
cause they  were  the  stronger,  and  themselves  the  weaker  ;  and 
that,  had  they  the  means,  they  would  have  plucked  the  sceptre 
out  of  their  hands,  and  without  scruple  trampled  that  diadem 
under  foot  which  they  appeared  to  honour  with  such  humility. 
No,  dear  brethren,  this  is  not  the  nature  or  the  foundation  of 
a  christian's  conduct  towards  those  that  are  without.  It  is 
God,  it  is  his  conscience,  and  not  simply  some  other  consider- 
ation, that  obliges  him  to  live  with  them  as  he  does  ;  according 
to  the  apostle's  doctrine  in  another  place,  where  he  says,  we 
"must  be  subject,  not  only  for  wrath,"  that  is,  for  fear  of 
vengeance,  and  of  the  sword  which  the  magistrate  bears  in  his 
hand,  "  but  also  for  conscience  sake,"  Rom.  xiii.  5  ;  which  in 
the  same  manner  extends  to  all  other  duties  ;  that  is,  we  must 
pay  our  creditors,  keep  our  word,  perform  our  promises, 
honour  our  fellow  subjects,  live  honestly  with  them,  though 
they  are  not  of  our  religion,  not  only  to  avoid  the  evils  we 
should  incur  by  doing  it  not.  but  also  for  conscience  sake  ;  so 
that  whatever  impunity,  yea,  whatever  advantage,  we  might 
expect  for  neglecting  such  duties,  we  yet  never  neglect  them, 
accounting  ourselves  bound  to  do  them  by  a  supreme  and 
indispensable  law,  namely,  the  just  and  holy  will  of  God. 

But  besides  these  things  which  we  owe,  christian  prudence, 
in  its  conduct  towards  those  without,  makes  use  of  others  also, 
which  in  rigour  of  right  we  owe  not.  For  it  aims  not  simply 
to  do  that  which  is  strictly  just,  but  also  to  win  those  with 
whom  we  treat;  so  that  if  anything,  to  which  otherwise  justice 
obliges  us  not,  may  be  serviceable  to  this  its  end,  that  reason 
is  sufficient  to  make  us  do  it.  On  which  account  it  opens  the 
bosom  of  our  humanity,  courtesy,  and  beneficence  to  those 
that  are  without,  to  give  them  all  the  assistance,  favour,  and 
succour  that  we  can  in  their  need,  as  often  as  they  ask  it,  yea, 
when  they  ask  it  not.  We  should  in  this  case  imitate  the 
goodness  of  our  Lord,  who  maketh  his  sun  to  shine  and  his 


CHAP.  IV.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  651 

rain  to  fall  even  on  them  that  blaspheme  him.  Make  me  not 
those  frigid  and  frivolous  excuses,  that  they  are  out  of  our 
communion  ;  that  they  hate  us  ;  that  they  do  us  evil  ;  that  they 
are  ungrateful.  This  is  good  discourse  for  a  worldling,  who 
measures  his  duties  by  nothing  but  his  own  interest.  As  for 
you,  who  are  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  the  least  thing  you 
should  consider.  You  should  principally  respect  the  glory  of 
God,  the  service  of  his  Son,  and  the  edification  of  men.  Do 
good  then  to  all,  as  your  heavenly  Father  does;  disdain  no  one 
whom  he  has  made.  Account  any  one  your  neighbour  who 
has  need  of  you,  be  he  Samaritan  or  pagan.  It  signifies  not, 
if  he  is  but  a  man.  There  is  nothing  more  effectual  to  persuade 
him  that  your  religion  is  holy  and  divine,  than  this  virtuous 
and  generous  deportment.  At  least  you  will  by  this  take  from 
him  all  pretext  of  calumniating  your  profession.  You  will 
remain  justified  in  his  thoughts,  and  oblige  him,  if  he  is  ever 
called  to  give  testimony  of  you,  to  speak  in  that  glorious  and 
honourable  language  which  the  probity  and  innocence  of  the 
primitive  believers  formerly  drew  from  the  mouths  of  pagans, 
'•  Such  an  one  is  a  good  man,  and  there  is  nothing  to  be  blamed 
in  him  but  that  he  is  a  christian." 

Again,  for  our  living  prudently  with  those  that  are  with- 
out, it  is  one  principal  duty  incumbent  on  us  to  accommodate 
ourselves  to  them  as  far  as  piety  will  permit  ;  not  needlessly 
opposing  them  at  any  time  ;  nay,  willingly  yielding  them 
some  part  of  our  rights  ;  bowing  and  conforming  ourselves 
to  their  laws,  their  humours,  and  wills,  in  things  indifferent  ; 
that  they  may  see  it  is  not  capriciousness,  nor  hatred,  but  the 
force  of  our  consciences  alone,  that  constrains  us  to  dissent 
from  their  religion  ;  and  that,  setting  this  aside,  and  our  con- 
sciences cleared,  there  is  nothing  that  we  would  not  both  do 
and  suffer  to  pleasure  them.  Such  was  the  apostle's  practice  ; 
and  he  has  left  us  an  excellent  example  of  this  holy  prudence, 
which  he  proposes  and  represents  at  large  in  the  9th  chapter 
of  the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  ver.  19 — 22.  "I  have 
made  myself,"  says  he,  "  servant  unto  all,  that  I  might  gain  the 
more.  Unto  the  Jews  I  became  as  a  Jew,  that  I  might  gain 
the  Jews  ;  to  them  that  are  under  the  law,  as  under  the  law, 
that  I  might  gain  them  that  are  under  the  law  ;  to  them  that 
are  without  law,  as  without  law,  that  I  might  gain  them  that 
are  without  law.  To  the  weak  became  I  as  weak,  that  I  might 
gain  the  weak  :  I  am  made  all  things  to  all  men,  that  I  might 
by  all  means  save  some."  Let  us  imitate  this  holy  example  of 
the  apostle  ;  only  take  heed  to  limit,  as  he  did,  this  complai- 
sance to  things  which  we  have  power  to  dispose  of,  that  is,  to 
such  as  are  free  and  indifferent  for  us  ;  not  extending  it  to 
those  that  are  evil,  and  prohibited  in  the  school  of  Christ,  as 
contrary  to  piety  or  sanctification  ;  remembering  the  lesson 


65i  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XL VII. 

■which  the  same  Paul  elsewhere  gives  us,  that  there  is  no  fel- 
lowship between  righteousness  and  unrighteousness,  nor  com- 
munion between  light  and  darkness,  nor  concord  between 
Christ  and  Belial,  2  Cor.  vi.  14,  15.  Finally,  this  prudent  de- 
meanour towards  those  without,  which  he  here  prescribes,  re- 
quires that  we  avoid,  as  much  as  possible,  all  actions  and 
speeches  that  offend  them  ;  and  that,  saving  those  to  which 
our  religion  necessarily  and  inevitably  obliges  us,  there  escape 
us  not  any  that  may  displease  them. 

The  clause,  "  redeeming  the  time,"  which  the  apostle  adds, 
contains  the  utility  and  fruit  of  this  wise  and  prudent  demean- 
our which  he  has  enjoined  the  Colossians  towards  those  that 
are  without  ;  the  meaning  is,  that  by  governing  themselves  in 
that  manner  they  would  gain  time,  and  mitigate,  by  such  an 
address,  the  rigour  of  that  difficult  and  dangerous  season  in 
which  they  lived,  being  surrounded  by  the  aversions  and 
persecutions  of  the  heathen.  I  well  know  that  there  are 
some  who  expound  these  words  differently;  saying  that  they 
signify  that  the  Colossians  were  to  repair  their  loss  of  the 
time  past  by  well  employing  the  present  altogether  in  a  good, 
a  holy,  and  a  prudent  way  of  life.  For  this  is  what  we  com- 
monly call  redeeming  of  time.  Others,  with  more  propriety, 
say  the  apostle's  intention  is,  that  we  should  seek  and  purchase, 
even  at  the  price  of  what  is  dearest  to  us,  occasions  to  edify 
those  that  are  without,  and  make  no  difficulty  of  losing  some- 
what in  matters  of  estate,  or  ease,  or  even  in  point  of  honour 
or  reputation,  to  obtain  the  means  of  obliging  them»  For  it 
is  true  that  the  word  the  apostle  uses  here  in  the  original 
often  signifies  an  occasion  and  opportunity,  rather  than  time 
simply.  But  though  both  of  these  conceptions  as  to  the  thing 
itself  are  true  and  christianlike,  yet  they  appear  to  me  to  be 
a  little  beside  the  apostle's  scope  and  intention  here.  More- 
over, the  interpretation  I  proposed  at  first  is  more  conforma- 
ble to  the  style  of  Scripture  ;  for  the  phrase  which  Paul  uses 
in  this  place  is  found  verbatim  in  the  Greek  version  of  the 
prophet  Daniel,  at  the  2nd  chapter,  ver.  8,  where  king  Nebu- 
chadnezzar tells  the  Chaldeans  he  knew  well  they  would  re- 
deem the  time  ;  meaning,  as  our  Bibles  have  aptly  rendered 
it,  that  they  would  "gain  time;"  that  is,  would  fain  escape, 
and  smoothly  get  out  of  that  difficulty  into  which  they  per- 
ceived they  had  plunged.  To  the  same  sense  the  apostle  here, 
though  on  a  very  different  subject,  bids  us  to  redeem  the 
time,  by  walking  wisely  towards  them  that  are  without;  that 
is,  that  we  should,  by  such  prudent  and  dexterous  conduct, 
sweeten  their  spirits,  and  skilfully  divert  the  storm  of  their 
fury,  as  an  ill  influence,  which  might  overwhelm  us  ;  gliding 
gently  on,  and  gaining  time,  until  things,  governed  and  or- 
dered by  the  providence  of  God,  have  changed  their  posture. 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  653 

It  is  also  to  this  that  that  reason  evidently  refers  which  the 
apostle  annexes  to  this  very  command,  in  a  passage  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  conformable  and  parallel  to  our 
text:  "Walk  circumspectly,"  says  he,  "not  as  fools,  but  as 
wise,  redeeming  the  time,  because,"  he  adds,  "  the  days  are 
evil,"  chap.  v.  15,  16.  He  would  have  us  to  use  much  circum- 
spection in  ordering  our  lives,  and  to  redeem  the  time,  be- 
cause it  is  evil  ;  that  is,  troublesome,  and  difficult  to  pass,  in 
consequence  of  the  ill  disposition  towards  us  of  those  among 
whom  we  live,  they  being  ready  at  every  turn  to  destroy  us, 
and  to  execute  their  malevolence  upon  the  least  occasion  of 
exasperation  that  we  give  them.  Therefore,  as  a  wise  mariner 
at  sea,  when  the  wind  arises,  and  the  waters  threaten,  and  the 
presages  of  a  tempest  appear,  hauls  in  his  sails  and  prepares 
for  the  storm,  then,  accommodating  himself  to  the  violence 
of  the  waves,  lets  drive  a  little,  not  daring  to  bear  up  full 
against  it,  all  to  gain  time,  and  redeem  himself  by  such  care 
and  conduct  out  of  so  sad  and  angry  a  season  ;  so  the  apostle 
would  have  us  use  the  same  industry  to  ward  off  the  blows 
which  are  menaced  by  the  unfavourable  disposition  towards 
us  of  those  without  :  he  would  have  us  not  take  all  our  liberty 
with  them,  but  manage  our  words  and  actions  prudently,  ac- 
commodating ourselves  as  much  as  we  can  to  their  temper, 
and  avoiding  all  that  is  apt  to  provoke  them,  giving  them  no 
occasion  to  injure  us  ;  that  if  it  be  possible  we  may  by  such 
holy  and  advised  conduct  gain  time,  eschew  an  ill  encounter, 
and  redeem  ourselves  from  the  troubles  and  disorders  with 
which  it  threatens  us.  It  is  a  reason  of  the  command  he 
gave  us  to  walk  wisely  towards  them  that  are  without.  For 
besides  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  edification  of  men,  which 
calls  for  this  endeavour  at  our  hands,  as  has  been  said,  our 
own  good,  our  safety  and  preservation  also,  necessarily  obli- 
ges us  to  it;  it  being  evidently  impossible  for  us  to  subsist 
in  the  state  in  which  we  generally  are,  if  we  do  not  with  a 
great  deal  of  care  and  prudence  turn  aside  and  assuage  the  ill 
affections  of  those  among  whom  we  live,  and  upon  whom,  in 
a  human  way,  our  lives  and  liberties  depend. 

II.  But  after  this  general  exhortation,  the  apostle  gives  us 
another  for  the  government  of  our  speech  in  particular,  which 
we  must  now  explain  with  all  possible  brevity.  "Let  your 
speech,"  says  he,  "  be  alway  with  grace,  seasoned  with  salt, 
that  ye  may  know  how  ye  ought  to  answer  every  man."  I 
must  needs  say  that  this  is  requisite  in  all  the  discourses  of 
the  faithful,  whoever  they  speak  to,  and  that  their  mouth 
ought  to  be  a  treasury  of  benediction,  out  of  which  should 
issue  not  a  word  but  that  is  holy,  full  of  grace,  and  good,  as 
the  apostle  says  elsewhere,  to  the  use  of  edifying;  that  is, 
proper  to  edify  them  that  hear  it.     But  as  in  the  preceding 


654  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SE  RM.  XL VII. 

verse,  though  wisdom  is  necessary  in  all  the  parts  of  our  con- 
duct, he  gave  it  us  in  charge  particularly  in  reference  to  our 
commerce  with  such  as  are  without;  in  the  same  manner  here, 
pursuing  the  same  subject,  he  appropriates  those  characters, 
which  ought  to  appear  generally  in  all  the  words  of  our 
mouths,  to  that  discourse  and  converse  in  particular  which 
we  have  with  persons  without.  Besides  the  continuation  of 
his  discourse,  which  there  is  little  likelihood  he  would  here 
suddenly  break  off  without  reason,  his  adding  that  of  answer- 
ing every  one,  &c.,  confirms  me  further  in  this  opinion  ;  those 
words  evidently  referring  to  the  answers  we  are  to  make  to 
those  without,  when  they  interrogate  or  question  us  about 
our  religion  ;  as  appears  by  Peter's  making  use  of  nearly  the 
same  words  on  the  same  subject;  "Be  ready  always,"  says  he, 
"  to  give  an  answer  to  every  man  that  asketh  you  a  reason 
of  the  hope  that  is  in  you  with  meekness  and  fear,"  1  Pet.  iii. 
15.  Now  truly  the  apostle  had  good  reason  to  take  the  pains 
himself  to  regulate  our  speech  on  such  occasions,  namely, 
when  we  converse  with  those  without  about  our  sentiments  in 
matters  of  religion.  For  certainly  this  is  the  most  tender 
part  of  all  onr  converse  with  men,  and  that  which  should  be 
managed  with  the  greatest  exactness.  It  is  a  very  slippery 
passage,  and  the  events  frequently  are  of  great  importance, 
and  have  long  and  considerable  consequences,  for  good  and 
for  evil,  according  to  men's  different  conduct  in  it.  And  if 
there  is  any  case  in  which  the  tongue  has  any  reason  to  boast 
of  great  matters,  as  James  says,  chap.  iii.  5,  without  doubt 
it  is  in  this  ;  an  answer  here,  as  it  is  qualified,  being  capable 
of  amending  or  impairing  the  condition  of  a  whole  christian 
people  :  a  wise  and  moderate  discourse  having  sometimes 
averted  or  stayed  the  persecution  of  the  church,  and  appeased 
the  rage  of  its  enemies  ;  whereas,  on  the  other  hand,  a  speech, 
though  in  substance  true,  yet  being  indiscreet  and  ill-placed, 
hath  often  inflamed  the  hatred  of  the  mighty,  troubled  the 
peace  of  the  church,  and  caused  a  thousand  disorders  and  de- 
vastations. The  apostle  then  would  have  us,  on  this  occasion, 
that  is,  when  we  speak  with  those  without,  more  than  on  any 
other,  govern  our  lips  with  so  much  judgment,  that  there  may 
not  a  word  break  out  but  what  is  seasoned  as  it  ought  to  be  : 
"Let  your  speech,"  says  he,  "be  alway  with  grace,  seasoned 
with  salt." 

He  presupposes,  in  the  first  place,  and  before  proceeding  to 
other  things,  that  it  has  its  principal  virtue,  namely,  truth, 
which  is  the  soul  of  it,  according  to  that  general  rule  he  else- 
where gives  us,  to  speak  truth  every  one  with  our  neighbour, 
Eph.  iv.  25.  But  in  conjunction  with  this  his  intention  is,  that 
our  speech  should  have  these  two  further  qualities  :  first,  that 
it  be  with  grace;  and,  secondly,  that  it  be  seasoned  with  salt. 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  655 

The  grace  he  requires  in  it  is  not  that  which  is  given  to  a  dis- 
course by  the  ornaments  of  rhetoric,  wliich  respects  only  the 
pleasing  of  the  ear,  and  consists  in  a  choice  of  elegant  words, 
and  in  a  sweet  and  grateful  composition.  The  grace  a  chris- 
tian ought  to  seek  for  and  have  in  his  speech  is,  so  to  utter 
truth  as  not  to  offend  the  hearer;  that  it  express  our  minds 
without  exulcerating  his  ;  that  it  have  neither  gall,  nor  venom, 
nor  virulency  ;  that  it  be  simple,  humble,  and  modest  ;  without 
reviling,  without  scoffing,  and  other  such  stings  as  may  in- 
flame those  with  whom  we  speak.  The  other  particular  which 
he  adds,  namely,  that  it  be  well  salted,  that  is,  prepared,  and, 
as  it  were,  seasoned  with  an  exquisite  prudence,  refers  in  sub- 
stance to  the  same  thing  ;  for,  as  salt  desiccates  meats,  and 
eats  out  the  moisture  and  putrid  humour  of  them,  leaving  a 
sharpness  in  them  pleasing  to  the  taste  ;  so  this  christian  pru- 
dence, with  which  he  would  have  all  our  speech  imbued,  works 
out  all  that  it  might  have  in  it  superfluous  and  noxious,  and 
tempers  it  in  such  a  manner,  that  the  force  and  vigour  which 
it  leaves  pleases  the  spirit,  and  enters  gratefully  into  it.  The 
masters  of  common  rhetoric,  likewise,  taught  that  there  should 
be  salt  in  their  scholars'  speeches.  But  it  is  not  that  which 
must  season  a  christian's  deliveries.  By  this  salt  which  they 
esteem,  they  mean  certain  pleasantnesses  that  border  upon  rail- 
lery and  jesting  :  expressions  that  are  quick,  but  offend  not  ; 
that  touch  the  spirit,  but  do  not  gall  it.  We,  for  our  part, 
pass  by  this  artifice,  and  draw  the  salt  with  which  our  speech- 
es are  to  be  impregnated  from  quite  another  vein,  even  a  holy 
christian  prudence,  which  avoids  all  that  may  displease  or 
scandalize  our  neighbour,  and  chooses  what  is  proper  to  edify 
him  ;  so  seasoning  discourse,  that  nothing  unsavoury  or  in- 
significant be  uttered,  which  might  disgust  him  at  our  persons 
or  our  religion.  This  salt  cleanses  our  conversation,  first, 
from  all  expressions  that  are  either  noxious  and  dangerous,  as 
those  that  lead  to  vice,  or  are  vain  and  fruitless  ;  and,  se- 
condly, of  all  that  may  offend  those  with  whom  we  talk,  and 
alienate  them  from  our  religion.  For  this  end,  that  know- 
ledge is  necessary  of  which  the  apostle  speaks  in  the  follow- 
ing clause  :  "  that  ye  may  know,"  says  he,  "  how  ye  ought 
to  answer  every  man."  It  is  clear  that  this  grace  of  speech, 
seasoned  with  salt,  does  not  teach  us  how  we  ought  to  an- 
swer every  man  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  this  science  or  know- 
ledge, when  we  have  it,  seasons  our  speech  with  its  necessary 
grace.  The  words,  therefore,  "that  ye  may  know,"  must  be 
understood  of  the  event  and  success  ;  as  if  the  apostle  had 
said,  Let  your  speech  be  with  grace,  and  seasoned  with  salt, 
so  that  it  may  appear  that  you  know  how  to  answer  every 
one.  Or  the  word  hiow^  which  he  uses  in  the  original,  must 
be  taken  for  as  knowing,  and  as  judging  and  discerning,  how 
we  ought  to  answer  every  man. 


656  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XLVII. 

First,  his  calling  our  discourses  an  answering,  intimates  that 
we  should  not  commence  such  kind  of  conferences  inconsider- 
ately, nor  enter  upon  them  without  judgment  and  deliberation; 
being  called  to  it  either  by  some  one's  demand,  or  by  the 
voice  of  such  a  necessary  occasion  as   obliges  us  to   speak. 

Then,  again,  he  shows  us  that  we  ought  to  diversify  our 
speech  according  to  the  difference  of  persons,  and  in  this  it  is 
that  that  discerning  of  persons  which  we  touched  upon  before 
must  do  us  service.  There  are  those  to  be  met  with,  whom  it 
would  be  best  not  to  speak  to  at  all.  The  dispositions  of  some 
may  suffer  a  firm  and  free  discourse.  The  temper  of  others 
requires  a  more  soft  and  tender  treatment.  As  you  see  that 
meats  for  several  bodies  must  be  variously  prepared,  according 
to  their  different  constitution  ;  so  we  should  diversely  season 
our  speech,  according  to  the  diversity  of  spirits. 

Such,  dear  brethren,  is  the  holy  and  wholesome  lesson  which 
the  apostle  gives  us  in  this  place.  Let  us  practise  it  diligently, 
and  regulate  by  it  our  speech  and  deportment  in  all  the  com- 
merce we  have  with  those  without.  Let  us  not  hide  our  sen- 
timents in  religion  from  them,  but  explain  ourselves  to  them 
in  such  a  manner  as  may  be  proper  both  for  their  edification  and 
our  own  safety.  First,  let  us  never  speak  of  them  but  in  sea- 
son ;  and  when  occasion  offers  itself  for  it,  do  it  with  that 
gravity  and  decency  which  are  due  to  so  high  and  so  import- 
ant a  subject.  Next,  let  us  take  out  of  our  speech  all  the 
stings  that  might  incense  those  who  hear  us.  Let  it  not 
have  in  it  anything  reproachful  or  offensive,  anything  that 
scents  of  hatred  or  contempt.  Let  it  be  sweet,  and  full  of 
affection  and  respect.  Let  it  bear  the  image  of  a  well-dis- 
posed and  a  truly  charitable  soul,  and  breathe  nothing  but  the 
good  and  the  edification  of  our  neighbour.  And  as  for  truths 
themselves,  let  it  discover,  and  with  full  liberty  expose,  such 
as  are  grateful  to  our  adversaries,  as,  thanks  be  to  God,  there 
are  many  ;  in  particular,  I  make  bold  to  say,  all  those  that  are 
principal  and  essential  in  religion,  about  which  they  make  no 
contest  with  us.  As  for  others,  which  consist  in  a  rejection 
of  their  errors,  and  consequently  cannot  but  be  odious  to 
them,  we  must  deliver  ourselves  about  them  with  much  discre- 
tion ;  meekly  showing  them  the  reasons  of  our  sentiments, 
that  they  may  see  it  is  not  out  of  wilfulness  that  we  depart 
from  their  belief,  but  by  the  constraint  of  necessary  reason. 
Let  us  forbear  atrocious  and  opprobrious  terms,  and  keep  a 
just  medium  between  flattery  and  unworthy  complacency, 
which  covers  silence,  or  disguises  the  malady,  on  one  hand, 
and  indiscreet  and  furious  zeal,  which  angers  and  envenoms  it, 
instead  of  healing  it,  on  the  other.  Error  is  a  sore  which 
must  be  neither  neglected,  nor  roughly  handled  ;  it  must  be 
touched  tenderly,  and  in  such  a  manner  as,  if  possible,  not  to 
put  the  patient  to  pain. 


CHAP.   IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  657 

See  how  Paul  took  such  a  case  in  hand.  He  was  at  Athens, 
a  city  full  of  so  much  impiety  and  idolatry  as  cut  him  to  the 
heart.  And  having  discovered  the  offence,  he  reasoned 
against  it  ;  when  they  had  brought  him  forth,  and  asked  him 
what  then  his  doctrine  was,  he  does  not  tell  them  that  they 
were  idolatrous,  and  impious,  and  brutish  to  worship  wood  and 
stone,  though  all  this  was  very  true.  But  the  prudent  minis- 
ter of  God  saw  well  that  if  he  had  proposed  this  truth  so 
crudely  to  them,  he  would  have  lost  himself,  and  not  at  all 
have  edified  them.  What  does  he  then  do  ?  He  gives  them 
at  first  some  praise,  acknowledging  that  they  were  extremely 
devout.  He  then  tells  them  of  that  unknown  God  to  whom 
they  had  consecrated  an  altar  ;  and  thence  dexterously  takes 
occasion  to  preach  to  them  the  true  God  ;  insinuating  the 
truth  so  skilfully,  that,  to  hear  him  speak,  one  would  think  he 
had  not  brought  it  from  abroad,  but  found  it  there  among 
them.  This  was  truly  speech  seasoned  with  the  salt  of  grace. 
Let  us  imitate,  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  this  rich  example  of 
prudence  and  modesty,  rather  than  the  eruptions  and  indiscre- 
tions of  zeal  without  knowledge,  which  serve  only  to  irritate 
those  that  are  without,  and  draw  the  bad  effects  of  their  aver- 
sion and  hatred  upon  those  that  are  within.  But  let  us  have 
yet  more  care  to  order  our  ways  than  our  words.  "We  cannot 
usher  in  our  discourses  with  a  better  or  more  persuasive  pre- 
face than  a  good  and  holy  life  ;  if  we  walk  wisely  with  them 
that  are  without,  as  the  apostle  charges  us  ;  if  we  eschew  not 
only  evil  actions,  but  those  also  that  have  the  appearance  of 
evil,  and  are  reputed  of  men  to  be  such  ;  if  we  show  them  no- 
thing but  piety,  honesty,  humility,  charity,  meekness,  and  sin- 
cerity ;  if  we  affectionately  seek  and  embrace  occasions  to 
oblige  them,  and  to  do  them  service  ;  if  we  patiently  bear  the 
offences  they  commit  against  us,  and  revenge  not  ourselves  but 
by  ofl&ces  of  beneficence.  This  conduct,  if  we  follow  it,  will 
mitigate  some  of  them,  and  entirely  gain  others.  It  will  in- 
vite the  king,  our  sovereign  lord,  and  his  ministers,  to  continue 
and  more  and  more  confirm  to  us  that  sweet  and  precious 
liberty  of  conscience,  which  having  been  given  us  in  this  great 
state  by  his  father's  clemency  and  wisdom,  has  been  hitherto 
preserved  to  us  by  his  grace.  Finally,  this  conduct  will  ren- 
der our  doctrine  honourable  in  all  things,  and  make  the  name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  whom  we  serve  to  be  glorified  :  and  being 
acceptable  to  him,  will  draw  down  his  benediction  upon  us  ; 
and  after  the  first-fruits  of  his  bounty,  which  he  will  enable  us 
to  taste  in  this  life,  introduce  us  hereafter  to  the  full  and  eter- 
nal possession  of  his  immortal  glory.  Amen. 
83 


^§8  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLVIII. 

^  SERMON   XLVIII. 

VERSES  7 — 11. 

AU  my  state  shall  Tychicus  declare  unto  you^  who  is  a  he- 
loved  brother,  and  a  faithful  minister  and  fellow-servant  in 
the  Lord  :  whom  I  have  sent  unto  you  for  the  same  purpose,  that 
he  might  know  your  estate,  and  comfort  your  hearts  ;  with 
Onesimus,  a  faithful  and  beloved  brother,  who  is  one  of  you. 
They  shall  make  known  unto  you  all  things  which  are 
done  here.  Aristarchus,  my  felloiu -prisoner,  saluteth  you,  and 
Marcus,  sisters  son  to  Barnabas,  {touching  whom,  ye  received 
commandments  :  if  he  come  unto  you,  receive  him  ;)  and  Je- 
sus, which  is  called  Justus,  who  are  of  the  circumcision. 
These  only  are  my  fellow -ivorker s  unto  the  kingdom  of  God, 
which  have  been  a  comfort  unto  me. 

Dear  brethren,  the  infinite  wisdom  of  God  is  very  clearly 
manifested  in  his  works,  not  only  by  the  admirable  disposition 
of  the  parts  of  which  they  are  composed,  and  the  exquisite 
order  in  which  he  has  ranked  them  ;  but  also  in  that  there  is 
nothing  about  them  without  its  utility.  View  the  world,  this 
vast  and  first  master-piece  of  his  hand  ;  consider  the  Scripture, 
his  other  work,  the  second  and  more  excellent  discovery  of  his 
will  and  nature  ;  and  you  will  not  observe  anything  in  either 
of  them  but  what  is  of  use,  both  for  the  completion  of  the 
whole,  and  for  the  benefit,  edification,  and  consolation  of  men. 
I  acknowledge  that  among  the  parts  of  these  two  works  of 
God,  there  are  some  more  useful  and  more  necessary  than 
others  ;  some,  in  which  his  wisdom  and  goodness  shine  bright, 
and  beam  forth  an  abundant  light;  others,  in  which  they  are 
but  dimly  seen.  However,  there  is  not  any,  though  little  and 
dusky  in  appearance,  but  what  has  its  usefulness.  It  concerns 
us,  therefore,  not  to  despise  one  of  them,  but  heedfully  to  re- 
mark whatever  of  worth  the  Creator  has  put  in  them  all,  that  we 
may  both  give  him  the  glory  of  it,  and  by  it  benefit  ourselves. 
The  truth  is,  we  should  insist  most  upon  those  in  which  the 
wonders  of  this  great  Author's  hand  are  most  resplendent  ;  yet 
so  as  that  we  neglect  not  the  rest  when  by  his  providence  we 
meet  with  them. 

In  conformity  with  this  order,  having  hitherto  considered 
the  divine  instructions,  both  concerning  faith  and  manners, 
which  this  Epistle  of  the  apostle  to  the  Colossians  contains, 
we  now  present  you  the  latter  part  of  it,  in  which  this  holy 
man  recommends  certain  particular  persons,  and  salutes  others, 
both  in  his  own  name,  and  in  the  name  of  some  of  his  friends 


CHAP.  IV.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  659 

and  colleagues  in  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Disdain  not, 
dear  brethren,  this  conclusion  of  the  apostle's  divine  letter, 
nor  imagine  that  it  can  yield  you  no  profit,  because  it  is  not 
so  luminous,  and  quitting  the  rich  and  weighty  subjects  with 
which  we  have  entertained  you,  speaks  of  particular  persons 
only.  If  it  had  nothing  at  all  in  it  but  the  names  of  some 
faithful  men,  yet  would  it  merit  consideration.  For  if  we 
take  pleasure  in  hearing  and  learning  the  names  of  the  cap- 
tains, the  officers,  and  the  ministers  of  our  ancient  kings,  and 
even  of  strange  princes,  who  have  been  anything  great  and 
illustrious  in  their  times,  as  an  Alexander,  a  Caesar,  or  such 
others  ;  how  much  more  regard  should  we  have  for  those  who 
had  their  share  in  the  fortune  and  achievements  of  Paul,  and 
held  some  rank  with  him  in  the  house  and  service  of  Christ, 
our  supreme  and  eternal  Monarch  !  For  I  affirm,  and  every 
reasonable  person  who  shall  seriously  consider  the  subject 
will  agree  with  me,  that  the  exploits  of  Paul  and  his  associates, 
under  the  name  and  ensign  of  Jesus  Christ,  are  much  greater, 
and  more  admirable,  than  all  the  lofty  deeds  of  the  most  re- 
nowned conquerors.  So  that  if  the  grandeur  of  a  transaction 
gives  us  the  curiosity  to  inform  ourselves  of  the  names  and 
qualities  of  those  who  figured  in  it,  this  alone  ought  to  be  no 
little  satisfaction  to  us  ;  even  that  we  find,  in  this  passage  of 
Paul's  Epistle,  the  names  of  seven  or  eight  of  these  the  Lord's 
generous  warriors,  who,  coming  out  of  various  quarters  to 
rank  themselves  on  each  side  of  our  great  apostle,  combated 
the  enemy  at  Rome,  that  is,  in  his  strongest  hold,  and  there  in 
spite  of  all  his  fury,  planted  the  empire  and  the  trophies  of 
their  Master. 

But  besides  the  just  and  lawful  pleasure  which  such  a 
knowledge  may  give  us,  this  passage  will  also  afford  us  va- 
rious other  very  useful  instructions  ;  the  Spirit  who  guided 
this  sacred  writer  dictating  not  a  word  that  is  not  full  of  wis- 
dom. And  this  reverent  opinion  we  ought  to  have  of  all 
things  contained  in  the  book  of  God.  For  as  when  in  the 
shop  of  an  intelligent  and  able  herbalist  you  see  dry  and 
withered  simples,  which  have  neither  smell,  taste,  nor  colour, 
you  believe  however  that  they  have  some  secret  virtue,  which 
lies  hidden  under  that  poor  and  unpromising  appearance;  pre- 
suming that  they  would  not  else  have  been  ever  laid  up  in 
such  a  place  :  so  when  in  the  holy  Scriptures  you  meet  with 
some  passage  or  other,  which  at  first  seems  little  worthy  of 
consideration  ;  emitting,  if  I  may  so  speak,  no  smell,  show- 
ing no  colour,  to  affect  or  excite  our  perceptive  faculty  ;  be 
assured  that  under  this  unattractive  outside  there  is  undoubt- 
edly some  spiritual  utility  contained  ;  for  that  Jesus,  the  sover- 
eign Physician  of  souls,  has  laid  up  nothing  in  this  divine 
shop  which  is  superfluous  or  without  use.     You  will  by  ex- 


éé9  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLVIII. 

perience  find  it  true,  if  you  take  the  pains  to  examine  atten- 
tively, and,  as  our  Saviour  speaks,  to  sound  this  text  of  the 
apostle's  which,  containing  only  some  recommendations  and 
salutations,  which  are  little  remarkable  in  appearance,  will 
nevertheless  afiford  you  various  instructions  very  useful  for 
the  edification  of  your  souls. 

Now,  to  assist  you  in  this  meditation,  we  will  employ  the 
present  hour,  by  the  will  of  God,  in  pointing  out  to  you  some 
of  the  most  remarkable  among  them.  And  that  we  may  pro- 
ceed in  it  with  some  order,  we  will  handle  the  two  parts  of 
this  text  distinctly,  as  they  are  presented  to  us  in  the  text.  In 
the  first,  which  comprehends  the  first  three  verses,  the  apostle 
recommends  to  the  Colossians  two  considerable  persons  whom 
he  sent  to  them,  namely,  Tychicus  and  Onesimus.  In  the  sec- 
ond, which  extends  through  all  the  rest  of  the  text  as  far  as 
the  12th  verse  of  the  chapter,  he  presents  them  the  salutations 
of  certain  faithful  servants  of  God,  who  then  sojourned  at 
Eome,  and  were  near  him. 

I.  Upon  the  first  of  these  two  general  heads,  there  immedi- 
ately offers  itself  to  our  observation  the  zeal  and  affection  of 
this  holy  man  for  his  Master's  flock,  and  withal  his  wisdom 
and  spiritual  prudence.  He  was  prisoner  at  Eome  in  the 
chains  of  Nero,  uncertain  of  the  issue  of  his  captivity  ;  per- 
secuted by  the  Jews,  hated  of  the  heathen,  and,  for  a  surcharge 
of  affliction,  turmoiled  by  the  malevolence  and  cruel  designs 
of  some  who  called  themselves  christians.  One  would  think 
that  in  so  great,  so  confused,  and  so  terrible  a  combat  he  would 
have  been  mindful  of  himself  only  ;  and  that  in  his  condition 
he  could  only  have  received  the  succours  of  other  faithful  men, 
and  not  have  afforded  them  any.  There  is  not  a  man  of  us 
who,  finding  himself  in  a  similar  danger,  would  not  have  con- 
sidered himself  excused  from  taking  to  heart  the  necessities 
of  others,  and  have  believed  that  he  had  just  cause  to  gather 
up  and  fix  all  his  cares  on  his  own  need.  But  this  holy  min- 
ister of  God,  to  whom  a  most  ardent  charity  rendered  the  in- 
terests of  his  Master's  sheep  much  dearer  than  his  own,  makes 
quite  a  different  judgment  in  the  case.  Neither  his  irons,  his 
prison,  the  fury  of  the  Jews,  the  cruelty  of  the  heathen,  the 
inhumanity  of  false  brethren,  nor  death,  nor  the  sword,  that 
hung  continually  over  his  head,  was  able  to  put  one  moment 
out  of  his  heart  that  care  of  the  churches  which  held  him,  as 
he  very  truly  says  elsewhere,  incessantly  besieged  from  day  to 
day,  2  Cor.  xi.  28.  Knowing  then  the  trouble  the  Colossians 
were  in  for  him,  and  the  attempts  that  false  teachers  made  upon 
their  faith,  he  contents  not  himself  with  writing  this  divine 
letter  to  them  ;  that  is,  with  sending  them  in  this  paper  a  liv- 
ing and  abundant  source  of  consolation  and  of  succour  against 
the  horror  of  persecutions,  and  the  imposture  of  seducers  ;  he 


CFAP.  IV.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  C0L0S3IANS.  661 

despatches  also  two  messengers  to  them,  to  inform  them  ex- 
actly of  all  the  particularities  of  his  imprisonment,  to  tell  them 
by  word  of  mouth  various  things  which  could  not  be  written, 
and  to  discourse  upon  and  explain  those  upon  which  the  bre- 
vity of  a  letter  had  not  permitted  him  to  enlarge.  For  that 
such  was  the  cause  of  his  sending  them  he  himself  expressly 
declares  :  "  They  shall  make  known  to  you,"  says  he,  "  all 
things  which  are  done  here:"  and  speaking  of  Tychicus,  one 
of  them.  He  shall  declare  unto  you,  says  he,  all  my  estate. 
For,  for  this  purpose  have  I  sent  him  unto  you.  In  the  follow- 
ing words  again  he  intimates  another  reason  ;  "  that  he  might 
know,"  says  he,  "  your  estate."  True  it  is,  that  there  are  some 
manuscript  Greek  copies  which  read  it  a  little  differently, 
namely,  that  ye  might  know  our  state.  And  truly  it  is  thus 
the  apostle  speaks  of  his  sending  the  same  Tychicus  to  the 
Ephesians.  I  have  sent  him  to  you  expressly,  says  he,  for 
this  end,  that  ye  might  know  our  state.  But  it  signifies  little 
which  of  these  two  ways  we  read  the  apostle's  words.  For 
there  is  fair  probability,  that  as  the  Colossians  were  in  pain 
for  him,  so  he  was  likewise  in  pain  for  them  ;  both  because 
of  the  persecutions  which  the  faithful  were  then  everywhere 
subject  to,  and  also  on  account  of  the  trouble,  which  he  under- 
stood that  church  received  from  some  false  teachers  ;  so  that, 
to  satisfy  this  common  and  reciprocal  desire  which  the  Co- 
lossians and  he  had  to  receive  certain  and  exact  news  of  each 
other,  he  sent  Tychicus  to  them,  who  might  inform  them 
of  his,  and  learn  theirs,  to  impart  the  same  to  him. 

He  adds  the  last  and  principal  purpose  of  sending  Tychicus, 
that,  says  he,  he  might  "comfort  your  hearts."  For  it  was 
certainly  the  consolation  of  these  faithful  people  that  the 
apostle  sought.  But,  you  will  say,  what  consolation  could  the 
report  of  Paul's  affairs  afford  the  Colossians,  since  Tychicus 
left  him  in  prison  at  Rome,  that  is,  in  the  mouth  of  the  lion,  as 
he  himself  says  in  another  place?  Dear  brethren,  it  is  true 
that  the  apostle  then  abode  still  in  that  sad  state,  and  it  is  true 
that  it  was  on  this  account  that  the  Colossians  were  in  pain. 
But  yet  these  two  messengers  had  many  things  to  say  to  them 
that  were  proper  to  mitigate  their  trouble,  and  to  ease  their 
pain  ;  first,  that  the  apostle  was  still  alive,  safe  and  sound,  as 
Daniel  formerly  was  in  the  den  of  lions;  nay,  that  he  was  not 
without  hope  of  being  set  at  liberty.  Then  again,  and  which 
is  the  principal,  that  his  faith  and  piety  were  so  far  from  being 
weakened  by  this  rude  temptation,  that  they  were  become 
more  firm  and  lively  than  ever,  shining  in  this  trial  as  fine  gold 
in  the  furnace;  that,  instead  of  being  afflicted  at  it  himself,  he 
comforted  others;  the  Spirit  of  God  continually  maintaining 
christian  joy  and  peace  in  his  heart  amid  this  tribulation,  and 
preserving  the  same  fresh  and  full,  as  formerly  he  preserved  the 


AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLVIII. 

bush  of  Moses  in  the  midst  of  the  fire.  And  lastly,  that  if  his 
body  was  bound,  yet  the  gospel  was  not  so,  the  apostle  with  a 
high  and  invincible  courage  frankly  preaching  in  his  irons,  and 
changing  by  a  divine  miracle  his  prison  into  a  school  of  Jesus 
Christ  ;  opening  too,  by  the  efficacy  of  his  example,  the  mouths 
of  many  brethren  to  preach  the  word  boldly  without  fear  ;  his 
whole  affliction  serving,  by  the  providence  of  God,  to  effect  a 
much  greater  advancement  of  the  gospel,  as  he  says  elsewhere, 
Phil.  i.  12.  This  relation,  as  you  see,  was  very  proper  to  con- 
sole the  hearts  of  the  Colossians  ;  not  to  speak  of  the  knowledge 
and  capacity  of  Tychicus  in  the  things  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  which  enabled  him  to  do  these  faithful  people  this 
good  of&ce,  in  representing  to  them  the  doctrine  and  the  pro- 
mises of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  the  necessity  and  utility  of  the 
cross,  the  life  and  the  crowns  to  which  it  leads,  the  eternal 
weight  of  that  excellent  glory  which  this  light  and  transient 
affliction  works,  2  Cor.  iv.  17,  and  similar  intimations,  of  which 
the  whole  gospel  is  full.  For  you  must  not  imagine  that  this 
Tychicus  and  this  Onesimus  whom  he  sent  to  them,  were  simple 
messengers,  who  had  no  other  ability  but  to  make  a  faithful 
report  of  what  they  had  seen  and  heard  of  Paul's  affairs. 
They  were  two  excellent  persons,  endowed  with  great  gifts, 
and  well  instructed  in  the  knowledge  of  God  ;  yea,  as  it  is 
certain  of  the  one,  and  very  probable  of  the  other,  called  to 
the  holy  ministry.  And  it  further  heightens  the  apostle's 
charitable  affection  towards  the  Colossians,  that  he  should 
deprive  himself  for  their  consolation  of  the  presence  and  assist- 
ance of  two  such  persons,  at  a  time  when  they  were  so  valu- 
able and  so  necessary  to  him. 

But  in  this  choice  his  prudence  appears  no  less  than  his 
affection  and  goodness.  First,  more  generally,  in  that  he  era- 
ployed  about  this  affair  persons  proper  for  the  purpose  for 
which  he  sent  them.  And  secondly,  in  particular,  that  one  of 
the  two  whom  he  chose,  namely,  Onesimus,  besides  other 
qualities  which  he  possessed,  was  a  Colossian,  and  therefore  a 
person  who  should  have  the  more  credit  with  them,  as  their 
own  countryman.  It  is  true,  that  Epaphras,  of  whom  he  will 
afterwards  speak,  had  the  same  quality.  But  it  seems  that  a 
particular  consideration  withheld  the  apostle  from  employing 
him  in  this  commission,  even  that  he  had  already  exercised  the 
holy  ministry  among  the  Colossians,  and  preached  that  very 
evangelical  doctrine  to  them  which  was  now  troubled  by  false 
teachers,  as  we  understand  by  the  first  chapter  of  this  Epistle. 
He  then  being  interested,  and  as  it  were  a  party  in  the  quarrel, 
the  apostle  very  prudently  employs  other  persons,  namely, 
Tychicus  and  Onesimus,  that  their  faith  and  doctrine  appearing 
conformable  to  that  of  Epaphras,  the  Colossians  might  the 
more  easily  perceive  that  his  was  not  particularly  his  own. 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  663 

but  in  truth  the  Lord  Christ's  and  his  apostles  ;  and  that,  as 
the  Scripture  says,  in  the  mouth  of  these  two  or  three  witnesses 
the  word  might  be  established. 

But  the  apostle,  to  give  them  credit  with  the  Colossians,  and 
render  their  ministry  fruitful,  informs  them  of  the  good  and 
commendable  qualities  of  each.  As  for  Tychicus,  he  calls 
him  his  beloved  brother,  and  a  faithful  minister,  and  fellow- 
servant  in  the  Lord  :  titles,  as  you  see,  very  honourable.  He 
qualifies  him  after  the  same  manner  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians  ;  to  whom  he  despatched  him  upon  the  very  same 
business  as  he  does  here  to  the  Colossians.  Whence  it  appears 
that  this  holy  man  was  one  of  those  extraordinary  ministers, 
whom  the  scriptures  of  the  New  Testament  particularly  style 
evangelists.  These  were  as  aids  to  the  apostles,  assisted  them, 
followed  them,  and  were  variously  employed  by  them  according 
to  the  necessities  of  the  church,  sometimes  in  one  place,  some- 
times in  another,  without  being  fixed  to  any  particular  flock, 
as  are  ordinary  pastors,  and  making  no  longer  stay  anywhere 
than  the  apostle's  orders  required.  Such  a  one,  for  instance, 
was  Titus,  whom  Paul  left  in  Crete  to  finish  the  erection  of 
the  church.  Tit.  i.  5,  and  afterwards  sent  into  Dalmatia  to  preach 
the  gospel  there.  Such  a  one  again  was  Timothy,  and  Crescens, 
2  Tim.  iv.  10,  and  many  others.  And  truly  the  charge  which 
the  apostles  had,  being  of  such  a  vast  extent  as  to  embrace  the 
whole  universe,  necessarily  required  that  they  should  be 
assisted  by  such  helpers  and  inferior  ministers,  who  might  be 
employed  in  such  places  as  they  themselves  could  not  go  to  or 
tarry  in. 

Our  adversaries,  to  give  you  this  intimation  by  the  way, 
commit  an  error  in  this  matter,  when  they  apply  to  bishops 
what  they  read  in  the  New  Testament  of  this  sort  of  min- 
isters. For  it  is  true  indeed  that  the  evangelists  were  supe- 
rior to  the  common  and  ordinary  pastors  of  each  church, 
and  held  the  next  place  to  the  apostles,  whose  lieutenants  in  a 
manner  they  were.  But  it  is  false  to  assert  that  any  such 
ministers  were,  or  were  intended  to  be,  in  the  church  after  the 
apostles'  decease.  Their  ministry  was  extraordinary,  and  sub- 
sisted no  longer  than  the  apostleship  did,  for  which  properly 
it  was  instituted.  And  hence  it  plainly  appears  that  the 
bishops  of  the  Roman  communion  can  by  no  means  pass  for 
ministers  of  this  order,  since  they  have  each  of  them  their  title 
or  diocess,  to  which  they  are  confined,  and  have  no  power  to 
exercise  their  ministry  elsewhere;  whereas  the  evangelists  had 
no  flock  that  was  properly  and  particularly  assigned  them,  but 
were  as  general  attendants,  who  by  the  apostle's  order,  and 
according  to  the  necessities  of  churches,  transported  them- 
selves sometimes  to  one,  and  sometimes  to  another  ;  to  coun- 
tries and  people  very  far  asunder;  as   you   see  by    the  ex- 


iSiQé  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.   XLVIII. 

ample  of  Titus,  who,  having  been  employed  in  ordering  the 
churches  of  Crete,  came  back  when  that  was  done  to  Paul,  who 
a  long  time  afterwards  sent  him  into  Dalmatia,  a  country,  as 
all  know,  very  far  distant  from  the  isle  of  Candia.  Tychicus 
then  was  a  minister  of  this  rank,  abiding  near  to  Paul's  person, 
to  receive  and  execute  his  orders,  as  you  see,  both  by  the  pas- 
sage before  us,  which  shows  us  that  he  sent  him  to  the  Colos- 
sians  to  edify  and  comfort  them  ;  and  by  the  second  Epistle  to 
Timothy,  chap.  iv.  12,  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  them- 
selves, chap.  vi.  22,  where  we  read  that  he  sent  him  to  Ephesus 
upon  a  similar  design  ;  and  by  the  Epistle  to  Titus,  chap.  iii. 
12,  whom  he  directs  to  despatch  Tychicus.  And  it  should 
seem  he  was  consecrated  particularly  to  this  ministry,  when 
he  was  named  among  those  who  were  to  accompany  Paul  in 
his  voyage  from  Greece  to  Asia,  Acts  xx.  4,  about  the  fifty- 
third  year  of  our  Lord,  that  is,  three  or  four  years  before  the 
date  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians. 

The  praises  which  the  apostle  here  gives  him  show  us  with 
what  zeal,  care,  and  courage  he  acquitted  himself  in  this  sacred 
ministration.  For  he  calls  him,  first,  his  beloved  brother  ;  de- 
claring thereby  both  his  Christianity,  for  the  faithful,  you  know, 
all  called  each  other  brethren,  and  the  particular  affection  he 
bore  him,  loving  and  esteeming  him  as  an  excellent  person, 
and  one  endowed  with  very  amiable  qualities.  He  styles  him, 
in  the  second  place,  a  faithful  minister.  The  latter  word  sig- 
nifies his  office.  He  was  not  simply  a  christian  ;  he  was  a  min- 
ister in  the  house  of  God,  that  is,  an  evangelist,  as  we  have 
showed  you.  The  other  expresses  his  conduct,  and  good  con- 
science in  the  discharge  of  his  office.  For  however  holy  and 
divine  it  is,  it  cannot  avoid  sometimes  falling  into  ill  hands, 
and  adorning  profane  or  negligent  men,  who  ill  acquit  them- 
selves in  it,  and  dishonour  it  by  the  foul  blots  of  their  life  or 
their  doctrine.  The  apostle  bears  witness  for  Tychicus  that  he 
is  none  of  that  unhappy  number,  terming  him  not  only  a  min- 
ister, but  a  faithful  minister  ;  a  commendation  that  comprises 
the  whole  perfection  of  a  true  minister,  according  to  that  which 
the  same  apostle  teaches  us  elsewhere  :  "  Let  a  man  so  account 
of  us,"  says  he,  "  as  of  the  ministers  of  Christ,  and  stewards  of 
the  mysteries  of  God.  Moreover  it  is  required  in  stewards, 
that  a  man  be  found  faithful,"  1  Cor.  iv.  1,  2.  He  that  is  faith- 
ful acquits  himself  in  the  ministry  committed  to  him  trustily, 
according  to  the  will  and  order  of  Christ,  of  whom  he  received 
it;  which,  as  you  see,  comprises  all  its  parts  and  perfections. 

But  here,  as  we  proceed,  it  will  not  be  impertinent  to  repel, 
with  the  authority  of  this  phrase  of  the  apostle,  as  with  a  firm 
and  excellent  buckler,  an  accusation  drawn  up  by  those  of 
Eome,  who  reproach  us  that  we  give  pastors  a  new  name,  and 
such  a  one  as  is  not  used  in  the  language  of  the  church,  while  we 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS,  665 

commonly  call  them  ministers,  a  name,  as  they  pretend,  per- 
taining only  to  deacons,  who  are  ministers,  as  every  one  knows, 
of  an  order  inferior  to  that  of  pastors.  Dear  brethren,  would 
to  God  that  in  the  disputes  we  have  with  those  of  Kome  ques- 
tions were  only  of  words  !  It  would  be  easy  for  us  to  accom- 
modate ourselves  to  their  language  ;  nor  would  we  make  any 
scruple  to  call  the  pastors  of  the  church,  as  they  do,  by  the 
names  of  priests  and  bishops,  which  we  confess  all  the  ancients, 
and  even  the  holy  apostles  have  used  in  this  sense.  It  is  the 
abuse  and  corruption  of  things  which  has  caused  us  to  quit 
these  words  ;  and  seeing  that  the  common  speech  of  people  had 
appropriated  them  to  new  offices,  and  such  as  were  unknown 
to  the  apostles,  meaning  by  the  word  priest  a  sacrificer,  and  by 
that  of  bishop  a  pontiff"  or  superior  of  sacrificers,  we  have  left 
these  names  to  them,  with  the  things  they  signify  among  them, 
as  utterly  contrary  to  the  institution  of  God  :  and  that  our  pas- 
tors might  not  be  confounded  with  theirs,  as  if  we  held  them 
for  sacrificers  and  pontiff's,  instead  of  the  names  of  priest  and 
bishop,  which  the  abuse  of  public  speech  has  corrupted,  and 
swayed  to  this  sense,  we  have  called  them  ministers,  a  name,  as 
every  one  sees,  very  modest,  and  most  suitable  to  their  office, 
which,  as  to  the  whole  of  it,  is  nothing  but  a  ministry:  and 
though  I  acknowledge  that  this  word,  in  Greek  the  very  word 
deacon,  is  often  used  to  signify  their  order  who  have  care  of 
the  poor  of  the  churches  ;  yet  this  passage  of  the  apostle 
plainly  shows  us  that  it  is  not  so  peculiarly  annexed  to  the 
office  of  deacon,  as  that  it  may  not  be  employed  to  signify  pas- 
tors themselves  ;  for  it  is  precisely  the  term  he  uses  here,  for 
expressing  that  quality  of  pastor,  or  evangelist,  which  Tychicus 
had,  when  he  affirms  him  to  be  a  faithful  minister  :  not  to  allege 
at  present  that  he  uses  the  same  word  very  frequently  in  other 
places,  to  signify  not  only  the  office  of  preachers,  but  the  apos- 
tleship  itself,  the  highest  of  all  ecclesiastical  charges:  as  when 
he  says,  "  Who  then  is  Paul,  and  who  is  Apollos,  but  ministers 
by  whom  ye  believed  ?"  1  Cor.  iii.  5  ;  and  elsewhere  he  styles 
them,  "ministers  of  the  new  testament,"  and  "ministers  of 
Christ,"  2  Cor.  iii.  6  ;  xi.  23. 

But  I  return  to  Tychicus,  of  whom  the  apostle  says,  in  the  third 
place,  that  he  is  his  "fellow-servant  in  the  Lord."  Not  that  he 
was  also  an  apostle  ;  but  since  Paul  in  his  apostleship,  and 
Tj'^chicus  in  his  ministry  as  an  evangelist,  served  one  and  the 
same  Lord,  and  were  of  the  same  Master's  house,  referring  all 
the  duties  of  their  different  offices  to  his  glory,  and  the  good  of 
his  household,  as  their  common  end,  and  labouring,  though 
with  unequal  authority,  in  the  same  work,  namely,  preaching 
the  gospel,  and  administering  the  sacraments,  it  is  evident  that 
in  this  respect  Tychicus  was  fellow-servant  with  this  great 
apostle.  His  acknowledging  him  here  so  to  be  was  a  direct 
84 


666  .  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XL VIII. 

means  to  gain  him  full  credit  with  the  Colossians  ;  for  if  they 
honoured  the  apostle,  how  could  they  despise  a  person  whom 
he  owns  for  his  beloved  brother,  for  a  faithful  minister  of  the 
gospel,  and  his  fellow-servant?  Now  by  his  thus  honouring 
Tychicus,  you  may  see  how  far  from  this  apostolical  meekness 
and  modesty  some  are,  who,  boasting  themselves  to  be  their 
successors,  tread  other  ministers  of  the  church  under  their  feet, 
and  so  little  consider  them  their  associates,  or  treat  them  ac- 
cording to  that  quality,  that  they  look  on  them  as  their  vassals: 
giving  out  themselves  to  be  their  princes,  their  kings,  and 
lords;  and  advancing  themselves  to  an  almost  infinite  height, 
not  only  above  each  of  them  apart,  but  even  the  whole  assem- 
bly of  them  in  a  general  council  ;  nay,  above  the  whole  sacred 
body  of  Jesus  Christ  itself;  that  is,  the  entire  church,  which  they 
affirm  to  be  born  their  subject,  and  entitle  themselves  its  mon- 
archs,  not  forbearing  to  put  even  the  greatest  princes  and  em- 
perors under  the  yoke  of  their  domination,  and  to  exact  of  them, 
as  a  mark  of  lowest  servitude,  the  kissing  of  their  feet. 

But  this  holy  and  admirable  humility  of  the  apostle  appears 
further  still,  in  his  speaking  as  he  does  of  Onesimus,  whom  he 
sent  with  Tychicus  to  the  Colossians  :  he  is,  says  he,  "a  faithful 
brother,"  &c.  For  who,  think  you,  was  this  Onesimus,  whom 
he  so  honours  as  to  call  him  his  "  faithful  and  beloved  brother?" 
Dear  brethren,  it  was  a  poor  fugitive  bond-servant,  that  is,  a 
person  of  the  meanest  and  most  despicable  condition  of  any  at 
that  time  ;  as  Paul  himself  gives  us  to  understand,  in  the  Epis- 
tle which  he  wrote  in  favour  of  this  at  length  happy  fugitive 
unto  Philemon  the  Colossian,  his  master  ;  where  he  plainly  in- 
timates, that  this  poor  man,  stealing  from  his  master's  house, 
had  fled  into  Italy,  and  got  to  the  city  of  Eome  for  safety.  But 
oh  the  admirable  provideace  of  God,  who  knows  how  to  carry 
on  the  salvation  of  his  elect  by  ways  which  we  cannot  compre- 
hend !  the  apostle  happening  to  be  prisoner  there,  and  Onesi- 
mus, led  by  his  curiosity,  or  some  other  such  occasion,  having 
heard  him,  was  so  affected  at  his  preaching,  as  of  a  pagan,  he 
became  a  christian  ;  of  a  servant  of  Philemon,  a  freeman  of 
Jesus  Christ  ;  and  instead  of  that  temporal  impunity  for  the 
crime  committed  against  his  master  which  he  sought  at  Eome, 
he  there  found  the  eternal  remission  of  his  sins,  and  the  salva- 
tion of  his  soul.  This  is  that  which  Paul  elsewhere  means, 
when  he  says  that  he  begat  him  in  his  bonds,  Phil.  10.  Now, 
the  apostle  having  showed  him  the  fault  he  had  committed  in 
deserting  his  master,  he  resolves  to  return  home  to  him,  and 
voluntarily  render  up  himself  to  his  yoke  again.  And  that  Phil- 
emon might  pardon  his  offence,  he  makes  him  the  bearer  of  a 
letter,  which  he  writes  him  on  this  subject  ;  a  letter  so  full  of 
all  the  most  express  testimonies  of  a  tender  and  ardent  affec- 
tion, as  sufficiently  proves  that  he  in  truth  accounted  him,  as 
he  here  terms  him,  his  beloved  brother. 


CHAP.  IV.]        THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  667 

But  some  of  the  ancient  writers  of  the  church  further  inti- 
mate, that  Onesimus  profited  so  well  in  the  knowledge  of  God 
and  in  piety,  as  notwithstanding  the  meanness  of  his  condition 
after  the  flesh,  he  was  advanced  to  the  sacred  ministry  of  the 
gospel,  and  executed  it  in  the  church  of  Ephesus.  And  truly 
the  employment  the  apostle  gives  him  here,  with  reference  to 
this  whole  church,  and  the  company  of  Tychicus,  with  whom 
he  associates  him,  and  the  honourable  title  he  gives  him,  styling 
him  not  only  his  beloved  brother,  which  every  christian  might 
be  termed,  but  likewise  faithful,  seems  to  show  that  he  had  some 
office  ;  upon  the  account  of  which,  for  his  conscionable  acquit- 
ting himself  in  it,  this  testimonial  of  faithfulness  is  given  him. 
And  in  this,  I  conceive,  the  apostle  also  makes  a  secret  opposi- 
tion between  the  good  conscience  with  which  he  demeaned  him- 
self in  this  employment,  and  the  unfaithfulness  he  had  formerly 
showed  to  his  master  during  the  time  of  his  ignorance  ;  if  he 
has  been  before  unfaithful,  says  he,  he  is  now  faithful  ;  after 
nearly  the  same  manner  as  the  apostle  elsewhere,  alluding  to 
the  word  Onesimus,  which  was  his  name,  and  in  Greek  signi- 
fies profitable,  says  of  him  to  Philemon  his  master,  he  "  was  in 
time  past  to  thee  unprofitable,  but  now  profitable  to  thee  and 
to  me,"  Philem.  11.  This,  dear  brethren,  is  that  which  the  first 
part  of  the  text  contains. 

II.  We  come  now  to  the  second.  In  it  the  apostle  presents 
to  the  Colossians  the  salutations  of  three  faithful  persons,  all 
the  three  jointly  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  by  nation  Jews, 
who  were  then  at  Rome,  to  serve,  and  assist,  and  refresh  him 
in  his  imprisonment:  "Aristarchus,"  says  he,  "saluteth  you," 
and  so  the  rest  in  order.  Whence  we  may  observe,  first,  in 
general,  what  was  the  zeal  and  charity  of  those  primitive  chris- 
tians ;  that  the  hatred  and  rage  of  the  world  was  not  able  to 
keep  them  from  rendering  their  duties  and  services  to  the  con- 
fessors and  martyrs  of  Jesus  Christ  even  in  prisons  ;  nor  from 
hastening  to  them  from  places  very  far  oft' to  succour  and  com- 
fort them  :  it  being  evident  that,  of  the  eight  persons  mentioned 
here,  and  in  the  following  text,  some  came  from  Greece,  others 
from  Asia,  and  some  again  from  Syria  and  Palestine,  that  is, 
many  hundred  leagues,  to  visit  and  serve  Paul.  And  by  these 
salutations,  which  for  their  part  they  send  to  the  Colossians, 
you  see  how  these  holy  and  charitable  souls  were  affectionate 
to  flocks  as  well  as  pastors,  and  to  those  who  were  absent  as 
well  as  to  them  who  were  present.  And  again,  the  apostle's 
vouchsafing  to  act  as  their  secretary  on  such  an  occasion,  shows 
lis  that  he  approves  these  offices  of  civility,  that  is,  salutations 
of  such  as  are  present,  and  by  letter  of  such  as  are  absent.  In 
truth,  a  christian,  whose  charity  and  unfeigned  cordial  love  of 
men  is  the  principal  virtue,  and  as  it  were  the  soul  and  one 
of  the  prime  principles,  of  his  life,  ought  to  acquit  himself  sedu- 


668  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XLVIII. 

lously  in  all  due  offices  of  humanity  ;  and  if  there  is  in  the 
deportments  of  other  men  anything  humane  and  praiseworthy, 
he  should  practise  it,  and  sanctify  it  to  his  Lord's  use. 

As  for  these  three  persons  in  particular,  the  apostle  gives  each 
of  them  his  eulogium.  The  first  is  Aristarchus,  a  native  of 
Thessalonica  in  Macedonia,  a  person  noted  in  the  history  of 
the  Acts,  where  you  see  him  all  along  inseparably  adhering  to 
Paul,  a  companion  in  his  travels  and  in  his  trials,  running 
the  danger  of  his  life  with  him  in  the  sedition  at  Ephesus, 
Acts  xix.  29  ;  at  his  departure  then  following  him  into  Greece, 
into  Macedonia,  into  Asia  and  Judea  ;  and  at  last  embarking 
with  him  when  he  was  carried  prisoner  to  Rome,  Acts  xxvii.  2. 
For  this  cause  the  holy  apostle,  in  acknowledgment  of  so  ad- 
mirable a  zeal,  makes  him  a  sharer  with  him  in  his  crown, 
terming  him  a  captive,  or  prisoner,  with  him;  inasmuch  as 
though  those  unjust  judges  had  not  condemntd  him,  yet  he 
took  as  great  a  part  in  the  captivity  of  Paul  as  if  sentence  had 
been  given  against  his  own  person. 

The  second  is  Mark,  whom  he  signalizes  by  the  honour  he  had 
to  be  the  nephew  of  Barnabas,  his  cousin  german,  one  of  the  most 
excellent  disciples  of  our  Lord,  and  that  laboured  in  his  work 
with  the  greatest  zeal  and  fervour,  as  you  see  in  the  history 
of  the  Acts,  and  some  of  the  ancients  have  even  attributed  to 
him  the  divine  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  The  glory  of  this 
holy  man  being  very  great  in  all  the  churches  of  God,  the 
apostle  conceived  it  a  sufficient  recommendation  of  Mark  to 
say  he  was  his  sister's  son.  He  adds  only,  "  concerning  whom 
ye  have  received  commandment."  I  am  much  of  their  mind, 
who  understand  these  words  of  some  letter  that  Barnabas  had 
written  them  in  recommendation  of  him.  And  to  this  the 
apostle  adds  his  own  counsel  to  them,  saying,  "  if  he  come  unto 
you,  receive  him."  Some  conceive  that  he  thus  writes,  because 
of  that  ill  understanding  that  formerly  happened  between  him 
and  Barnabas,  on  the  occasion  of  Mark,  Acts  xv.  39,  to  show 
now  that  there  was  no  relic  of  it  in  his  heart.  However  that 
may  be,  it  is  certain,  as  we  read  in  the  Acts,  that  Mark  betrayed 
a  little  weakness  at  the  beginning,  quitting  Paul  and  Barnabas 
in  Pamphylia,  without  any  reason,  amidst  their  conquests, 
Acts  xiii.  13.  Bat  afterwards  the  grace  of  God  so  mightily 
strengthened  him,  and  so  eminently  employed  him  in  convert- 
ing nations,  that  besides  the  memory  of  it  which  remains  in  all 
the  monuments  of  antiquity,  he  has  also  drawn  from  the  pen 
of  Paul  two  or  three  very  honourable  testimonies  ;  this  for 
one,  and  another  like  it  in  the  Epistle  to  Philemon,  ver.  24, 
where  he  mentions  him  among  his  fellow- workers  ;  and  the 
most  advantageous  of  all  in  the  Second  to  Timothy,  chap.  iv.  11, 
"Take  Mark,"  says  he,  '-and  bring  him  with  thee;  for  he  is 
profitable  to  me  for  the  ministry." 


CHAP.  IV.]         THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE   C0L0SSIAN3.  669 

The  third  of  those  whom  the  apostle  here  mentions  is 
"Jesus,  called  Justus."  It  is  probable  that  his  true  name  was 
Jesus,  and  that  Justus  was  but  the  name  which  the  Latins  and 
Greeks  gave  him,  calling  him  Justus  instead  of  Jesus  ;  it  being 
usual  with  them  to  alter  foreign  names  in  that  manner,  when 
thej  pronounced  them  in  their  own  dialects.  We  have  of  this 
servant  of  God  no  other  memorial  at  all.  For  though  some  con- 
ceive that  it  is  the  same  Justus  of  whom  mention  is  made  in 
the  18th  chapter  of  the  Acts,  to  whose  house  Paul  retired  at 
Corinth,  when  he  saw  the  Jews  resist  his  preaching  ;  yet  this 
seems  not  possible,  because  this  man  was  by  extraction  a  Gen- 
tile, and  uncircumcised,  though  he  had  some  knowledge  and 
fear  of  God,  as  appears  by  Luke's  terming  him  a  religious  man, 
or  one  that  worshipped  God  ;  a  character  he  ordinarily  gives 
to  persons  of  this  condition  ;  as  to  Cornelius  the  centurion, 
and  various  others  ;  whereas  Justus  who  is  here  in  question  was 
indeed  a  Jew,  and  circumcised,  as  Paul  shows,  adding  immedi- 
ately, of  him  and  the  two  others  just  mentioned,  "  who  are  of 
the  circumcision  :"  and  he  praises  them  all  three  in  common, 
saying  that  they  alone,  that  is,  of  their  nation,  were  his  fellow- 
workers  unto  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  protests  that  they 
were  a  consolation  to  him  ;  a  great  and  an  illustrious  tes- 
timonial given  them,  that  they  laboured  with  him  in  preaching 
the  gospel  for  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  that 
is  to  say,  for  the  edifying  of  the  church,  which  the  Scripture 
ordinarily  calls  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  in  the  same  sense 
the  kingdom  of  God.  Now  this  is  what  the  apostle  says  of 
these  three  servants  of  the  Lord. 

It  remains,  for  a  conclusion,  that  we  intimate  to  you  briefly 
what  edification  you  ought  to  draw  from  those  particulars 
which  we  have  noted  in  the  apostle's  present  text.  And,  first, 
by  the  pain  the  Colossians  were  in  for  Paul,  and  by  the  care 
Paul  takes  for  their  consolation,  you  may  see  the  ardent  and 
cordial  affection  which  the  flocks  and  ministers  of  Christ 
should  have  one  for  another.  Make  you  profit  of  it,  you  who 
are  the  Lord's  sheep,  and  tenderly  compassionate  the  labours 
and  the  sufferings  of  your  pastors.  Ye  pastors,  do  likewise, 
and  prefer,  before  all  interests  of  your  own,  the  edification 
and  consolation  of  those  sheep  whom  the  great  Shepherd  has 
redeemed  with  his  blood.  Then  again,  the  love  which  these 
five  faithful  men  here  mentioned  bore  to  Paul,  they  keeping 
ever  near  him,  and  cheerfully  and  constantly  obeying  his  orders, 
shows  us  with  what  fervour  we  should  serve  those  who  suffer 
for  the  gospel  ;  and  with  what  zeal  we  should  inseparably  ad- 
here to  the  apostles  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  teachers  and  founders 
of  the  church.  For  though  their  persons  are  no  longer  here 
below,  yet  their  doctrine  is  and  will  remain  here  to  the  end  ; 
and  in  this  respect  they  are  still  in  their  sacred  writings  sit- 
ting as  it  were  on  twelve  thrones,  judging  all  the  Israel  of  God. 


670  AN  EXPOSITION   OF  [SE  RM.  XL VIII. 

Moreover,  the  apostle  so  liberally  praising  all  the  persons 
of  whom  he  here  speaks,  may  inform  us  with  what  candour 
we  should  acknowledge  the  graces  which  God  has  imparted  to 
our  brethren,  diffusing  the  sweet  savour  of  their  good  name 
through  the  charch,  and  honouring  their  zeal  and  their  fideli- 
ty with  our  testimonials,  to  their  comfort  and  the  edification 
of  their  neighbours.  Far  from  us  be  envy,  and  malignity, 
and  pride,  passions  of  a  base  alloy,  and  unworthy  of  a  truly 
noble  christian  disposition.  Let  not  the  graces  and  dignity 
of  Paul  induce  him  to  despise  Onesimus;  I  mean,  let  not  the 
advantages  of  such  as  are  greatest  cause  them  to  disdain  the 
least. 

But  let  us  consider  particularly  the  examples  of  each  of 
those  five  faithful  men,  and  imitate  them.  For  it  is  to  this 
end  that  the  holy  apostle  has  proposed  them,  and  thought 
meet  to  consecrate  the  memory  of  them  in  his  divine  and  im- 
mortal Epistles  ;  not  that  he  might  induce  us  to  dedicate  festi- 
vals to  them,  or  render  them  religious  worship,  or  invocate 
them  as  our  mediators  ;  away  with  such  a  thought,  for  all 
this  appertains  to  God  only.  The  true  honour  we  owe  them 
is  to  serve  God  after  their  example,  and  conform  our  lives  to 
theirs,  and  draw  the  portrait  of  their  high  and  holy  virtues 
on  our  dispositions  and  our  actions.  Let  us  imitate  the  fideli- 
ty of  Tychicus,  the  repentance  and  faith  of  Onesimus,  the 
courage  and  the  patience  of  Aristarchus,  the  assiduity  of 
Marcus  and  of  Justus  in  the  matters  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Let  not  meanness  of  birth  or  of  condition,  let  not  the  great- 
ness of  sins,  discourage  any.  Jesus  Christ  rejects  neither  the 
poor  nor  the  guilty  that  come  to  him  with  faith  ;  witness  One- 
simus, who,  though  a  bondman  and  fugitive,  yet  so  effaced  all 
this  ignominy,  that  he  has  praise  from  the  mouth  of  the  apos- 
tle, and  his  name  engraven  here  in  the  temple  of  God,  among 
the  names  of  the  most  illustrious  of  his  servants.  If  you  have 
followed  the  Lord  constantly  and  uniformly,  as  did  Tychicus 
and  Aristarchus,  thank  him  for  the  grace  which  he  has  showed 
you,  and  go  on  from  good  to  better.  If  it  has  befallen  you,  as 
it  did  Mark,  to  slacken  at  any  time  in  the  work  of  your 
heavenly  calling,  resume  likewise,  as  he  did,  your  former 
vigour,  and  return  again  to  that  condition,  that  it  may  be  said 
of  you,  that  you  are  useful  for  the  Lord's  service. 

In  general,  beloved  brethren,  let  us  all  be  as  these  holy  and 
happy  persons  were,  fellow  workers  with  the  great  apostle 
unto  the  kingdom  of  God,  burning  with  him  in  a  holy  zeal  to 
glorify  Jesus  Christ  ;  living  with  him  in  all  pureuess  and 
holiness;  employing  with  him  our  tongues,  our  hands,  and 
our  pens,  for  the  conversion  of  men,  and  edification  of  the 
church  ;  and  finally  courageously  suffering  with  him,  when  the 
Lord  calls  us  thereto.     It  is  this  way,  christians,  that  we  shall 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  671 

get  to  that  heavenly  kingdom  in  which  Paul  is  lodged  after 
his  combats,  and  there  receive  with  him,  from  the  merciful 
hand  of  our  Father,  the  glorious  crown  of  immortality,  which 
he  on  his  great  day  will  give  to  us,  and  to  all  those  who  shall 
have  loved  the  appearing  of  his  Son  ;  unto  whom,  with  him, 
and  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  only  true  God,  blessed  for  ever,  be 
hoaour,  praise,  and  glory,  to  ages  of  ages.    Amen. 


SERMON   XLIX. 

VERSES  12—18. 


Epaphras,  who  is  one  of  you,  a  servant  of  Christ,  saluteth  you, 
always  labouring  fervently  for  you  in  prayers,  that  ye  may 
stand  perfect  and  complete  in  all  the  will  of  God.  For  I  hear 
him  record,  that  he  hath  a  great  zeal  for  you,  and  them  that 
are  in  Laodicea,  and  them  in  Hierapolis.  Lulce,  the  beloved 
physician,  and  Demas,  greet  you.  Salute  the  brethren  which 
are  in  Laodicea,  and  Nymphas,  and  the  church  which  is  in  his 
house.  And  ivhen  this  epistle  is  read  among  you,  cause  that  it 
be  read  also  in  the  church  of  the  Laodiceans  ;  and  that  ye  like- 
wise read  the  epistle  from  Laodicea.  And  say  to  Archippus, 
Take  heed  to  the  ministry  which  thou  hast  received  in  the  Lord, 
that  thou  fulfil  it.  The  sahdation  by  the  hand  of  me  Paul, 
Remember  m,y  bonds.     Grace  be  with  you.     Amen. 

Dear  brethren,  the  Lord  Jesus  being  upon  the  point  to  quit 
the  earth,  and  making  as  it  were  a  declaration  of  his  last  will, 
charges  his  disciples  above  all  things  to  love  one  another  with 
a  sincere  and  ardent  affection,  like  that  which  he  bore  towards 
them.  This  mutual  love  he  appoints  to  be  the  badge  of  our 
profession  :  "  By  this,"  says  he,  "  shall  all  men  know  that  ye 
are  my  disciples,  if  ye  love  one  another,"  John  xiii.  35.  Ac- 
cordingly, you  know,  that  his  Spirit  failed  not  to  imprint 
this  divine  mark  upon  those  first  christians  whom  he  formed 
in  the  city  of  Jerusalem  by  the  apostles'  preaching,  animated 
with  the  virtue  of  his  heavenly  fire.  "  The  whole  multitude 
of  them,"  says  the  sacred  history,  "  were  of  one  heart  and  of 
one  soul  ;  neither  said  any  of  them  that  aught  of  the  things 
which  he  possessed  was  his  own  ;  but  they  had  all  things  com- 
mon," Acts  iv.  82.  This  union  and  admirable  correspondence 
continued  a  long  time  among  the  faithful,  and  was  observed 
by  the  pagans  with  wonder  ;  witness  he  who,  about  two  hun- 
dred years  after  the  birth  of  our  Lord,  reproaches  christians, 


672  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XLIX. 

that  thej  know  one  another  by  certain  secret  signs,  and  love 
almost  before  they  are  acquainted,  and  all  of  them  call  one 
another  indifferently  brethren  and  sisters.  Now,  as  error  and 
passion  abuse  the  best  things,  this  poor  ignorant  person 
takes  their  holy  and  divine  concord  for  some  execrable  con- 
spiracy, and  refers  the  mystery  of  their  amity  to  infamous 
commerces  ;  whereas  all  their  union  grew  from  heaven,  and 
was  founded  upon  piety,  breathed  nothing  but  honesty  and 
holiness,  and  tended  only  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  su- 
preme happiness  of  men.  Besides  the  apostle's  writings,  which, 
being  exposed  to  public  view,  plainly  showed  to  the  dispas- 
sionate how  pure,  and  honest,  and  holy  were  the  laws  of  their 
charity,  the  manners,  the  lives,  and  actions  of  those  primitive 
christians  also  evidently  justified  them  ;  there  are  left  us,  God 
be  thanked,  various  excellent  accounts  in  the  books  of  the 
first  antiquity,  by  which  the  wonders  of  the  charity  and  mutu- 
al love  of  those  holy  men  plainly  appear.  And  not  to  speak 
of  others,  you  have  fair  and  illustrious  marks  of  it  in  this  con- 
clusion of  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  who  shows  us  that 
his  prison  neither  hindered  various  faithful  men  from  joining 
themselves  unto  him  in  this  affliction,  nor  him  nor  them  again 
from  minding  absent  christians,  and  charitably  embracing  the 
churches  of  Colosse,  Laodicea,  and  Hierapolis.  You  here  see 
the  love  of  pastors  to  their  flocks,  the  dear  affection  of  flocks 
to  their  pastors,  and  the  divine  communication  of  churches 
one  with  another.  If  therefore  it  be  a  good  and  pleasant 
thing,  as  the  psalmist  sings,  Psal.  cxxxiii.  1,  to  see  brethren 
maintaining  a  due  intercourse  with  each  other,  grudge  not 
this  hour,  my  beloved,  which  we  yet  invite  you  to  spend  in 
the  consideration  of  this  text,  having  not  been  able  to  finish 
it  entirely  in  our  last  sermon.  Let  this  admirable  amity  of 
the  first  christians  rejoice  you,  and  give  you  an  ardent  desire 
to  imitate  it.  Have  one  for  another  sentiments  and  movings 
of  heart  like  to  theirs. 

You  have  already  heard  how  Paul,  having  informed  the 
faithful  at  Colosse  that  he  sent  Tychicus  and  Onesimus  unto 
them,  to  declare  to  them  his  state,  gives  them  the  recommenda- 
tions of  Aristarchus,  and  Mark,  and  Jesus,  He  now  adds 
those  of  Epaphras,  and  Luke,  and  Demas  ;  and  then  his  own 
to  the  church  of  Laodicea,  and  to  a  faithful  man  named  Nym- 
phas,  with  an  order  to  impart  this  his  Epistle  to  them,  and  to 
inform  Archippus  of  his  duty;  whereupon  he  ends  with  his 
ordinary  salutation,  conjuring  them  to  remember  his  bonds, 
and  recommending  them  to  the  grace  of  God.  For  deducing 
these  four  points,  by  the  assistance  of  God,  in  the  same  order 
as  they  are  couched  in  the  text,  we  must  first  consider  who 
these  three  persons  were  whose  salutations  the  apostle  pre- 
sents to  the  Colossians. 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  673 

I.  The  first  of  the  three  is  Epaphras  ;  of  whom  he  spake 
before  in  very  honourable  terms  at  the  beginning  of  this  Epis- 
tle, chap.  i.  7,  8,  where  he  styles  him  his  "  dear  fellow-servant," 
and  "  a  faithful  minister  of  Christ;"  and  gives  him  the  glory 
of  having  instructed  the  Colossians  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
gospel,  and  of  having  taken  the  care  to  let  him  know  the 
charity  they  had  for  him.  Here  he  qualifies  him  in  the  same 
manner,  "a  servant  of  Christ;"  that  is,  his  minister,  and  an 
ofi&cer  of  his  house  in  the  work  of  the  gospel.  Moreover,  he 
informs  us  that  this  holy  man  was  a  Colossian  ;  that  is,  was 
born  in  their  city,  or  at  least  made  his  ordinary  abode  there  : 
"Epaphras,"  says  he,  "  who  is  one  of  you,  a  servant  of  Christ, 
saluteth  you."  Some  learned  men*  are  of  opinion,  that  it  is 
this  same  pastor  whom  the  apostle  calls  Epaphroditus,  and  of 
whom  he  speaks  so  well,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians, 
chap.  ii.  25.  But  I  do  not  see  that  this  conjecture  is  either 
founded  or  followed  by  any  of  the  ancients.  I  confess  that 
the  name  Epaphras  is  a  contraction  of  Epaphroditus  ;  and 
such  a  diminution  is  ordinary  in  the  Greek  and  in  the  Latin 
tongue  in  the  proper  names  of  men.  But  if  it  were  one  and 
the  same  person,  there  is  no  reason  why  the  apostle  should 
name  him  differently  in  these  two  Epistles:  in  the  one  con- 
tractedly,  and  with  diminution  ;  in  the  other  the  name  at 
length  and  entire  ;  considering  withal,  that  no  part  of  what 
is  said  in  those  two  places  concerning  him  induces  us  to  be- 
lieve it  was  the  same  man,  but  rather  infers  the  contrary.  For 
it  seems  that  Epaphroditus  was  pastor  of  the  church  of  Phil- 
ippi  in  Macedonia,  whereas  Epaphras  was  pastor  of  Colosse 
in  Phrygia  ;  two  cities  and  provinces  very  different,  and  sepa- 
rated from  each  other  by  much  land  and  sea  :  the  second  situ- 
ate in  Asia,  and  the  former  in  Europe. 

The  apostle  contents  not  himself  with  telling  the  Colossians 
that  Epaphras  saluteth  them.  To  this  testimony  of  his  affec- 
tion for  them  he  adds  various  others,  that  he  may  gain  him 
their  hearts,  and  strengthen  the  tie  of  amity  and  good  corres- 
pondence more  and  more  between  this  pastor  and  his  flock. 
He  says,  first,  that  he  always  strives  in  prayer  for  them,  "that," 
says  he,  "  ye  may  stand  perfect  and  complete  in  all  the  will  of 
God."  Prayer  is  the  best  office  that  we  can  perform  towards 
those  we  love.  But  pastors  particularly  owe  it  to  their  flocks, 
not  only  in  their  assemblies,  where  they  serve  for  the  mouth 
of  the  company  to  present  their  requests,  their  vows,  and 
their  thanksgivings  unto  God,  but  also  in  private,  and  even 
when  they  are  absent,  upon  some  occasion  of  importance  for 
the  good  of  the  church,  as  doubtless  that  was  which  at  that 
time  held  Epaphras  at  Rome  by  Paul's  order.     Though  he 

*  Grotius. 
85 


674  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  [SERM.  XLIX. 

was  far  from  their  abode,  he  had  them  incessantly  in  mind  ; 
and  distance  hindering  him  from  rendering  them  his  other  ser- 
vices, he  assisted  them  with  his  prayers.  The  apostle  signifies 
both  the  assiduity  of  them,  when  he  says  he  prayed  alway  ; 
and  the  fervency  and  earnestness  of  them,  when  he  says  he 
laboured  for  them.  This  word  is  admirable,  and  excellently 
represents  the  efficacy  of  his  prayer.  Think  not,  christian, 
that  he  who  prays  for  you  contributes  nothing  to  your  welfare, 
and  that  his  prayers  are  but  words  and  voices  cast  into  the 
air.  It  is  the  best  part  of  your  battles  ;  you  have  no  succour 
more  active  than  the  repose  of  a  man  of  God,  who  prays  for 
you  with  faith  and  perseverance.  It  is  he  who,  as  Moses  for- 
merly, standing  on  the  mountain  and  rapt  up  in  spirit  into  the 
heavenly  sanctuary,  defeats  Amalek,  your  spiritual  enemies  ; 
and  by  the  uplifting  of  his  hands  draws  down  the  blessing  of 
heaven  upon  your  arms.  He  oftentimes  even  takes  those  rods 
out  of  the  hand  of  God  which  he  is  about  to  lay  upon  you  ; 
and  courageously  wrestling  with  him,  after  Jacob's  example, 
quits  him  not  until  he  has  obtained  his  demand.  Such  is  the 
combat  that  Bpaphras  fought  in  the  behalf  of  his  Colossians, 
being  night  and  day  in  prayer  for  them. 

But  what  is  it  that  he  demanded  of  God  for  them  ?  The 
apostle  shows  it  expressly,  when  he  says  he  strove  for  them 
in  prayer,  that  they  might  "  stand  perfect  and  complete  in  all 
the  will  of  God."  He  desired  not  for  them  the  riches,  hon- 
ours, and  pleasures  of  the  world,  the  usual  passion  of  men, 
slight  and  perishing  goods  ;  unprofitable,  and  oftentimes  even 
pernicious,  to  those  who  possess  them.  He  prayed  God  to 
give  them  the  best  blessings  ;  perseverance  in  his  love,  in  his 
fear,  and  in  obeying  his  will.  For  it  is  this  that  the  apostle's 
words  signify.  He  demanded,  first,  that  they  might  be  "  per- 
fect and  complete  in  all  the  will  of  God  ;"  and  secondly,  that 
they  might  abide  firm  in  this  perfection.  By  "the  will  of 
God"  he  means  those  things  which  God  wills,  and  loves,  and 
which  he  commands  in  the  gospel  of  his  Son  ;  in  the  same 
manner  as  he  elsewhere  says,  our  hope,  for  the  things  we  hope 
to  obtain;  and,  the  promise  of  God,  for  the  things  he  has 
promised  us.  He  thus  explains  himself,  when  he  says  ex- 
pressly in  the  first  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians,  chap.  iv.  3, 
that  the  will  of  God  is  our  sanctification,  that  is,  that  we  be 
holy  ;  which,  as  you  see,  is  no  other  than  the  thing  which  God 
wills.  It  is  that  will  of  God  which  elsewhere  he  calls  good, 
and  acceptable,  and  perfect  ;  which  comprehends  in  it  all  the 
particulars  of  our  duty;  that  is,  in  few  words,  faith  and  piety 
towards  God,  and  charity  towards  our  neighbour.  For  this 
is  that  which  God  wills,  which  he  ordains  and  commands  all 
men  in  the  gospel  of  his  Christ;  even  that  we  believe  in  him, 
embracing  with  a  pure  and  thorough  faith  the  truths  which  he 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  675 

has  vouchsafed  to  reveal  to  us,  and  chiefly  the  promise  of  our 
salvation  by  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  ;  and  that  in  the  se- 
quel we  serve  him  religiously,  renouncing  all  impiety  ;  and 
love  our  neighbours,  living  with  them  in  all  justice,  temper- 
ance, and  benignity.  This,  brethren,  is  that  will  of  God 
which  the  apostle  intends  ;  and  observe,  he  says  not  simply, 
in  the  will,  but  in  all  the  will  of  God.  For  there  are  people 
who  would  be  content  to  do  some  part  of  what  God  wills,  pro- 
vided they  might  be  excused  the  rest  ;  as  for  example,  to  be- 
lieve the  truth  which  God  has  revealed,  but  not  to  do  the  good 
works  which  he  has  commanded  ;  or  to  exercise  some  of  them, 
but  utterly  fail  in  others  :  as  they  who  live  fair  with  men,  but 
remain  in  impiety,  and  in  the  profession  of  error  ;  or  those, 
on  the  contrary,  who  make  profession  of  error  ;  or  those, 
again,  who  make  open  profession  of  the  pure  service  of  God, 
but  spare  not  either  the  goods  or  honour  of  their  neighbours  ; 
or  who,  abstaining  from  one  vice,  license  themselves  toothers; 
who  are  chaste,  but  covetous';  or  liberal  and  beneficial  to  the 
poor,  but  corrupt  and  incontinent.  This  partition  is  unjust, 
injurious  to  God,  impossible  in  truth,  and  incompatible  with 
the  nature  of  the  things  themselves.  And  it  is  to  inform  us 
of  this  that  the  apostle  says  here  expressly,  "  in  all  the  will 
of  God,"  to  the  end  that  no  man  might  imagine  it  sufficient  to 
embrace  a  part  only  of  what  God  wills.  Epaphras  desired 
therefore  that  his  Colossians  might  be  perfect  and  complete  in 
all  this  will  of  God;  that  is,  as  we  have  now  explained  it, 
in  all  the  things  which  God  wills,  which  he  requires  of  us, 
which  he  commands  men  to  do  ;  that  they  might  be  perfect  in 
faith,  perfect  in  piety,  perfect  in  charity,  and  in  all  virtue  and 
holiness. 

.  The  two  words  by  which  he  expresses  himself,  namely, 
perfect  and  complete,  signify  nearly  one  and  the  same  thing; 
and  the  Scripture  uses  them  indifferently,  to  set  forth  a  being 
entire,  one  in  whom  none  of  the  parts  of  piety  and  sanctifica- 
tion are  wanting.  Now  this  perfection,  or  integrity,  in  all  the 
will  of  God,  comprehends  two  things:  the  one  is,  that  we 
know  it,  that  we  understand  exactly  all  that  God  wills,  all  that 
he  requires  of  us  as  he  has  revealed  it  in  his  word.  The  other 
is,  that  we  pursue  and  effectually  practise  this  will  which  we 
know.  The  first  of  these  two  points  the  apostle  recommends 
to  us  elsewhere  :  "  Be  ye  not  unwise,"  says  he,  "  but  under- 
standing what  the  will  of  the  Lord  is,"  Eph.  v.  17  ;  and  in 
another  place  he  commands  us  to  prove  it,  Rom.  xii.  2.  The 
necessity  of  the  other  point  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shows 
us,  when  he  says  in  the  gospel  according  to  Matthew,  chap, 
vii.  21,  "  Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me.  Lord,  Lord,  shall 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  but  he  that  doeth  the  will 
of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."     I  acknowledge  that,  while 


ê7f  AN   EXPOSITION  OF  [SEEM.  XLIX. 

the  believer  is  here  below,  there  want  mauy  degrees,  both  in 
his  knowledge  of  the  will  of  God,  and  in  the  obedience  he 
renders  to  him,  of  that  ultimate  and  supreme  perfection  unto 
which  he  shall  one  day  attain  in  heaven,  according  to  the 
apostle's  assertion  in  the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  chap, 
xiii.  12,  that  now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  and  know 
but  in  part  ;  but  then  we  shall  see  face  to  face,  and  know  as  we 
are  known.  Yet,  setting  this  comparison  aside,  this  does  not 
hinder  that  measure  of  faith  and  holiness  to  which  the  faithful 
at  present  attain  from  being  properly  termed  a  perfection  and 
completeness  ;  because  it  is  without  hypocrisy,  reaching  to  in- 
ternals and  externals,  and  includes  all  the  parts  of  true  piety 
and  chastity,  not  one  left  out.  And  it  is  in  this  sense  that  the 
truly  faithful  are  often  in  Scripture  called  perfect  and  com- 
plete ;  that  is,  with  reference  to  the  state  and  measure  of  the 
present  life,  for  distinguishing  them,  not  only  from  profane 
and  wicked  men,  who  embrace  no  part  of  the  will  of  God  at 
all  ;  but  also  from  hypocrites  and  carnal  christians,  who  con- 
sider only  a  part  thereof,  halting  between  two  opinions,  and 
are  thoroughly  and  absolutely  neither  in  Christ  nor  of  the 
world.  Epaphras  had  reason  to  desire  this  perfection  for  his 
Colossians,  since  that  no  one  without  it  can  inherit  everlasting 
life.  And  they  who  teach,  that  it  is  not  universally  necessary 
for  obtaining  salvation,  and  that  it  is  a  matter  of  counsel,  as 
they  call  it,  not  of  command  ;  they,  I  say,  are  grievously  mis- 
taken, and  by  this  pernicious  error  open  a  door  of  license  to 
wicked  men,  and  furnish  them  with  pillows  upon  which  to 
sleep  in  mortal  security. 

For  our  parts,  dear  brethren,  let  us  follow  the  prayer  of  Epa- 
phras, and  take  good  heed  that  we  never  count  that  superflu- 
ous or  unnecessary  which  he  so  instantly  begged  of  God  for 
his  flock  and  sheep.  And  knowing  that  they  shall  have  no 
part  in  heaven  whose  righteousness  does  not  exceed  the  right- 
eousness of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  that  Jesus  Christ 
will  receive  in  thither  none  but  those  who  have  done  the  will 
of  God  his  Father,  let  us  apply  ourselves  with  all  our  might 
to  know  it  and  fulfil  it.  Let  us  give  ourselves  no  rest,  until, 
by  prayers  and  tears,  and  by  continual  labour  and  exercise  in 
the  gospel,  we  have  attained  to  perfection  and  completion  in 
all  the  will  of  God.  Yet  it  is  not  enough  to  attain  to  this,  we 
must  abide  and  stand  firm  in  it,  as  the  apostle  here  says,  perse- 
vere constantly  to  our  last  breath  in  this  noble  and  blessed 
undertaking  ;  neither  the  menaces  nor  the  caresses  of  the 
world,  neither  the  sophisms  of  seducers,  nor  the  scandals  of 
false  brethren,  nor  the  weaknesses  of  our  own  flesh,  ever  pre- 
vailing over  us  to  make  us  vary.  For  you  know  that  the 
crown  of  salvation  is  for  them  alone  who  persevere.  It  is  thus 
that  Epaphras  strove  to  obtain  of  God,  by  his  ardent  and  assi- 


CHAP.   IV.]  THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  677 

duous  prayers,  that  the  Colossians  might  abide  perfect,  and 
complete  in  all  the  will  of  God. 

But  because  the  apostle  knew  how  much  it  concerned  this 
people  to  be  firmly  persuaded  of  the  affection  of  their  pastor, 
that  he  might  assure  them  fully  of  it,  he  gives  them  the  author- 
ity of  his  own  testimony,  "For,"  says  he,  "I  bear  him  wit- 
ness, that  he  hath  a  great  zeal  (that  is,  a  very  ardent  affection) 
for  you,  and  them  of  Laodicea,  and  of  Hierapolis."  These 
were  two  cities  of  Phrygia  near  to  Colosse,  where  the  Lord 
Jesus  had  churches  that  served  him  in  the  faith  of  his  gospel. 
And  that  of  Laodicea  is  one  of  the  seven  to  whom  he  caused 
to  be  written  by  John  those  excellent  epistles  which  are  read 
in  the  first  chapters  of  his  Apocalypse,  You  see  what  care 
the  apostle  takes  to  set  Epaphras  right  in  the  spirit  of  his 
flock.  Whence  you  may  judge  how  execrable  is  the  rage  «r 
envy  of  those  who,  contrary  to  the  example  of  this  holy  man, 
endeavour,  by  their  detractions  and  ill  offices,  to  alienate  or 
slacken  the  inclination  of  churches  towards  their  pastors,  and 
in  so  doing  render  their  ministry  unprofitable  to  them.  But, 
to  proceed. 

After  the  salutation  of  Epaphras,  the  apostle  presents  them 
that  of  Luke  and  Demas  :  "  Luke,  the  beloved  physician,  and 
Demas,  greet  you."  It  is  the  constant  opinion  from  all  anti- 
quity, that  the  first  of  these  two  is  the  same  Luke,  who  wrote 
the  third  of  our  Gospels,  and  the  book  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  two  of  the  most  excellent  pieces  that  we  have  in  the 
divine  writings  of  the  New  Testament.  And  indeed,  besides 
the  name  of  Luke,  his  own  history,  as  it  appears  to  me,  leads 
us  to  this  opinion.  For  he  himself  relates  that  he  embarked 
with  Paul,  when  he  was  carried  prisoner  into  Italy  ;  and  that  he 
came  with  him  to  Rome,  as  you  may  see  in  the  last  two  chap- 
ters of  the  Acts,  where  he  describes  this  voyage.  Therefore, 
being  there  with  the  apostle,  there  is  all  the  probability  in  the 
world  that  he  is  the  person  of  whom  Paul  speaks  in  this 
place  ;  it  being  not  found  that  mention  is  made  in  Scripture 
of  any  other  faithful  man  of  that  name.  He  calls  him  physi- 
cian, because  of  his  former  profession  ;  as  you  see  that  Mat- 
thew is  som.etimes  termed  a  publican,  because  he  was  so  before 
his  conversion.  But  that  same  heavenly  call  that  had  changed 
Matthew  from  a  publican  into  an  apostle  ;  and  in  ancient  time, 
of  a  keeper  of  sheep,  made  David  a  pastor  of  nations  ;  wrought 
a  similar  miracle  in  Luke,  and,  of  a  physician  to  the  body, 
made  him  a  physician  of  souls.  His  two  books  show  us  bow 
able  he  was  in  this  divine  art  ;  and  as  often  as  you  read  them 
at  home,  or  hear  them  publicly  here,  where  because  of  their 
excellency,  they  are  both  of  them  explained  to  you,  be  assured 
that  they  area  quantity  of  wholesome  medicines  presented  to 
you,  to  be  applied  to  your  souls  as  you  have  need.     I  well 


678  AN  EXPOSITION   OP  [SERM.   XLIX. 

know  that  there  are  some  modern  expositors  who  refer  what 
the  apostle  here  says  to  another  Luke  ;  but  they  produce  no 
valuable  reason.  They  allege,  indeed,  that  the  apostle  would 
have  adorned  this  person  with  some  more  illustrious  eulogy, 
if  he  had  spoken  of  Luke  the  evangelist  ;  but  this  is  extremely- 
feeble.  Is  it  not  a  very  glorious  qualification  to  call  him  his 
well-beloved  ?  It  is  a  great  honour  to  have  the  love  of  so 
holy  an  apostle,  and  an  assured  testimony  of  piety  and  virtue. 
Withal,  it  is  not  always  necessary  to  accompany  the  names  of 
illustrious  persons  with  all  the  eulogies  they  merit.  The 
apostle,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  naming  Timothy,  whose 
praise  and  great  advantages  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and 
in  all  virtue,  every  one  sufficiently  knows,  calls  him  simply 
his  brother  Timothy. 

•  The  other,  on  whose  behalf  he  salutes  the  Colossians,  is  De- 
mas.  In  the  Epistle  to  Philemon,  written  at  the  same  time 
with  this,  and  in  which  he  makes  mention  of  most  of  the  per- 
sons here  named,  he  places  Demas,  with  Mark,  and  Aristar- 
chus,  and  Luke,  among  his  fellow-labourers  ;  whence  it  ap- 
pears that  he  was  a  minister  of  the  word  of  God,  of  the 
order  of  those  who  served  for  helpers  to  the  apostles,  and  are 
styled  evangelists.  But  after  he  had  for  a  space  ran  well,  after 
he  had  appeared  with  praise  among  the  lights  of  the 
church,  alas  !  he  lost  in  the  end  this  fair  crown  of 
glory.  Paul,  who  vouchsafed  to  give  his  name  such  an 
honourable  rank  in  two  places  of  his  epistles,  in  a  third 
tells  this  lamentable  story  :  "  Demas,"  says  he,  "  hath  for- 
saken me,  having  loved  this  present  world,  and  is  departed 
unto  Thessalonica,"  2  Tim.  iv.  10.  From  this  doleful  example, 
let  us  all  learn,  dear  brethren,  and  particularly  such  of  us  as 
God  has  called  to  the  holy  ministry,  to  stand  on  our  guard, 
and  to  mortify  in  ourselves  worldly  lusts,  as  avarice,  the  love 
of  life,  pleasures,  ambition,  and  similar  passions,  which  ruined 
Demas.  And  if  the  dragon  cast  down  some  of  the  stars  that 
shined  in  the  heaven  of  our  churches  ;  if  the  flesh  and  the 
earth,  the  food  and  the  fulness  of  Egypt,  and  the  false  gran- 
deurs of  Chaldea,  cause  them  unworthily  to  quit  the  design 
and  the  hopes  of  mystical  Canaan,  let  us  not  be  .astonished  at 
it.  We  are  not  better  than  the  apostles.  If  all  the  light  of 
their  wisdom  and  miracles  could  not  keep  Demas  from  becom- 
ing bankrupt  of  the  truth,  we  ought  not  to  think  it  strange, 
if  there  happen  to  be  among  us  some  whom  carnal  appetites 
and  vanity  precipitate  into  the  same  fault,  notwithstanding  the 
clearness  and  evidence  of  our  holy  doctrine. 

IL  But  it  is  time  to  pass  on  to  the  second  part  of  our  text, 
in  which  the  apostle  orders  the  Colossians  three  things  :  first, 
to  salute  those  of  Laodicea  on  his  behalf;  secondly,  to  commu- 
nicate this  Epistle  to  them  ;  and  thirdly,  to  inform  Archippus 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI AXS.  679 

of  his  duty.  "  Salute,"  says  he,  "  the  brethren,"  that  is,  the 
christians,  "  which  are  in  Laodicea,  and  Nymphas,  and  the 
church  which  is  in  his  house."  This  Nymphas  dwelt  either  in 
the  city  of  Laodicea  itself,  or  in  the  country  near  it,  as  some 
in  my  opinion,  without  necessity  suppose.  The  apostle  names 
him  in  particular,  because  doubtless  he  was  one  of  the  most 
considerable  persons  of  the  flock  at  Laodicea,  and  Paul's 
affirming  that  he  had  a  church  in  his  house  sufficiently  testi- 
fies the  zeal  of  his  piety.  This  church  was  not  a  place  in  his 
house  where  the  assemblies  for  religious  exercises  were  held, 
(for  the  Scripture  never  uses  the  word  church  in  this  sensej 
which  is  now  common  among  christians,)  but  it  is  his  house- 
hold, and  the  persons  of  which  it  consisted,  who  all  made  pro- 
fession of  Christianity  with  him,  and  were  confirmed  and  edi- 
fied therein  by  his  instructions  and  good  examples.  Whence 
appears  the  vanity  of  the  pretension  of  those  at  Home,  who 
only  acknowledge  that  for  a  church  which  figures  in  the 
world,  and  carries  with  it  the  pomp  of  multitude  and  pros- 
perity. The  church  of  Jesus  Christ  is  found  wherever  he  is 
known,  served,  and  adored  according  to  his  gospel;  within  the 
enclosure  of  the  walls  of  a  house,  or  in  the  very  caverns  of 
mountains,  and  coverts  of  the  wilderness,  whither  the  Holy 
Spirit  expressly  foretells  us  that  the  spouse  of  the  Lamb  shall 
be  sometimes  constrained  to  retire. 

The  second  order  which  the  apostle  gives  the  Colossians  is 
worthy  of  consideration.  "  When  this  Epistle,"  says  he,  "  is 
read  among  you,  cause  that  it  be  also  read  in  the  church  of  the 
Laodiceans  ;  and  that  ye  likewise  read  the  Epistle  from  Lao- 
dicea." First,  his  directing  that  this  Epistle  should  be  pub- 
licly read  in  the  assemblies  of  these  two  churches,  shows  us 
that  the  Scriptures  of  God  were  given  to  us,  to  the  end  that  all 
the  people  of  Christ,  clergymen  and  laymen,  small  and  great, 
should  hear  and  read  them,  and  not  that  they  should  be  put 
into  the  hands  of  one  certain  class  of  persons  only,  as  if  this 
treasure  belonged  to  none  but  them.  And  hence  appears  the 
abuse  of  those  who  only  read  the  Scriptures  to  their  people  in 
a  language  which  they  do  not  understand,  which  is  as  bad, 
yea,  in  my  opinion  worse,  than  if  they  read  them  not  at  all. 
For  not  to  read  them  is  simply  to  bereave  the  people  of  the 
profit  they  might  make  of  them  ;  whereas  to  read  them  in  an 
unknown  tongue,  is  not  only  to  deprive  them  of  their  edifica- 
tion, but  also  to  mock  them,  and  not  less  to  offend  God,  by 
perverting  his  word  in  such  a  manner  from  its  due  use  and 
end.  AVhat  shall  I  say  of  their  outrage,  who  accuse  these  di- 
vine books  of  ambiguity,  of  obscurity,  of  seeming  contradic- 
tions and  errors — who  say  that  the  reading  of  them  is  danger- 
ous, and  more  apt  to  corrupt  and  embroil  the  faithful  than  to 
instruct  or  edify  them  ?     0  holy  apostle,  why  didst  thou  put 


680  AN   EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLIX. 

SO  dangerous  a  book  into  our  hands — a  book  full  of  thorns, 
and  void  of  fruit  ?  Why  didst  thou  order  them  to  read  it  in 
their  assembly  ;  to  impart  it  unto  neighbouring  churches,  and 
enjoin  them  to  read  it  also  ?  Why  didst  thou  not  fear  lest 
thou  shouldst  infect  the  spirits  of  thine  innocent  disciples,  and 
insnare  them  in  some  heresy  by  the  darkness  of  thy  riddles  ; 
or  shouldst  sow  some  disorder  in  their  hearts  by  the  ambigui- 
ty of  thine  expressions  ?  Dear  brethren,  the  apostle  answers 
that  his  gospel  is  clear  ;  that  it  is  covered  only  to  unstable  spi- 
rits, and  such  as  are  engaged  in  some  evil  passion  ;  that  this 
Epistle  is  not  any  seed  of  error,  but  a  remedy  against  seduc- 
tion; a  vessel  full,  not  of  poisons,  but  of  preservatives  and 
antidotes.  But  I  perceive  what  is  the  matter.  The  Scriptures 
seem  to  these  gentlemen  dangerous  ;  because,  saying  nothing 
of  their  pope,  of  their  mass,  of  the  worship  of  their  saints 
and  images,  nor  of  their  purgatory,  and  such  other  points  ; 
nay,  saying  many  things  which  are  evidently  contrary  to 
them  ;  they  easily  induce  those  who  read  them  with  attention 
to  believe  that  these  doctrines  have  been  invented  by  men, 
and  were  never  taught  by  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles. 
This  book  troubles  them,  because  they  find  not  their  reckon- 
ing in  it.  It  is  obscure,  because  what  they  love  does  not  there 
appear.  It  is  ambiguous,  because  it  pronounces  nothing 
clearly  or  expressly  in  favour  of  the  opinions  which  they  are 
resolved  never  to  forsake. 

Again,  this  imparting  of  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans, 
which  the  Colossians  were  to  do  by  his  order,  shows  us  that 
there  ought  to  be  a  holy  and  charitable  commerce  between  the 
churches  of  Jesus  Christ  with  reference  to  spiritual  things; 
that  a  church  which  has  received  any  grace  from  God  which 
tends  to  edification  should  not  grudge  it  to  others,  but  affec- 
tionately communicate  to  them  all  that  may  serve  for  their  in- 
struction. And  this  communion  ought  to  take  place  particu- 
larly between  neighbouring  churches,  such  as  those  of  Colosse 
and  of  Laodicea.  And  it  is  upon  this  example,  and  upon  the 
reason  on  which  it  depends,  that  the  uniting  of  the  churches 
of  the  same  provinces  in  synods  is  founded  ;  a  thing  instituted 
and  observed  from  the  beginning  of  Christianity  down  to  our 
days,  and  still  very  profitably  practised  and  kept  up  among  us, 
by  the  goodness  of  God. 

This  mutual  communication  of  neighbouring  churches  ap- 
pears yet  further,  in  the  apostle's  ordering  the  Colossians,  in 
the  third  place,  to  read  also  the  letter  from  Laodicea  after  im- 
parting to  them  his.  "  When  this  Epistle,"  says  he,  "  is  read 
among  you.  cause  that  it  be  read  also  in  the  church  of  the 
Laodiceans  ;  and  that  ye  likewise  read  the  Epistle  [which 
came,  or  was  written]  from  Laodicea."  It  is  demanded  what 
this  second  Epistle  is  of  which  he  speaks.     Many  theologians 


CHAP.  IV.]         THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  681 

of  the  communion  of  Rome  answer,  tliat  it  was  a  letter  which 
Paul  wrote  to  the  faithful  of  Laodicea,  at  the  same  time  he 
wrote  this  to  the  Colossians  ;  whence  they  conclude,  that  this 
piece  being  lost,  as  well  as  various  other  writings  of  prophets 
and  apostles,  it  cannot  be  pretended  that  the  canon  of  holy  writ 
is  perfect,  and  contains  all  things  necessary  to  our  salvation. 
Others,  again,  from  thence  infer  that  it  is  the  church  which 
gives  the  Scriptures  the  authority  they  have  among  chris- 
tians; since,  of  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  it  has  left  this  in  particular 
out  of  the  canon  of  divine  books,  and  retained  only  those 
fourteen  which  are  in  our  hands.  But  there  is  nothing  sound 
or  solid  in  their  argument;  which  concludes  badly,  and  pre- 
supposes what  is  false.  For  suppose  the  apostle  had  writ- 
ten an  Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans,  and  that  it  was  lost,  (as  I 
would  not  affirm  that  Paul  and  his  fellow-brethren  the  apostles 
never  wrote  anything  to  any  particular  person  or  to  any 
church  but  what  has  been  handed  down  to  us,)  suppose  it,  I 
say  ;  who  told  them  that  this  loss  makes  the  canon  of  our 
Scriptures  defective  ?  Who  told  them  that  there  was  in  that 
letter  some  article  of  faith  necessary  to  our  salvation,  which  is 
not  found  in  the  other  parts  of  the  Bible  which  we  now  have  ? 
Again,  who  taught  them  thence  to  conclude,  that  it  is  the  church 
who  authorizes  the  divine  books  ?  I  grant  she  is  the  keeper  and 
depositary  of  them,  as  the  synagogue  formerly  was  of  the  books 
of  the  Old  Testament,  according  to  the  apostle's  saying,  that 
unto  them  were  committed  the  oracles  of  God  ;  and  that  it 
belongs  to  her  charge  to  preserve  them,  and  read  them,  and 
recommend  them  to  every  one.  But  that  it  is  the  authority 
of  her  voice  and  testimony  which  gives  them  the  price  and 
value  they  have,  either  in  themselves,  or  with  reference  to 
faithful  souls,  cannot,  in  my  opinion,  be  said  without  outrag- 
ing the  majesty  of  their  author,  by  making  the  divinity  of  the 
instruments  of  his  wisdom  to  depend  upon  the  fancy  of  men  ; 
as  the  Romans  formerly  submitted  the  worship  and  divinity 
of  their  gods  to  the  decrees  of  their  senate.  They  were  not 
gods  except  it  so  pleased  men.  If  it  were  certain  that  the 
apostle  had  written  an  Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans,  and  put  it 
into  the  hands  of  the  church,  it  should  be  concluded,  not  that 
she  has  the  power  to  authorize  what  divine  books  she  pleases, 
but  rather  that  she  has  greatly  failed  in  her  duty  in  having  so 
negligently  kept  a  heavenly  jewel.  *  But  the  worst  yet  is,  that 
all  that  they  say  about  this  pretended  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the 
Laodiceans  is  a  vain  conceit,  and  has  no  other  foundation  than 
their  imagination.  I  well  know  that  in  our  fathers'  days  a  learned 
man*  published  one  under  that  name,  having  found  it  in  three 
or  four  libraries.     But  the  piece  is  so  gross  and  'so  ridiculous, 

*Faber.  Scapulensis. 
86 


682  AN  EXPOSITION  OP  [SERM.  XLIX. 

that  it  has  been  universally  rejected,  as  the  work  of  an  impostor, 
who  abusing  his  leisure,  forged  this  trifle,  and  shamelessly- 
fathered  it  upon  Paul.  Some  of  the  ancients  also  make  men- 
tion of  a  document  bearing  the  same  name,  whether  it  were 
difierent  from  this  or  resembled  it  ;  but  the  ancients  who  speak 
of  it  all  unanimously  decry  it  as  an  apocryphal  book,  and 
one  issued  out  of  an  heretical  shop,  and  framed  at  pleasure 
after  Paul's  death.  And,  in  truth,  one  of  the  first  writers  of 
the  Latin  church  declares,*  that  a  famous  heresiarch,  named 
Marcion,  had  changed  the  title  of  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the 
Ephesians,  and  instead  of  this  name,  which  it  always  bore  in 
the  church,  impudently  called  it  the  Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans; 
and  indeed  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  those  words  occur 
which  Epiphanius  reports  to  have  been  cited  by  Marcion  out 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans.f  This  has  given  a  certain 
writer:):  occasion  to  fancy  that  Paul  indeed  sent  and  addressed  the 
same  Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans  which  at  the  same  time  he  wrote 
to  the  Ephesians,  these  two  churches  having  had  need  of 
the  same  remedies  ;  and  that  it  is  this  Epistle  the  apostle 
means  in  this  place,  directing  the  Colossians  to  take  a  copy  of 
it,  and  read  it  in  their  assembly.  All  this  would  pass,  if  it 
were  at  all  grounded  ;  but  it  is  too  much  confidence  or  credulity 
to  think  to  persuade  us  of  it  upon  the  credit  of  Marcion,  the 
most  impudent  impostor  that  ever  troubled  the  church,  and 
one  that  in  particular  played  with  the  books  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, contracting  them,  maiming  them,  and  changing  them 
at  his  pleasure  with  an  infernal  license.  Besides,  this  supposi- 
tion agrees  not  with  Paul's  words.  Eor  he  does  not  say,  as  these 
persons  pretend,  that  the  Epistle  in  question  was  written  to 
the  Laodiceans.  True  it  is,  the  Latin  interpreter  has  rendered 
it,  the  Epistle  of  the  Laodiceans,  but  this  would  signify,  as 
every  one  sees,  that  the  Laodiceans  had  written  it,  and  not  that 
they  had  received  it,  either  from  the  apostle  or  from  any 
other.  Yet  though  the  Latin  would  sufîer  this  rude  gloss,  it 
is  clear  the  original  cannot  be  made  to  bear  it  without  under- 
taking (as  these  new  doctors  do,  truly  with  presumption 
enough)  to  change  the  words  of  it,  which  we  find  uniform  in 
the  Greek  copies,  and  which  the  ancients  observed  there,  above 
twelve  hundred  years  ago.  For  they  clearly  import,  as  our 
Bibles  have  faithfully  translated  and  represented,  that  this 
Epistle  had  been  written  or  sent  from  Laodicea  ;  so  that  we 
must  necessarily  understand  them,  with  the  ancient  Greek 
fathers,  of  an  Epistle  written,  not  to  the  Laodiceans,  but  from 
their  city. 

Now  the  apostle  telling  us  no  more  of  it,  either  here  or 
elsewhere,  we  need  not  wonder  that  those  who  have  had  the 

*Tertul.  1.  5.  c.  17.  cont.  Murciou.  f  Heres.  43.  cont.  Marcion.  X  Grotius. 


CHAP.  IV.]        THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS.  683 

curiosity  to  inquire  what  this  letter  might  be,  have  fallen 
upon  different  opinions,  as  in  a  matter  both  obscure,  and  be- 
sides of  no  great  necessity.  Some  of  the  ancients  say  that  it 
is  the  first  Epistle  of  Paul  to  Timothy,  written  from  Laodi- 
cea  ;  as  is  expressly  reported  by  an  old  tradition,  which  is 
read  still  to  this  day  at  the  end  of  that  Epistle.  And  the 
truth  is,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  this  Epistle  contains  va- 
rious instructions  fit  to  edify  the  Colossians  about  the  busi- 
ness of  those  seducers  whom  Paul  here  opposes  ;  they  taught 
a  discrimination  of  days  and  meats,  and  this  is  there  express- 
ly condemned.  And  whereas  it  is  alleged  against  these  au- 
thors, that  the  apostle  had  not  been  in  the  city  of  Laodicea  ; 
consequently,  he  could  not  have  thence  written  any  letters, 
either  to  Timothy  or  any  other  ;  they  perhaps  would  answer 
with  an  ancient  author,  Theodoret  by  name,  that  the  history 
of  the  Acts  assuring  us  Paul  had  traversed  Phrygia,  it  is  not 
very  improbable  that  he  passed  through  Laodicea,  the  capital 
city  of  the  province.  As  to  his  saying,  in  the  2nd  chapter 
to  the  Colossians,  that  he  had  a  great  conflict  for  them,  and 
for  those  at  Laodicea,  and  for  all  such  as  had  not  seen  his 
face  in  the  flesh  ;  this  shows  indeed  that  the  apostle  had  care 
even  of  those  of  the  faithful  whom  he  had  not  seen,  but  not 
that  they  of  Laodicea  or  of  Colosse  were  of  the  number  ;  and 
that  the  sense  of  these  words  is,  he  was  in  pain,  not  only  for 
them  whom  he  had  seen  and  known,  but  even  for  the  christians 
he  never  saw.  Yet  because  this  exposition  may  seem  a  little 
forced,  it  is  better  and  more  easy  to  adhere  to  the  common 
opinion,  followed  by  the  greater  number  of  expositors,  both 
ancient  and  modern,  even  that  the  Epistle  from  Laodicea, 
here  mentioned  by  the  apostle,  was  a  letter  written  by  the 
church  of  Laodicea  to  Paul  ;  which  letter  he  desires  the  Colos- 
sians should  read  in  their  assembly,  because  it  contained 
things  which  he  judged  helpful  to  their  edification  ;  perhaps 
concerning  the  persons,  or  the  errors,  or  the  procedures  of 
those  very  seducers  whom  he  combats  in  this  Epistle.  This, 
in  my  opinion,  is  that  which  may  be  said  in  the  matter  with 
greatest  probability. 

There  remains  the  third  and  last  order  he  gives  them  :  "  Say 
to  Archippus,  Take  heed  to  the  ministry  which  thou  hast  re- 
ceived in  the  Lord,  that  thou  fulfil  it."  We  learn  from  the 
Epistle  to  Philemon,  that  Archippus  was  a  fellow-soldier  of 
the  apostle's,  that  is,  a  minister  of  the  holy  gospel.  The 
meaning  then  is,  that  the  church  should  direct  him,  on  Paul's 
behalf,  to  mind  both  the  quality  of  that  excellent  ministry, 
and  the  authority  and  divinity  of  the  Lord,  in  whose  name  he 
had  been  called  to  it,  that  he  might  acquit  himself  worthily  in 
it,  and  diligently  fulfil  all  its  functions,  leaving  no  part  of 
them  unperformed.     It  is   thought  that  some  negligence  or 


684:  AN    EXPOSITION   OF  [SERM.  XLIX, 

Other  defect  of  this  pastor  might  have  induced  the  apostle  to 
cause  this  advice  to  be  given  him  ;  but,  for  my  part,  I  would 
not  without  a  more  pressing  reason  suspect  such  a  thing  of  a 
person  whom  the  apostle  had  so  much  honoured  as  to  call 
him  his  fellow-soldier,  in  the  Epistle  he  wrote  at  the  same 
time  to  Philemon  ;  and  should  rather  believe  that  Archippus, 
having  been  newly  received  into  this  sacred  charge,  the  apos- 
tle would  encourage  him  by  this  direction  to  a  good  discharge 
of  his  duty.  However  this  may  be,  you  see  he  gives  the  body 
of  the  church  a  power  to  address  some  remonstrances  some- 
times to  its  own  pastors  ;  an  evident  sign  that  they  are  not 
the  masters  and  lords  of  it,  as  those  of  Rome  pretend,  but 
ministers  and  officers  only. 

He  adds  in  conclusion,  "  The  salutation  by  the  hand  of  me 
Paul."  The  rest  of  the  Epistle  had  been  dictated  by  the  apos- 
tle, and  written  by  another  hand.  He  writes  these  and  the 
following  words  himself,  with  his  own  hand  ;  and  it  was  his 
ordinary  practice  so  to  do,  as  he  declares  elsewhere,  2  Thess. 
iii.  17,  to  assure  his  letters  by  this  mark  against  the  fraud  of 
falsifiers,  who  even  then  impudently  dispersed  forged  letters 
under  his  name  ;  as  he  himself  in  another  place  intimates  to 
us,  2  Thess.  ii.  2.  Yet,  before  he  concludes,  he  conjures  them 
to  remember  his  bonds,  as  an  excellent  seal  of  the  truth  of 
his  gospel,  and  an  irrefragable  testimony  of  the  affection  he 
bore  to  them,  and  the  rest  of  the  Gentiles,  for  whose  sake  he 
suffered  these  things;  which  consequently  obliged  them  to 
love  him,  and  to  pray  the  Lord  ardently  for  him  ;  and  above 
all  to  imitate  his  constancy  and  his  patience  on  similar  occa- 
sions, if  they  should  be  called  to  suffer.  After  this  he  gives 
them  his  blessing  in  these  words,  "  Grace  be  with  you. 
Amen."  He  means  the  grace  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  his  Son 
our  Lord  ;  and  it  was  not  possible  to  crown  this  divine  letter 
with  a  fairer  and  more  appropriate  conclusion. 

Let  us  bless  God,  my  beloved  brethren,  who  has  vouch- 
safed us  the  grace  to  read  and  to  explain  it  throughout  in 
these  holy  assemblies  ;  and  pray  him  that  he  would  please  to 
continue  the  same  liberty  and  tranquillity  still  to  us,  causing 
his  word  to  fructify  among  us.  At  present,  let  us  particularly 
meditate  upon  the  remarkable  lessons  which  this  conclusion 
contains,  to  the  end  that  we  may  sedulously  practise  them, 
each  of  us  according  to  our  vocation.  Let  ministers  mind  the 
direction  given  to  Archippus,  and  imitate  the  example  of  Epa- 
phras,  in  loving  cordially  their  flocks,  in  striving  for  them 
by  prayer,  by  word,  and  by  deed;  fulfilling  their  ministry, 
and  so  demeaning  themselves  in  it,  as  may  be  worthy  both 
of  the  excellency  of  the  charge,  and  of  the  respect  and  love 
they  owe  to  the  Son  of  God,  who  has  honoured  them  with  it. 
Let  flocks  have  reverence  and  amity  for  their  pastors,  and 


CHAP.  IV.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE   COLOSSIANS.  685 

live  in  good  intelligence  witli  their  neighbours,  as  Colosse  and 
Laodicea,  mutually  communicating  all  things  which  tend  to 
their  common  edification.  Let  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  and  the 
books  of  his  fellow-brethren,  the  prophets  and  apostles  of  the 
Lord,  resound  eternally  in  our  assemblies.  Let  their  voice 
alone  be  there  heard,  and  their  doctrine  alone  received,  and 
let  every  tradition  which  is  not  marked  with  their  seal  be 
banished  thence.  Let  heads  of  families  imitate  the  zeal  of 
Nymphas,  so  conscientiously  training  their  children  and  their 
people  to  piety  ;  and  so  regularly  establishing  the  exercises 
of  it  among  thera,  that  it  may  be  truly  said  of  them,  they  each 
have  a  church  in  their  house.  And  let  all  of  us  together, 
of  whatever  order  or  condition,  study  to  be  perfect  and  com 
plete  in  all  the  will  of  God,  and  persevere  unto  the  end  in 
this  holy  profession  ;  remembering  also  the  bonds  of  Paul, 
and  the  sufferings  of  the  faithful,  by  which  God  has  con 
firmed  the  truth  of  his  gospel  ;  and  so  walk  in  the  steps  of 
these  blessed  ones,  enjoying  the  favours  of  God  with  thankful 
ness,  and  undergoing  his  chastisements  and  trials  with  pa 
tien  ce,  that  his  grace  may  be  with  us  for  ever  both  in  this 
world  and  in  the  world  to  come.    Amen. 


GENERAI  INDEX, 


PAGE 

"Above  all  these  things,"          .... 

549 

Abstinence  from  meats  and  drinks,             . 

.       413-425 

Adam,  the  first  and  Second,     .... 

298, 522 

AfiFection  for  the  church,     ..... 

131 

"Afflictions,  of  Christ,"            .... 

181 

ordered  by  God,        .... 

184 

not  a  reproach,     .... 

190 

no  believers  escape,    .... 

191 

of  believers,  for  the  edification  of  the  church, 

.  11,  192 

•Ay&)i'tso//£i'Of  tv  raîç  npoaevXaîs,             .... 

674 

Angels,  worshipping  of,            .            .            .            .         1 

39,  313,  385,  411 

Anger,  characters  and  effects  of,  . 

499-502 

exhortation  against,     .            . 

503 

helps  against,         ..... 

504 

Antinomianism,             ..... 

535 

'Ano\vrpù)CTiç,                ...... 

80 

Apostasy  of  some  no  valid  argument  against  perseverance, 

165 

Apostle,  the  marks  of  an,  . 

14 

Apostleship  of  Paul,     ..... 

194 

Apostolic  doctrine,  sufficiency  of  the. 

218 

Arian  heresy,    ...... 

.       96-101, 302 

Aristarchus  commended,    ..... 

668 

Aristotle  quoted,          ..... 

571,  596 

Assurance  of  faith,            ..... 

167 

understanding,     .            . 

240 

Attributes,  divine,  ascribed  to  Christ, 

94,  95 

Augustine  quoted,        .            .            . 

.       45,  553,  640 

Auricular  confession,  pernicious  tendency  of. 

515 

Aurelius,  a  Jesuit,  on,     . 

.516 

Baptism,  supersedes  circumcision. 

327 

excellency  of  the  rite. 

328 

its  efiect, 

ib. 

Baronius  quoted,           ..... 

397 

Beginning,  Christ  the,        .            . 

128 

Beguile,  metaphorical  signification  of  the  word, 

388 

Believers,  compared  to  trees,  ■        .            .            • 

58 

portion  of,    . 

76 

mutual  love  of,  . 

132 

complete  in  Christ,  .... 

319 

buried  with  Christ,       .... 

322-324 

risen  with  Christ,     .... 

.     325,  326,  445 

should  be  conformed  to  Christ, 

325,  453 

(687) 


GENEKAL  INDEX. 


Believers,  are  said  to  be  "  dead," 

their  life  hid  with  Christ  in  God, 
their  true  end, 
holiness  of,        . 
elected  by  God, 
beloved  of  God, 
Benefit,  Christ's  first  and  principal, 
Blasphemy,  or  evil-speaking, 
Blood,"  "  through  his, 
"  Blotted  out,"       .... 
"  Body  of  his  flesh,"     . 
Bodily,"  "  dwelleth. 
Body  of  our  vices, 

Bpa/?£ii£7-aj,  expressiveness  of  the  word, 
Brethren,  signification  of  the  word, 
should  pray  for  brethren, 
the  most  advanced  need  our  prayerSj 
love  to  the. 
Building,  the  church  compared  to  a,     . 
Built  up  in  Christ, 

Burial  of  Christ,  communion  in  the,     . 
Cajetan,  Cardinal,  quoted, 
Call  of  God,  requisite  for  a  minister,    . 

Paul's  heavenly, 
Canon  of  Scriptures  not  defective, 
Catechize,  to,  our  souls  daily,  is  our  duty, 
Charity,  without  it  our  virtues  are  glittering  sins, 
true  nature  of,      . 
is  "  the  bond  of  perfectness," 
exhortation  to,      . 
Xeipoypatpov,  meaning  of  the  word. 
Children,  duties  of,  .  .  . 

exhortation  to, 
of  disobedience," 
Christ,  author  of  our  redemption, 
his  death  expiatory, 
his  sacrifice  atones  for  all  sins, 
his  love  should  beget  love, 
the  image  of  the  invisible  God, 
divine  attributes  ascribed  to, 
and  the  Father  of  the  same  nature, 
distinct  in  person  from  the  Father, 
the  first-born  of  every  creature, 
the  Creator  of  all  things,  .  . 

"  before  all  things," 
the  Preserver  of  all  things,  . 

the  Head  of  the  church, 
"  the  beginning,"    . 
the  Sun  of  righteousness, 
his  all-fulness, 
pervades  the  Scriptures, 
two  distinct  natures  in, 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  in, 
truly  God,  .... 
the  richness  of  his  perfections, 
complete  in,  .  .  . 

the  Tree  of  life, 

the  Head  of  angels,  .  , 

power  of  the  death  of. 


PAOI 

454-458 

459-463 

467 

492,  531,  537 

536 

538 

81 

505 

84 

354 

155 

300 

470 

555 

14 

43 

44 

88,89 

278 

278,  279 

322-324 

405 

171 

ib. 

681 

478 

548 

549 

552 

558 

348 

603-611 

614 

483-489 

.     79-82 

84 

87 

88,89 

.    90-93 

94,95 

ib. 

96 

.  99-102 

107-115 

114 

ib. 

118, 124,  408-411 
126 
134 

134-136,  299,  300 
211 

244,  300-304,  449 
254,  262,  442 
.   296,  297 
298 
310 
ib. 
313 
.  519,  520 


GENERAL  INDEX, 


Christ,  necessary  for  ail,    . 

PAOl 

531 

Christian  doctrine  practical,    . 

. 

53 

discipline,          .... 

, 

56,  294 

life,  its  productions, 

,            , 

58 

conflict, 

^ 

60 

Christians,  primitive,  their  zeal  and  charity,    . 

. 

667 

their  union  accounted  conspiracy, 

671 

Christianity,  persecutions  of,    . 

. 

176 

Chrysostom  quoted. 

. 

70,  173 

Church,  the,  union  between  Christ  and. 

118,  125 

,  408-411 

nature  and  definition  of  a,  ^ 

123 

,171,679 

the,  its  bead,  Christ,    , 

123-131 

,  408-411 

affection  for,              .            .        ■    . 

131 

of  Christ,  its  most  glorious  state, 

193 

its  perfection  twofold. 

,            , 

271 

Circumcision,  made  without  hands, 

, 

315,  316 

typical  of  baptism,              .            , 

,            . 

'327 

City,  a  believer's,  in  heaven,   . 

75,  76,  623 

Cloisters,  monkish,            .... 

,            , 

614 

Colosse,        .   .            .            .            .            . 

,            , 

15 

Cometh,"  "  the  wrath  of  God,       .            .            . 

, 

484 

Communion,  meditation  suitable  to  the  holy,     . 

,            , 

79 

in  the  burial  and  resurrection  of  Chris 

,t,      . 

322 

Complete  in  Christ, 

.        310 

Condignity,  merit  of,        . 

,            , 

55 

Conflict,  varied  nature  of  christian, 

, 

60 

a  christian's  severest, 

174 

Conflicts  of  the  servants  of  God,          .           . 

,            , 

186 

Conformity  to  Christ,        .... 

, 

453 

Congruity,  grace  of,     . 

, 

151 

Contrast  between  saints  and  hypocrites,    .            . 

i 

165 

Corban,  the,  of  the  Jews,         .            .            . 

, 

610 

Corruption  of  our  nature. 

; 

151, 152 

Covenant,  old  and  new,            .            .            .1 

33,  202-210,  258 

373,  416 

"  Covetousness,  which  is  idolatry," 

475 

476,  493 

Create,  to,      . 

. 

107 

Creation  of  man  inferior  to  his  restoration, 

.     65,66,309 

gives  right  to  dominion,    .            . 

. 

106 

ascribed  to  God  alone, 

. 

113 

Creator,  Jesus  Christ  the,       .            .           . 

. 

ib. 

Creature,"  "  to  every,        .          ■  .            ,            . 

.            . 

169 

Cross,  the,  the  wisdom  of  God, 

: 

360 

n                 triumph  of,      ; 

:          : 

363-370 

Darkness,  power  of,     .            : 

.          . 

71 

Death,  of  Christ,  its  necessity,     . 

. 

156 

spiritual,            .            .            ♦            . 

•          . 

337-342 

of  Christ  expiatory, 

. 

355 

Debauched,  life  of  the, 

é          . 

490 

Debt,  sin  compared  to  a,  . 

* 

348 

Delay,  danger  of,          . 

. 

35 

Detraction,  origin  and  evU  nature  of. 

.          . 

505 

especially  of  ministers,  execrable, 

. 

677 

Discerning,  an  important  duty, 

t 

256 

Dispensation,  old  and  new, 

. 

202-210 

superiority  of  the  new, 

258, 

374,  415 

Distinction  of  meats  and  drinks, 

. 

375 

days,         .... 

376-381 

Divine  attributes  ascribed  to  Christ,     . 

, 

.    94,95 

Do  all  things  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,     .            é 

87 

•            • 

576-588 

(em^ 


690 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


Doctrine,  efficacy  of  sound,      . 

276-279 

Dwell  in  you,"  "  let  the  word  of  Christ,    . 

,')62 

"  Dwelleth,"     ...... 

299 

'WcXodprtdxeia,             ...... 

430 

Elected  of  God,  the  faithful  are, 

636 

Election,  the  doctrine  of,  an  incentive  to  holiness, 

535-546 

Eloquence,       .            .            .            .            ,            . 

260,  261 

Emancipator,  Christ  the  great,      . 

627 

End  of  the  preaching  of  Christ, 

217 

Enemies  within  and  without,         .... 

60,  61 

of  God, 

149 

'EvOtKtlTbl,                           .                      .                      .                      .                      .                      . 

562 

"  Enticing  words,"        ..... 

.        257 

Eolus,  fabled  cavern  of,     . 

498 

Epaphras,  commended  by  Paul, 

37 

characteristics  and  object  of  his  prayers, 

673 

Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  summary  of  its  contents,    •  . 

.    11-13 

to  the  Laodiceans,  spurious, 

681 

'Ep^icaro, 

73 

"  Established  in  the  faith,"             ... 

;              279 

Euchites,  heresy  of  the,            .        ■    , 

44 

Eutychian  heresy,               ..... 

303 

Evangelist,  an,  office  and  duties  of,       . 

663 

"  Every  good  work,"          ..... 

68 

Evil-speaking,  kinds  and  effiîcts  of,    .    . 

499 

malignity  of,            ...            . 

511 

abhorred  by  God, 

612 

the  proper  avocation  of  the  devil,    . 

513 

Example  of  Christ,       ..... 

.    453,  542,  543 

Excellence,  love  of  natural,            .... 

41 

Excellencies  indispensable  for  a  christian. 

62 

Excellency  of  the  Lord  Jesus,        .          90, 108, 112,  252,  26 

2,  297,  300,  442 

Exhortation  to  mortification,    .... 

479 

against  anger,            .... 

503 

to  charity. 

558 

do  all  things  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  JeSus, 

586-588 

husbands  and  wives,      . 

601 

children, .  .            ... 

614 

parents,             .... 

615 

servants  and  masters,        [. 

627, 628 

Faith,  and  love,  inseparable,    .            .            . 

.     20,  59 

an  active  principle, 

117 

justified  by,        . 

163 

temporary,           .  .         ,  . 

164 

nature  of  true,  .            . 

163,  238 

of  saints  -and  hypocrites  contrasted, 

165 

assurance  of,       . 

167 

and  hope  conjoined,             .... 

168 

connects  the  believer  with  the  Lord,      .            , 

279 

principal  object  of,              .            .            .    '         . 

330 

the  operation  of  the  grace  of  God,       .            .            , 

ib. 

Faithful,  the,  the  Colossians  termed  so,      . 

16 

,  the  love  they  owe  their  ministers, 

233 

their  comfort  of  heart. 

235 

their  union  in  love,          .            .     '        . 

236 

compared  to  a  body,           .            .            .11 

8-125,  408-411 

building. 

278 

trees,  .... 

ib. 

Fathers,  the,  recommend  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  . 

570 

GENERAL  INDEX. 


691 


Filling  up  what  is  behind  in  the  afflictions  of  Christ 

"  Filthy  communication," 

"  First-born  of  every  crçature,"     . 

Flesh,  the,  scriptural  meaning  of  the  word, 
dead  iu  believers, 

Fornication,  its  debasing  nature, 

Fornicators,  wrath  cometh  on,    .  . 

Free-will,         .  .  .  .  . 

Fruits  of  the  gospel, 
heathenism, 

Fruitfulness  of  the  Colossians,      .  , 

required  in  saints. 

Fulness  of  Christ, 

the  Godhead  in  Christ,    .   . 

Gifts  of  God,  twofold,        .  . 

Glory,  scriptural  acceptation,  of  the  word, 

"  Go  in  peace,"  .   . 

Godhead,  the,  its  fulness  dwelleth  in  Christ, 

Gospel,  the,  great  and  sudden  spread  of,    . 

its  superiority  to  the  law,  27,  202, 

Paul's  love  to,  and  praise  of, 

its  progress,  a  proof  of  its  divine  origin, 


communicated  according  to  the  mere  good  pleasure  of  the 


121, 


Lord 
the  hope  of,  . 
Grace,  the  heart  and  substance  of  the  gospel,  . 
of  perseverance  and  conversion  invincible, 
and  merit  incompatible, 

efficacy  of,  .....      75, 

"  let  your  speech  be  a,lway  with 
Graces  of  faith  and  love  inseparable, 

our  brethren  should  be  candidly  and  thankfolly'acknowledged 
Gratitude,  Cicero's  remark  on, 

a  necessary  and  universal  duty, 
Grotius  quoted,     .... 
"  Grounded  and  settled," 
Handwriting  of  ordinances, 

blotted  out, 
taken  out  of  the  way, 
Haters  of  God,  in  what  sense  men  are, 
Head  of  the  church,  Christ,  ....    120, 

angels,  Christ, 
Heart-holiness,  want  of,  the  source  of  many  errors. 
Heaven,  our  affections  should  be  set  on, 
"  Heir  of  all  things,"        .... 
Heresy  of  the  Sabellians,         .  . 

Arians, 
Hierapolis,        .  •  ..... 

Holiness,  essential  to  believers, 
dignity  of,     . 
motives  to,  ... 

doctrine  of  election,  an  incentive  to, . 
Hope,  a  christian's,  secure  in  heaven, 

and  faith  conjoined,       .  .  • 

of  the  gospel,         .  .  .  > 

Humility,  affected,  of  spirit,    .  . 

commended,      . 

the  basis  of  the  christian  vh"tues,      . 
two  of  its  daughters, 


205,  210, 
28 


184 

515 

99-102 

406 

453-458 

490,  491 

489 

73,  341,  342 

35 

150 

40 

.    38,  39 

133-140 

297 

68 

61 

82 

295-308 

27-33 

257,  374,  416 

27 

35, 169, 170 


28 

167 

35 

62, 166 

70 

223,  329,  340 

653 

20 

670 

558 

582,  583 

673 

164,  165 

347 

354 

ib. 

149 

408-411 

313 

440 

449 

102 

96 

96-101 

677 

16,  492 

158 

450-461 

535 


20 
168 

ib. 
433 
540 

ib. 
541-543 


391 


m 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


Humility  of  Paul,'      .  *  » 

Husbands,  duties  of,  .  .  . 

Hyperdulia,  .  .  . 

Hypocrisy,  prevalence  of,  . 
Hypocrites  and  saints  contrasted, 
Idolatry,  love  of  it  strong  and  prevalent, 
Ignorance,  source  of  corruptions, 
Image  of  the  invisible  Gk»d,  .  . 

Images,  worship  of,  forbidden. 
Impostors,  their  origin  and  success, 
Inability  of  man, 

"  Increase  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord/' 
Indulgences  of  Rome, 
Inheritance,  in  what  sense  used, 

light,   .... 
"  the  reward  of  our,  . 
Insensibility,  stoical,  not  required, 
"  Intruding,"  .  .  .  . 

Invocation  of  saints,     .  .  : 

laorriTO,         .  .  •  .  J 

Jerome  quoted,  .  .  t 

Jesuits,  their  equivocations  and  mental  reservations, 
Jesus,  called  Justus,     .... 
Jews,  the,  have  no  advantage  above  the  Gentiles, 

their  ritual  unavailing,  .  .  , 

Judaic  sect,  ..... 

Judaical  rules  about  eating  and  drinking, 
Justice  of  God  satisfied,    .  .  . 

Justification  by  the  blood  of  Christ,    . 

in  none  but  Christ,  -,  .  . 

"  Kingdom  of  his  dear  Son,"   . 
Knowledge,  diflferences  in,  ... 

perfection  of  a  believer's,  twofold, 
what  is  meant  by  being  "  filled  with, 
of  the  will  of  God,  the  best, 

gospel,  its  end, 
union  between  practice  and, 
of  Jesus,        .... 
treasures  of  wisdom  and, 
all,  derived  from  one  of  three  sources, 
of  the  Scriptures  enjoined  on  believers, 
Laodicea,  .  .  .  .  •     ^ 

Epistle  to,  or  from,  various  opinions  about  it 
Law  of  Moses,  the,  nature  of,        . 
Lawgivers,  Christ  infinitely  superior  to  all  other. 
Lent,  the  true,      ..... 
Liberty,  of  man,         .... 

christian,  precious,      .  . 

Lies,  the  devil,  their  father,      ; 
Life,  compared  to  a  journey,  .  .  . 

of  a  christian,      .... 
spiritual,  twofold,      .... 
our  whole,  should  be  consecrated  to  the  Lord 
Light,  in  Scripture,  symbolical  of  two  things, 
Limbus,  Rome's  imaginary. 

Long-suffering,      ..... 
Love  and  faith  inseparable  graces, 
distinctive  mark  of  a  christian, 
of  Christ,  and  its  legitimate  effect, 


67- 


239-242, 


350,  352, 


73, 


666,  673,  680 

598-600 

390 

547 

165 

385-387 

76,  241 

90-93 

103 

259-261 

72,  340,  341 

59 

187-190 

70 

.  75,76 

623 

539 

403 

307,  404,  638 

626 

382,  388 
518 
669 
528 

529,  530 

396 

375 

84 

ib. 

87 

74 

46 

ib. 

47 

48 

53 

59 

77 

254 

403 

562-572,  600 

228,  677 

682 

375,  378,  415 

295 

383,  427 
223,  330,  341 

414 

518 

54 

.  54,55 

337 

576-578 

71 

364-367 

541 

20 

24 

88,  89,  359 


GENERAL  INDEX, 


Luke,  a  physician  in  a  twofold  sense, 
Lying,  object  of  God's  hatred,  . 

a  slavish  sin, 

condemned  by  the  very  heathen, 
"  Made  us  meet,"  .  .  .      .     , 

Man,  liberty  of, 

his  state  by  nature, .  .      '      , 

members  of  the  old, 
old  and  new, 
■we  must  put  off  the  old, 
subject  to  a  twofold  consideration, 
Manna,  the,  Christ's  doctrine  compared  to, 
Mark  commended, 
Marriage  honourable  in  all,      . 
Married  state,  the,  mutual  forbearance  necessary 
Martyrs,  christian, 

their  sufferings  not  expiatory, 
Mass,  Rome's  sacrifice  of  the,  . 
Masters,  their  duties,         .  .      '      . 

exhortation  to, 

two  cannot  be  served,     .  , 

Means  of  grace,  their  tendency. 
Meats  and  drinks,  abstinence  from, 
Mediator,  Christ  the  sole. 
Meditation  suitable  to  the  holy  communion 
Meekness  commended, 
Meetness  for  our  inheritance,        .  , 

Members,  our  vices  termed  our, 
Mercies,"  "  bowels  of,  an  Hebraism, 
Merit  of  coudignity,     . 

and  grace  incompatible, 
of  congruity, 

in  man,  none,       .    .  .  , 

Metal- worship,  exhortation  against. 
Might,"  "  all,        ... 

source  of  this  heavenly. 
Ministers,  call  requisite  for, 

peculiarly  exposed  to  trials, 
appropriateness  of  the  term, 
their  charge, 

compared  to  husbandmen, 
loye  they  owe  their  flocks,    . 
.    interpreters  of  God's  will, 
heralds  of  God's  truth, 
should  pray  for  then:  flocks,  .    . 
Ministry  of  Paul, 

Miserable  servitude  of  man  by  nature, 
Monastic  vows,  .  . 

Monks,     .  .  .  •  . 

their  mortifications, 

the  Scriptures  contain  no  rules  for  them 
Montanists,  their  laws  of  abstinence,  . 

their  austerities, 
Mortificatioi^,  true  epd  of, 

internal,  opposed  to  external, 
exhortation  to,  . 
Mystery,  hidden,  of  the  gospel,     . 
"  Nailed  it  to  his  cross," 
Name,  the,  synonymous  with  the  authority  of  God 


73, 


608 


PAOB 

677,  678 

.        517 

518 

ib. 

67 

225,  330,  341 

147,  335,  600 

472-478 

520-527 

531 

589 

268 

668 

601 

600-602 

175 

189 

241,  273,  333 

282.  625 

628 

451 

326 

413-427 

639 

79-89 

541 

69-76 

470-474 

538 

55 

70 

151 

623 

400 

60 

61 

171 

178 

195,  665 

200,  213 

227 

232 

295 

ib. 

673 

194 

71 

608,  609,  614 
44 
477 
591 
425 
436-438 
435 
473 
479 
201-203 
355 
579 


'694 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


Nature,  new,  fruits  of,              ... 

PAOB 

.        342 

difiFerence  between  the  old  and  new, 

.        521-524 

depravity  of  human,    . 

.    148,  334,  600 

of  God,  perfectly  represented  in  Christ,   . 

93, 295-308 

Natures,  two,  distinct  in  Christ, 

244,  245,  301,  302,  449 

Nestor  ian  heresy,              .            .            . 

303 

Novelty,  love  of,  the  source  of  error,  . 

, 

268 

Nyraphas,  the  church  in  the  house  of, 

679 

Obedience  due  to  God, 

. 

615,  628 

parents,              .            . 

602-615 

masters,       .... 

. 

617-625 

Onesimus,              .            .            •           .            . 

665 

Order,  beauty  of,         ;            . 

, 

617 

Origen  quoted,       ..... 

384 

llaBoç,  signification  of  the  word, 

,            , 

474 

Paralogisms,         .            .            .            .            . 

258 

Pardon  of  sins  complete, 

. 

543 

Parents,  obedience  due  to,             :         .  . 

602-615 

Pastor,  a,  call  necessary  for,     . 

,            , 

171 

Pastors  are  ministers,  and  not  masters,  of  the  gospel, 

172 

Patience,          ..... 

. 

.    62,63 

the  sister  of  meekness,    . 

541 

Patriarchs  of  heresy,    .... 

. 

285 

Paul,  specially  appointed  an  apostle. 

14 

why  he  enlarges  on  the  dignity  of  his  commission, 

ib. 

his  method  of  teaching. 

78,79 

afflictions  of,        .... 

178 

an  especial  object  of  persecution,     . 

179 

ministry  of,          . 

193,  194 

his  apostleship,  and  its  object, 

196-198 

a  steward,            .... 

197 

his  prudence,            .            .            .  _         » 

'232,  265, 

266,  623,  657 

absent  in  the  flesh,  present  in  the  spirit,  . 

263 

a  prisoner,     ..... 

640 

Peace  of  God,  the,       .           i           .           . 

555-560 

Pelagianism,          ..... 

341 

Perfection,  doctrine  of,             ... 

218 

of  a  church,  twofold,  . 

265 

Perron's  Reply  to  Kiug  James  quoted, 

393 

Persecution  of  christians,               .            . 

176 

Perseverance  of  saints, 

60 

exhortation  to,         .            .            • 

270 

in  error,  condemned, 

272 

in  prayer,     .... 

633 

Petavius,  a  Jesuit,  confession  of, 

473 

Philosophy,  its  abuse  condemned. 

284-289 

sound,  confirms  the  Scriptures,     . 

289 

and  vain  deceit," 

290 

Philosophical  division  of  our  powers,  . 

494 

^povetrE  rh  avo},         ..... 

444 

Plato,  his  fancies  concerning  the  state  of  the  soul  after 

death, . 

288 

Pleasing  God,  wherein  it  consists, 
Pleasure  of  the  Father, 

57,  58 

137-140 

Pope,  the,  his  treasury  of  superfluous  satisfactions, 

188 

no  duties  marked  out  for  him  in  the  Scriptures, 

590 

Portion  of  believers,         .... 

76 

"  Power  of  darkness," 

71 

Powers,  philosophical  division  of  our, 

494 

Practical  nature  of  Christianity, 

.    53-60 

GENERAL   INDEX. 


Practice  and  knowledge  conjoined,  ....  59 

Prayer,  nothiiig  more  effectual  than  united,     ...  ,     '      ,         43 

assiduity  in  it  enforced,     .  .  ,  »  ,  44 

interferes  not  with  duty,  •  .  .  .  ♦  ib 

order  to  be  observed  in  our,         ....  45 

study  to  be  added  to,   .  ,  .  ,  ,     '       .  51 

practice  to  be  joined  to,    .  .  .  ,  .       '  ib. 

excellency  of,  .  .  .  .  .  ,     *      ,        gSl 

of  prayer  in  general,        .....  632 

perseverance  in,  and  encouragement  to,  .  .  .        633 

animates  to  labour,  .        •    .  ,  .  .      ^         636 

"  watching  unto,         .  .  *  .  .  .  ib. 

to  the  departed,  nowhere  enjoined,'  .  .  ,  639 

the  best  ofiBce  of  love,  •  ♦  .  .  .        673 

"  Pre-eminence  in  all  things,"        .....  130 

Presence,  doctrine  of  the  real,  .....        243 

Pride,  fruitful  source  of  error,      .....  400 

strife,  .....        543 

of  Rome's  pontiffs,  .....  665 

Principalities,  .......        361 

Progress  of  Christianity,  ......  27-35 

Properties  of  God  fidly  represented  in  Christ,  ...  94 

Providence  of  Christ,        .  .  .  .  .  .  104 

Psalms,  division  of  the,  ......        573 

Purgatory,  doctrine  of,  unscriptural,  .  .  83, 185-189,  405,  543 

Purity  of  believers,      .....  15,  133,  158,  493 

"  Put  off,"  .......  496 

Eamadan,  the  Mahometan  Lent,  .  .  .  .  .436 

Ransom,  a  necessity  for,     ......  82 

Real  presence,  the,  doctrine  of,  .....        243 

Reconcile,  meaning  of  the  word,    .....  154 

Reconciliation,  means  whereby  effected,  .  ,  .  .         ib. 

"  Redeeming  the  time,"         ......  652 

Redemption,  our,  its  author,     ......  79 

nature,  .....  79-83 

means  whereby  obtained,        .  .  •  .     83-87 

some  improvements  and  consolation  to  be  drawn  from  the 

doctrine  of,       ......     87-89 

Regeneration,  a  work  of  divine  power,      .  .  .  .61,  523 

perfected  by  degrees,      .....        524 

the  manner  of  its  being  wrought  in  us,      .  .  ib. 

pattern  by  which  it  is  formed,  .  ;  .525 

Remission  of  sins,  the,  redemption  restrained  for  two  reasons  to,  .  81 

two  remarkable  qualities  of,       .  .  .        344 

a  great  and  inestunable  grace,        .  .  345 

Resurrection  of  Christ, 322-325 

Reverence  due  to  parents,  .  .  .  .  .  610 

Rome,  church  of,  apostleship  illogically  attributed  to  its  bishop,  .  14 

its  peculiar  tenets  later  than  the  time  of  Paul,       .  .  34 

monks, 44,432,477,591 

doctrine  and  practice  unsanctioned  by  the  apostle,        .         50,  448 

purgatory, 83,  185-189,  405,  543 

supererogation  of  saints,  ...  86,  189,  432 

orders  of  the  celestial  hierarchy,      .  .  .  116,404 

supremacy  of  its  pope,       ....  124,  590,  620 

its  transubstantiatioD,  .  .  .  .  .  .125 

erroneous  views  of  the  nature  of  the  true  church,         .        125,  679 

idolatry, 160,387 

errors  respecting  the  doctrine  of  assurance,      .  .  167 


696  GENERAL   INDEX. 

PAGI 

Borne,  its  traditions,   .  ,.  ..  .      173,218,238,269,293,406 

indulgences,        ......        187-189 

assumption  of  temporal  authority,  .  .  .  .195 

doctrine  of  perfection,    .  .  .  .  .  218 

ignorance  of  its  disciples  reprobated,     ....        241 

its  worship  of  saints  and  angels,     .     241,  387,  389,  394,  404,  585,  638 
sacrifice  of  the  ma?s,  .  .  .  .    241,  273,  330 

sophistical  reasoning,     .  .  .  .  .  260 

abuse  of  the  apostle's  exhortation  to  adhere  to  received 
doctrines,       ......  272 

implicit  faith,  ...  .  .  ,  .279 

abuse  of  philosophy,      .....  287 

doctrine  of  limbus  examined  and  refuted,    '.  .  364-367 

observation  of  days,      .....  381 

fasts,  .  .  .  .  .  .         382,423,436-438 

assumption  of  authority  over  the  faithful,  .  .  389 

dulia  and  hyperdxdia,  .  .  .  .  390, 404 

pretended  humility,        .  .  .  .  .  391 

distinction  of  meats,  .  .  .  .  .        424 

"  will-worship,"  , .  .  .  .  .  429 

all  its  errors  introduced  under  three  false  colours,  .  .        436 

source  of  its  observances  and  voluntary  services,    .  .  440 

its  auricular  confession,  .  .  .  .  .615 

Jesuitical  doctrine  of  mental  reservations,         .  :  518 

sentiments  regarding  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  at  vari- 
ance with  those  of  the  apostle  and  of  the  fathers,      .        565-569 
Index  Lib.Prohib.  quoted,  .  .  .  .  566, 569 

scandalized  by  that  which  the  apostle  commands,  .  .  574 

its  superstitioi;s  reverence  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  .  .        579 

silence  of  ,the  Scriptures  respecting  its  distinguishing  doctrines,        590 
its  celibacy  of  the  clergy,        .  .  .  .  .  .        601 

vows  rash,  impious,  contrary  to  Scripture,         .  .  608 

unnatural  enfranchisement  of  children  from  filial  duties,       .        607 

prayers  in  an  unknown  tongue,  .  .  .  637 

to  departed  saints,    .....         638 

unscriptural  prohibition  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  reason,    679,  680 

"  Rooted  in"  Christ, 275-278 

"  Rose  again  for  our  justification,"  ....  86 

"  Rudiments  of  the  world,"      ......        291 

Rule,  a  short  and  easy,  but  of  vast  and  almost  infinite  use,  .  579 

Sabellian  heresy,  .......  96 

Sacraments  of  Christ  powerful,     .....  328 

Saints,  meaning  of  the  word,  _      .  .  .  .  .15,  201 

can  offer  no  expiation  for  sin,        ....  86 

worship  of, 139,387 

Salt  in  a  christian's  speech,  .  .  .  .  .  655 

Salvation  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  .  .  .  :  .    84-87 

Samuel's  appearance  to  Saul,        .....  365 

Sanctification,  duty  and  necessity  of,     .  ,  .  .  .   75,  76 

compared  to  a  burial  and  resurrection,       ,  .        321-331 

and  justification  united,  ....        157 

absolutely  necessary,  ....  158 

all  our,  to  be  referred  to  Christ,  .  .  .        584 

Satan,  influence  of  ......  363 

Satisfaction  offered  by  Christ,  '..,..  84 

Sciences,  the,  division  of,  .....  .  52 

in  what  class  Christianity  is  to  be  placed,  .  .  53 

Scriptures,  the,  called  the  word  of  Christ,  •  .  .  561 

.    to  be  studied  by  all,    .  .  .  562-572,600,679 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


697 


Scriptures,  the,  the  guide  of  the  faithful, . 

uses  of,  ....  , 

Seducers,  their  ordinances,  .... 

three  things  which  give  a  false  show  to  their  doctrines, 
Serpent,  the  brazen,  ..... 

Servants,  subjection  of,  .        •    . 

exhortation  to,   .  i  , 

Sin,  its  horrid  nature, 

compared  to  a  debt,    ..... 

Sins  of  uncleanness,  their  debasing  nature, 

great  and  dreadful  punishment  of,        , 
"  Singleness  of  heart,"  ..... 

Societies,  civil  and  domestic,  .... 

Socinian  errors  exposed,  ..... 

Sources  of  the  deceits  of  false  teachers, 

Speech,  its  advantages,  ..... 

government  of  our,  .... 

*'  Spoiled  principalities  and  powers,"     .... 

Spread  of  the  gospel,  .  .       •     . 

State  of  man  by  nature,  .  .  68,  202-210,  338,  521 

the  heathen,  .  . 

Stoics,  their  tenets  at  variance  with  the  genius  of  the  gospel,  . 
Strength,  infinite,  required  for  man's  salvation, 
"  Strengthened  with  all  might,"  .... 

Study  of  the  word,  the,  add  prayer  to,      . 
Sufferings  of  Paul  profitable  to  the  church,     . 

for  Christianity,  .... 

to  be  borne  joyfully, 
Summary  of  the  contents  of  the  Epistle,    . 
Supererogation,  .  .  .  .  .  .86; 

Superstition,  a  labyrinth,  ..... 

its  ordinances  about  meats  and  drinks,     . 
Supper,  the  Lord's,  meditation  suitable  to, 
what  it  requires  of  us. 
Sympathy  of  angels,         ..... 

between  Christ  and  his  members,   . 
Teachers,  false,  compared  to  thieves,         .  . 

their  arrogance  and  presumption, 
TertuUian  quoted,  ..... 

Thanksgiving  of  Paul  for  the  Colossians  includes  three  particulars, 

a  most  necessary  and  useful  duty, 
Theodoret  quoted,        ..... 

*'  Things  that  are  in  heaven  and  that  are  in  earth," 

Time,"  "  redeeming  the,  ..... 

Traditions  of  Rome,         .  .  .  173,218,238,269, 

those  of  his  own  age  Paul  condemns, 
of  the  Pharisees,         .... 

Tree  of  life,  the,  Christ, 

Triumph,  a,  description  of,  ...  • 

Truth,  its  natural  advantages  over  falsehood,    . 

defined,       ....•• 

should  pervade  our  speech, 
Tychicus,  reasons  for  sending  him  to  the  Colossians, 

an  evangelist,  .... 

Ubiquity  of  the  body  of  Christ,    .... 

"  Uncircumcision  of  your  flesh," 
Uncleanness,  sins  of,  their  debasing  nature, 
the  wrath  of  God  cometh  on. 
Understanding,  spiritual,  .  .  .  •  • 


PAGE 

563,  564 

572-574 

414-425 

428-438 

531 

617-625 

627 

87 

348 

490 

489 

621 

617 

85, 108 

284^294 

507 

653 

363 

27-35 

-526,  600 

149-153 

539 

90 

60 

51 

12 

176 

:   180 

11-13 

189,  432 

420 

ib. 

79,  520 

533,  546 

143 

182,  183 

284 

406 

62 

17 

582,  638 

397 

115,  116 

652 

293,  405 

374-382 

609 

310 

364 

261 

516 

517,  654 

661 

663 

304 

339 

490 

489-491 

50 


698 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


Understanding,  full  assurance  of,         . 

PASB 

238 

Ungodly,  their  portion,      . 

71 

Union  between  Christ  and  his  church,              . 

118 

members,  ". 

.        182, 183 

of  the  divine  and  human  natures  in  Christ, 

301,  302 

'XnevavTiov,                  .                ,                .                ,                , 

353 

Utility  of  all  God's  works,      .         .    .        .    .            . 

658 

Vineyard,  a,  church  compared  to,          .    .            , 

64 

Virtue,  beauty  of,            .            ... 

481 

Virtues,  five,  especially  recommended, 

538 

Vivification,  cause  and  manner  of  our, 

343 

Vows,  monastic,    .            .            .            .            . 

.       607-609 

Walk,  Scripture  signification  of  the  word, 

.  54,  645 

ye  in  him,"             ...» 
in  wisdom,         ..... 

273 

644-651 

Walking  worthy  of  the  Lord, 

55 

Will  of  God,  its  two  principal  parts,    . 

49 

man,        ...... 

68,  73, 341,  342 

Wisdom,  spiritual,       .           .           .           . 

49 

its  practical  nature, 

50 

a  gift  of  God, 

i            .          51 

all  true,  in  Christ,          .            .            .            . 

256-266 

Word  of  Christ,  the,  excellency  and  efficacy  of, 

561 

Works  of  divinity  ascribed  to  Christ, 

Worship  of  angels,      ..... 

94, 113 

385-411 

Wrath  of  God,  the,  meaning  of  the  expression,    . 

483,  484 

what  sina  especially  provoke  it,    . 

489 

Zeal  and  love  of  Paul,      .... 

231 

THE  END. 


fh. 


